By Denise Ross

When I was in Sioux Falls recently, I made a point to seek out the campaign office of Republican US Senate candidate Charles Gonyo, a mostly unknown figure in South Dakota politics.

According to his campaign finance report filed with the Federal Elections Commission (go to page 18 for the office rent entries), Gonyo had indeed opened up a campaign office.

Imagine my perplexed state when I arrived at the building pictured below.

This is indeed the 306 W. 36th St. listed on his campaign website.

As I investigated further, I discovered that the “Suite 28″ listed on Gonyo’s website does indeed belong to him.

I did not make contact with Gonyo on this visit. When I spoke with him by phone later, he said he does live in apartment No. 28 in this apartment complex. He also rather forcefully rejected my question about whether he had moved from his residence in Trent.

Just exactly what kind of campaign activity did I think he could accomplish from Trent?

He then went on to explain that he has devoted the last 15 years to work on fighting illegal immigration. When I asked him to elaborate on what that work entailed, he replied: “Watching the Senate.”

He then claimed to be a founder of several anti-immigrant groups, naming specifically Wake Up America and The Minuteman Project. Further requests for details of his work did not elicit an open exchange, so I did not include his claim to instrumental roles in these organizations in the newspaper column I wrote about Gonyo’s candidacy.

I haven’t been able to find references to him on either organization’s website or online, save for his own website and blog.

And so it appears that, after June 3, Charles Gonyo will return to the relative anonymity in political circles that he enjoyed before he filed his petitions. That is unless he surprises us all once more.

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