South Dakota Politics

Thune pays tribute to his political mentor

The AP has a late-breaking story headlined "Thune, Republicans pay tribute to former Sen. Jim Abdnor."

Hopefully, DVT and Sibby will have pics from the event sometime soon.

Cheney launches F-bomb on Senate floor, defends it in Sioux City

Vice President Cheney was in Sioux City, IA today (which is a mere 30 miles from Vermillion, SD, where I live) and was unapologetic for cursing at Senator Patrick Leahy earlier this week after Leahy questioned his integrity. Reuters has a story headlined "Cheney Says He Has No Regrets for Cursing Leahy."

Fox News is carrying a transcript of an interview held with Cheney today, in which the F-bomb laced exchange came up. Relevant excerpt:

CAVUTO: All right. Sir, a couple of little issues I want settled, or maybe to get the real skinny on. One was this blowout you had the other day with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. What happened?

CHENEY: Well, I guess you could say we had a little floor debate in the United States Senate.

CAVUTO: I heard it was more than a debate.

CHENEY: Well, I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it.

CAVUTO: All right. Now, did you use the "F" word?

CHENEY: That's not the kind of language I usually use.

CAVUTO: All right, because the reports were that you did.

CHENEY: Yes, that's not the kind of language I ordinarily use. But...

CAVUTO: What did you tell him?

CHENEY: I expressed my dissatisfaction for Senator Leahy.

CAVUTO: Over his comments about you and Halliburton?

CHENEY: No. It was partly that. It was partly — also, it had to do with — he is the kind of individual who will make those kinds of charges and then come after you as though he's your best friend. And I expressed, in no uncertain terms, my views of the — of his conduct and walked away.

CAVUTO: Did you curse at him?

CHENEY: Probably.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Do you have any regrets?

CHENEY: No. I said it, and I felt that...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So let me understand, he comes up, he sees you, Mr. Vice — he's all nice, shakes your hand. And then what do you do, let into him?

CHENEY: Explain my unhappiness with the way he conducted himself. Ppart of the problem here is, that instead of having a substantive debate over important policy issues, he had challenged my integrity. And I didn't like that. But, most of all, I didn't like the fact that after he had done so then he wanted to act like, you know, everything's peaches and cream.

And I informed him of my view of his conduct in no uncertain terms. And as I say, I felt better afterwards.

A SD political journal in the works?

DVT says the word on the street is that a new South Dakota political publication is in the works. Keep an eye out for it in your local tavern or gas station.

Sibby reporting from GOP convention in Mitchell

Sibby has a report and some great pictures of John Thune campaigning in Mitchell, SD today. The state GOP convention is in Mitchell this weekend. The best picture is the one showing Thune talking to David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters. It'll be interesting to see what Kranz serves up in tomorrow's edition of the Argus Leader.

Thune camp calls attention to the Daschle-Michael Moore connection

DVT is reporting that the Thune campaign has issued a press release calling attention to the fact that Senator Tom Daschle attended the premiere of the Bush-bashing "Fahrenheit 9/11" movie with Michael Moore.

Daschle and Michael Moore

Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, has a new piece published today headlined "Democrats, Media, Celebrities Hail Moore's Film at DC Opening."

A source reports that Daschle's attendance at the premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was reported on KELO-TV last night at 10. You can view the broadcast HERE.

Daschle walks the red carpet at premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11"

Hugh Hewitt wonders how Daschle's attendance at the premiere of Michael Moore's Bush-bashing "Fahrenheit 9/11" will play in South Dakota. Answer: not very well, should people find out about it. Unfortunately, given the media here in South Dakota, it's highly unlikely that people will find out about it.

Sibby makes a good point about the screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in South Dakota. Given the fact that Tom Daschle has signed a pledge asking all third party groups that support him to keep negative ads out of South Dakota, will he call on Michael Moore to keep his movie (which by all accounts is essentially a two-hour negative ad bashing Republicans) off of South Dakota movie theater screens?

Amy Sullivan circumspectly discusses Daschle in Commonweal

Amy Sullivan is a liberal writer/blogger/policy wonk who seems to have taken it upon herself to make John Kerry (and the Democrats generally) get some religion. She also is a former staffer for Tom Daschle, and she worked primarily on the partial-birth abortion issue during her tenure with Daschle in the mid-1990s. It is in that context that her recent piece in Commonweal, headlined "Kerry & Religion" sheds light on the relationship between Tom Daschle and his home diocese in South Dakota. Relevant excerpt from Sullivan's Commonweal piece:

For me, the prospect of a Kerry candidacy brought forth memories of lessons learned from working on abortion policy for a Catholic Democratic senator in the mid-1990s. My eighteen years of Baptist Sunday school were, unsurprisingly, no match for the bishop with whom I exchanged letters on behalf of the senator. With great conviction, I sought to assure the bishop that the senator formed his political judgments only after searching his conscience—I had never heard of the possibility of an “erroneous conscience.” As a good Baptist, I believed “the church” was the building where I attended worship services and potluck suppers, not an institutional authority with a doctrinal tradition that was not optional for adherents. The idea that a church leader could withhold the Eucharist from a parishioner because of political differences offended my religious sensibilities, making me outraged on the senator’s behalf.

