[Note: Correction Appended.]
In 1995, Senator Tom Daschle got into some hot water after some of his Sopranos-like intimidation tactics came to light. The 5/7/1995 edition of the New York Times sets the scene:
Senator Daschle began working to remove the Forest Service’s authority over air safety after its inspectors had consistently complained that a carrier in Rapid City, S.D., B&L Aviation, was shoddily run and should be barred from obtaining government contracts. B&L is owned by Murl Bellew, a friend of the Daschles who taught the senator how to fly.
According to a February 13, 1995 AP report:
Daschle started pressuring the Forest Service in 1992 to end its inspection program and leave the job to the Federal Aviation Administration. Daschle’s wife, Linda, is the FAA’s deputy administrator.A Forest Service memo refers to Tom Daschle’s effort as the "Daschle squeeze."
Earlier that February, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes first reported the existence of the Forest Service memo describing Daschle’s tactics as the “Daschle squeeze,” and discussed it with Bill Dickson, an aviation inspector with the Forest Service. Excerpt from a transcript of the February 5, 1995 segment of 60 Minutes:
WALLACE: (Voiceover) [Daschle] then took his case directly to then Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, whose department oversees the Forest Service, and persuaded him to reduce the role of the Forest Service inspections. And that wasn't the first time Senator Daschle came to the aid of Bellew. In 1993, he personally met with federal officials to complain about what he called the 'dictatorial attitude' of Forest Service inspectors. On one occasion, an internal Forest Service memo referred to the senator's efforts as the 'Daschle Squeeze.'What was the Daschle Squeeze?
Mr. DICKSON: Well, the effort was to--to close down the inspections that we did.
WALLACE: And you've said that you'd never seen political influence as strong as this ever before in your career?
Mr. DICKSON: No, I haven't.
(Footage of B&L Aviation)
WALLACE: (Voiceover) Now if Forest Service inspectors were so concerned about using B&L, why didn't they advise the agency to stop using the company? Well, Bill Dickson says he tried to warn his Forest Service superiors against hiring B&L, but he says that he received a warning in return.
Mr. DICKSON: It was a telephone conversation with a person who's since retired...
WALLACE: Who said?
Mr. DICKSON: ...who said that if you fight the senator, you'll lose.
WALLACE: Don't fight the senator.
Mr. DICKSON: Don't fight the senator.
(Emphasis added.)
Another occasion of the application of the "Daschle Squeeze" is reported in a piece headlined "Senator Blasted for Abusing Office, Seeks IRS Probe of Conservative Group." Excerpt:
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of the Rushmore Policy Council. The South Dakota-based organization has run advertisements that publicized the voting record of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) on abortion and other family values issues.
What makes Daschle's activities in trying to crush dissent in his home state more ironic is his quote in a story headlined "Kennedy fuels Senate furor over Iraq." Relevant graf:
"Any time somebody speaks out criticizing this administration or its policies, there is this orchestrated concerted effort to attack those who criticize," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. "Criticizing those who are vocal in their personal criticism, their approach, their concerns, is McCarthyesque."
On another issue that seems relevant to the "Daschle Squeeze" recall my post a month ago regarding former Daschle staffer Amy Sullivan. Subsequent to that post, I received the following e-mail from Sullivan:
Hi,While strolling around on the web I noticed this post of yours -- http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week8/index.html#a0000938544 -- and wanted to give you a little more background. I'm a bit embarrassed, actually, that the post I wrote about the Daschle office has gotten picked up by a number of people as evidence of supposed "shady" tactics of Daschle and/or his staff. In fact, I wrote that piece in a fit of pique (of which I am not proud) after a long discussion with one of his senior aides. His advisors simply wanted to streamline his message during the campaign (a perfectly reasonable goal for any political office) and I disagreed with their assessment that my attempt to cheerlead for Daschle on my own might inadvertently hurt the effort when people like some bloggers (ahem) assume that I am working in cahoots with the Daschle office. That's all. I got miffed, wrote about it, and wish I hadn't.
I'd be much obliged if you'd correct the record -- I still adore everyone in his office and strongly believe that there's no one in politics I'd rather work for than Tom Daschle. One of the many dangers of the internet is that if you throw a written hissy-fit, it can get picked up and spread around, and I'd like to take this particular hissy-fit back if I could.
many thanks,
Amy Sullivan
I never responded to her e-mail, believing that "correcting the record" was her responsibility, as all I did was link to what she said. But she can't "correct the record" because the post she wrote has completely disappeared from her website. In fact, the entire archive of her posts over the past year has disappeared. You'll note that all of my links to her blog in the post of mine she complains about lead HERE. I'm not at all surprised that everything she has written about Tom Daschle has disappeared. I think it's clear that the Daschle people applied the "Daschle Squeeze" to her. To my mind, "streamlining the message" in this context is a euphemism for making damned sure South Dakotans don't know how liberal Tom Daschle truly is.
CORRECTION: I guess the archive CAN be found by clicking HERE and which I would have found, had I bothered to read the error page. My sincere apologies for my mistake. I made a cocky statement at the end of the post above which I've deleted, and which I regret.
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