U.S. Attorney: tribal court has no authority to keep GOP from poll-watching

The AP is reporting: "Accused GOP worker says he's never been to Pine Ridge." Excerpt:

A tribal judge has no authority to keep Republicans from watching Tuesday's voting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney James McMahon said Saturday.

"It would be my interpretation of that order that it does not comply with the law, and I have let it be known to law enforcement that they should not be enforcing any order on the reservation which purports to keep the Republican Party away from the polls," he said.

"If anyone does that, they're subjecting themselves to violating federal law."

Of course, the most bizarre thing about this story, as the headline indicates, is that the person accused of intimidation on the Pine Ridge Reservation has never been there in his life:

Four Directions accuses [Ryan] Knutson of intimidating its workers on Wednesday at Pine Ridge by videotaping them on private property. The order does not accuse him of harassing voters.

On Saturday, Knutson called The Associated Press and said they've got the wrong guy.

"This is bizarre. I have never been to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in my entire life," he said in a telephone interview from his North Sioux City home.

The worst thing about this whole absurd affair is that Ryan Knutson now has a restraining order against him without receiving due process of law. Ryan called me today and informed me he is outraged by this smear and is considering taking legal action against Brett Healy, the executive director of Four Directions.