My efforts were, to say the least, not very effective. But my frustration led me to enter divinity school, where I spent several years thinking and writing about how church leaders can and should deal with religious matters in the political sphere and, yes, where I took several classes on Catholic social teaching in order to be better prepared for the next go-round.

It's interesting how circumspectly Sullivan discusses Daschle. She never mentions his name. Normally, it's rare to read a piece where Sullivan doesn't explicitly mention her experience as a staffer for Tom Daschle.

As veteran SDP readers know, I happened upon Sullivan's blog a few months ago and extracted some very interesting pieces of information, which I in turn posted to my blog.

In an intriguing turn of events, all of the links in my above-mentioned post to the interesting things Sullivan had to say on her blog about Daschle are now dead. If you click on the "March 2003-March 2004" archives link on Amy Sullivan's blog, that too is a dead link.

I noted this development of Sullivan attempting to erase the things she had written about Daschle in a post a few months ago. It turned out that I had jumped to conclusions at the time, and that her archives still existed, it just required an extra step of searching in order to find them. I apologized for this mistake, and regret making it.

Now, though, it actually is the case that the archives are gone, never to be seen again, unless Amy Sullivan gives the say-so. I noted that her archives had disappeared a few weeks ago, and sent an e-mail to her, dated June 8, informing her of this fact. To her credit, she responded the next day as follows:

Yeah, I know...thanks for reminding me. I've been a bit swamped and haven't had time to figure out what's going on. Hopefully soon. But I can't promise anything. Maybe if I had an intern I could assign them the project of figuring this out. Hmm.

best,

amy

Given the circumspect nature of Sullivan's discussion of Tom Daschle in her Commonweal article, coupled with the disappearance of her blog archives, I think it's safe to say that Sullivan's archives will miraculously re-appear sometime around November 3. Hopefully, she'll prove me wrong.

UPDATE: Note too, that Sullivan has been semi-shunned by the Kerry campaign because of an interview she gave to the Washington Times about Kerry and religion. These Dems really want her to keep quiet.

NYT: Daschle and Michael Moore "Like-Minded"

The New York Times has a report in today's edition delightfully headlined "The Like-Minded Line Up for a 9/11 Film." Excerpt:

With full Hollywood trappings - a red carpet, klieg lights and dozens of photographers - nearly 800 members of the capital's Democratic leadership turned out for the official premiere of the film, which opened on Wednesday here and in New York.

"This is where I wanted to have the main premiere because this is where the change has to take place,'' said Mr. Moore, dressed for the occasion in a black suit and gray sneakers. "I want this country back in the hands of the majority - the majority that did not vote for Mr. Bush."

Mr. Moore said he hoped the film might encourage people who had not voted in a presidential election before to do so this year.

"It's my personal aim that Bush is removed from the White House,'' he said. "But if the movie can inspire a few of the 50 percent of Americans who do not vote to get involved and be engaged then that is important."

The guest list, liberally sprinkled with members of Congress, political consultants and lobbyists, tipped decidedly to one side of the aisle. It included Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks; Paul Begala, a political adviser in the Clinton White House; Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a former Clinton aide; Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the minority leader; and Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic national chairman.

Senator Bob Graham of Florida said, "There might be half of the Democratic Senate here."

So, did Daschle attend the official premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11"?

Choose "Two" Vote?

Well, the investigation of the innocuous sounding group "Choose to Vote" just gets curiouser and curiouser. You may recall that a man named Howard Brewer pled guilty to voter fraud registration here in South Dakota a few weeks ago. Howard Brewer claimed to work for an organization called "Choose to Vote." I began investigating this group, and you can read more information about my findings HERE. One major discovery was that the only web presence of an organization called "Choose to Vote" was the website www.choose2vote.org, which is operated by a fellow named Derrick Lee of Gilbert, Arizona, near Phoenix, where Howard Brewer is from. Derrick Lee is a well-known figure in the petition industry, whose employees have frequently been investigated for fraudulent activity in gathering signatures for petitions.

Another major discovery of the investigation of the group "Choose to vote" was the fact that an April 30, 2004 story in the Argus Leader quoted the Fall River County Auditor to the following effect:

"We got one batch of about 300 that came in all at once, in an envelope that just said, 'Choose to Vote,' " Fall River County Auditor Sherrill Dryden said.

