The image to the left (click image to enlarge) is that of an ad in the Argus Leader yesterday touting David Kranz's "insights and analysis" as "a must-read for anyone." David Kranz, of course, is the dean of South Dakota political reporters. Early in his 30-year career in journalism, he seemed to have spent a lot of time with the Democrats as managing editor of the Mitchell Daily Republic in the late 1970's. SDP readers first discovered this when I unearthed the First Bombshell Memo and the Second Bombshell Memo. Last week, on Greg Belfrage's radio show, Randell Beck, executive editor of the Argus Leader, called these memos "crap." Now, my research of the Abourezk papers held here at the University of South Dakota has yielded two more memos that mention Kranz. These memos acknowledge almost in passing that Kranz is "a good Democrat" and that friendly (biased) coverage of Democrats can be expected.
You can access the first of my latest discoveries, titled "Sioux Falls Weekly Report" and dated November 13, 1976 HERE (pdf). It can be found in Box 1061 of the archive. Key excerpt:
I learned that Craig [Steensland, Abourezk's staffer in Mitchell, SD] is in better company than I thought with the Mitchell Daily Republic. In addition to Dave Kranz, the City Editor is Sheryl Crase who is another good Democrat.
(Emphasis added.) The second of my most recent discoveries was written by the above-mentioned Craig Steensland, and details a more humorous side to Kranz's involvement with the Democrats. This is a document titled "Weekly Report" and dated October 22, 1976. It can be found in Box 1022 of the archive. You can access a pdf copy of the document HERE. Key excerpt:
Spoke with Gene Oliver (Chair), young guy from Burke and appears pretty good. Kranz (Mitchell paper) Oliver, and I then went over to the Winner demo dinner. (Oliver likes to watch the go-goes in the Peacock Bar in Winner.)
(Emphasis added.) The evidence of David Kranz's long term friendly relationship with the Democrats in the state explains the complaints of his biased reportage over the ensuing years, right up to the present day.
In 1983, when Kranz left the Mitchell Daily Republic to work for the Argus Leader, he stated the following in his farewell column in the 11/3/1983 edition of the Mitchell Daily Republic:
Provoking thought is a must in a community that is searching for ways to grow. In those provacative[SIC] terms, I have heard the disatisfaction[SIC] and the allegations of bias.
Yet I do not apologize for any one position I have stood for.
In 1986, lieutenant governor Lowell Hansen wrote a piece published on the editorial page of the January 15, 1986 edition of the Argus Leader, stating the following:
Everybody has biases -- even writers -- and I understand and accept that. But Kranz goes too far.When Kranz was the editor of the Mitchell Daily Republic, he was an unapologetic promoter of Democratic candidates for political office. During the golden years of the Democratic party in South Dakota, folks like Kneip, Jimmy Carter, and George McGovern beat a path to Kranz's door. In Mitchell, they used to have a saying: "When George McGovern sneezes, it's Dave Kranz who catches the cold."
And that's fine. Everybody is entitled to have a preference. But, when that someone has access to thousands of readers, the public deserves to know where he's coming from.
When Kranz was the city editor for the AL from 1986 to 1989, his assistant city editor was Steve Erpenbach, who in 1990 became a spokesman for the Democratic Senate candidate that year. Erpenbach is now Senator Tom Daschle's state director.
In 1990, when Kranz was managing editor of the Argus Leader, the New York Times even took note of the AL's "vituperative" coverage of Senator Larry Pressler during that year's Senate race, stating that the Democratic candidate "seemed to take his campaign script from the Argus Leader." A July 30, 1990 report in Roll Call identified Kranz as being the one responsible for the AL's treatment of Pressler:
Schieffer believes the guiding hand behind the AL's treatment of Pressler is Kranz, the managing editor, and this claim was backed up by two South Dakota reporters very familiar with the paper's operation.
In a 1997 piece for Campaigns & Elections magazine, Karl Struble, Tom Daschle's media consultant, detailed how he worked in tandem with friendly reporters in South Dakota to generate "damaging articles" on Larry Pressler during the 1996 Senate race. This pattern of cooperation was observed as recently as a few weeks ago when a pro-Daschle piece written by Kranz was sent out in a mass fund-raising e-mail by the Daschle campaign.
During a 2002 campaign event, the Johnson Senate campaign was observed handing out stickers which said "We love Dave Kranz."
In the summer of 2003, Jeff Gannon wrote a series of articles on Argus Leader bias.
As anyone can readily observe, Kranz has a rich history of bias that one can easily sort through. As the historic 2004 Senate race here in South Dakota heats up, everyone should be aware of that fact when they read anything Dave Kranz writes.
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