Now we have a new piece of information to add. Last week I called the Fall River County offices and asked about this envelope. They were kind enough to mail me a copy of the face of the envelope, and you can view a pdf copy of the face of the envelope by clicking HERE.

The return address on the envelope reads:

Choose Two Vote
8527 W Colfax
Lakewood CO. 80215

Isn't it curious that word "two" is used, rather than "to"? It's unbelievably similar to the "choose2vote.org" use of the phrase, except, of course, that the actual number "2" is used. Could "choose2vote" and "Choose Two Vote" be one and the same group? Then there's the matter of the return address being Colorado, rather than Arizona. As I say at the outset, it just gets curiouser and curiouser.

Why does all of this matter? Howard Brewer, who pled guilty to voter registration fraud here in South Dakota a few weeks ago claimed to work for the group "Choose to Vote." Howard Brewer is from the same location in Arizona as Derrick Lee, the man who operates choose2vote.org, and his employees are frequently investigated for fraudulent activity in gathering signatures for petitions around the country. There's a troubling trail of fraud related to this innocuous sounding group "Choose to/2/Two Vote" and it needs to be exposed in order to ensure a fair election in South Dakota this November.

Thune offers Daschle opportunity to limit campaign spending

NOTE: The link to the Thune press release has been fixed. Thanks to all who notified me.

The Thune campaign has issued a press release, which you can read HERE, announcing a letter it has sent to Tom Daschle offering him the opportunity to limit the amount of spending in the campaign to $10 million. You can read a copy of the letter HERE.

As the Thune letter recites, Tom Daschle has often decried the amount of money spent in political campaigns. It will be interesting to watch the Daschle team's response. Will Daschle put his money where his mouth is? (Pun thoroughly intended.)

Herseth taking credit for things she didn't do

The AP is reporting a story headlined "Herseth dismisses GOP 'spin'" regarding Herseth's propensity to take credit for things she didn't do. Excerpt:

Last week, Herseth said the House Appropriations Committee had approved more than $64 million for water projects in South Dakota, including $17.5 million for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System.

"Given that we've been without a representative in the House for the last several months, I'm very happy that we've been able to deliver on these priorities," Herseth told reporters on Wednesday.

(Emphasis added.) The bolded text looks to me like she's taking credit for the project.

It's disappointing that the the AP reporter, Dennis Gale, failed to mention a recent story in The Hill, a Capitol Hill publication, headlined "Herseth moves fast -- a bit too fast." Excerpt:

She campaigned hard on Indian reservations across South Dakota and is joining the Native American Caucus. Yesterday, she met with leaders of the Lower Brule, Crow Creek and other tribes. She even issued a press release last week attaching her name to new funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and other Indian-related spending items.

“Stephanie Herseth announced that the House Appropriations Committee has approved a significant increase in funding,” Herseth’s June 9 release stated.

The only catch is that Herseth, who won her seat in a special election June 1, had nothing to do with the funding measure, part of the Interior Department’s appropriations bill for 2005. While House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) and other members were hammering out the bill in Washington, Herseth was stumping for votes in South Dakota.

(Emphasis added.) It's not just the NRCC that's taking notice of Herseth's propensity to take credit for things she didn't do, as the AP piece misleadingly implies. Capitol Hill reporters noted the development well before the NRCC did.

Daschle Demogoguery

Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, has an informative piece published today headlined "Daschle Uses Claims of Voter Intimidation to Raise Funds."

8th Circuit reverses Judge Schreier's order striking down SD's abortion laws

The AP has a report headlined "Appeals court orders more proceedings in abortion laws challenge." Excerpt:

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier of Rapid City in 2002 struck down laws that generally make it a crime to perform abortions outside a hospital after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The judge ruled that the requirement was unconstitutional because it imposed an undue burden on a woman's right to choose an abortion.

But a three judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed Schreier's decision, saying the judge must hold further proceedings to determine if the South Dakota laws are unconstitutional.

Howard Bashman has a link to the 8th Circuit opinion.

Is the Four Directions Committee advocating?

According to the AP, the Four Directions Committee is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization:

The Four Directions Committee is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, Healy said Tuesday in an interview. "Its sole existence is to help register, mobilize and get to the ballot box Native American voters, not just in South Dakota but elsewhere," he said.

The claim of "nonpartisanship" is funny, particularly in light of an advertisement the Four Directions Committee placed in the Black Hills People News on May 28, shortly before the June 1st special election, which Stephanie Herseth won. You can view a pdf of the ad, which a source faxed to me, HERE. The ad is a study in the use of loaded language. One claim in the ad is particularly interesting in light of the Four Direction Committee's post-election activities:

[Larry Diedrich] voted to make it harder for Native Americans to vote. Following the 2002 election, Diedrich cosponsored legislation requiring voters to provide photo identification. (HB 1176, 2003)

Gee, do you think there was some planning going on here? The photo identification requirement is a facially neutral, generally applicable law, tailored to the perceived risk of voter fraud. Everybody has to provide ID, not just Native Americans, because of the widespread suspicion of voter fraud in 2002. It's as simple as that.

Tom Daschle uses same tactics as Tom Delay

Many months ago, I noted a troubling trend at the Argus Leader. That paper seems to have an affinity for promptly following up negative stories about John Thune that appear in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill publication, but ignoring negative stories about Tom Daschle that appear in Roll Call. A few months later, I noted another example of this trend. Well, now we can chalk up another one.

Last week, Roll Call reported that Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee (on which Senator Tim Johnson sits) were refusing to lead an effort to renew a federal terrorism reinsurance plan because (gasp!) the insurance industry was planning a fundraiser for John Thune. Not only did the Democrats reject this legislation like Shaquille O'Neill swatting an opponent's layup, they also engaged in some trash-talk:

“It turns out that at the very same time that they are lobbying us, they are sending out a Thune fundraising invitation,” said one Democratic aide. “This is not a must-pass bill. They were coming around and looking for a favor. At this point, that hearing is the end of the road.”

What's ironic is that it is precisely this kind of behavior that outrages Democrats--when House Majority Leader Tom Delay does it. A Washington Times editorial in today's edition headlined "ISO Political Payback" notes the irony:

It doesn't take much to imagine the vehement objections that would envelop Washington if such a strategy were traced to a staffer in Mr. DeLay's office. But in this case the fund-raiser was quickly canceled after the Democrats flexed their muscles. What will be dismaying — if the past is any guide — will be the hypocritical silence that likely will greet Roll Call's disclosure of Democratic extortionist tactics and the braggadocio that accompanied them.

Of course, if the past is any guide, the hypocritical silence at the Argus Leader will be deafening. It's yet another example in an increasing number of examples of a negative story in Roll Call regarding Daschle going unreported in the pages of the AL.

NYT editorial page on voter ID requirement in SD

The New York Times has an editorial today headlined "Indians Face Obstacles Between the Reservation and the Ballot Box." Excerpt:

Last year, after Indians had made the difference in Senator Johnson's election, the Republican-controlled State Legislature passed a new voter ID law that posed a particular hardship for Indians, who often do not have driver's licenses. They were assured that the new law would not present a problem, since it stated that any voter without ID "may complete an affidavit" instead. But many Indians were concerned that poll workers, who are often hostile to them, would ignore that provision.

That seems to be precisely what happened on June 1, and voting rights activists do not believe the mistakes in applying the law were accidental. As evidence, they have produced instructions used in Corson County on Election Day, apparently written by the Corson County auditor, saying: "Some voters are reporting that ID is not required. Please inform the voters that ID is in fact required." South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson insists that county auditors were all properly trained on the new law. In Corson County, "the auditor chose to add some additional instructions," he says. "I don't know why."

It's interesting to note a quote from Fall River County State's Attorney Lance Russell in an AP report regarding the use of the affidavits in lieu of identification in Shannon County, home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation:

Lance Russell, state's attorney in Fall River County, said he has started looking into complaints about voters being turned away in Shannon County. He said he has found no instances when registered voters were denied the right to cast a ballot. Fall River County provides services to Shannon County under a contract.

"There were over 300 affidavits for Shannon County filled out on election day, so they were using them," Russell said.

(Emphasis added.) Throughout the NYT piece, one can readily observe that nearly all of the allegations are the same ones publicized by the group called Four Directions, which, as the AP reported, is basically a stalking horse for the South Dakota Democratic Party.

"The James Carville Challenge"

An out-of-state reader sends along the following e-mail the reader received from the DNC on behalf of Tom Daschle this past Friday:

The Democratic National Committee is sending the following special message on behalf of Tom Daschle.

James Carville's $160,000 Challenge!

Dear [name omitted],

My momma always said to me, "Tell me who you go with, and I'll tell you who you are." Well, I want to tell you about one man I'm proud to "go with" -- and that's Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota. I want to tell you about a way you can "go with" him, too.

Here's why I'm proud to support Tom. He's a hardworking senator who gets things done for South Dakota. He's also a principled leader for our party; a decent man who works to find common ground, but has a spine of steel when push comes to shove.

And because Tom Daschle stands up against their special interest agenda and fights for what's best for America, the right wing radicals have declared Senator Tom Daschle to be "target number one."

Click here to take the James Carville Challenge!

They've labeled him the obstructionist, sent powerful people to campaign against him, and ordered their extreme groups to run negative, misleading ads in his home state. Heck, they dumped a million dollars of negative ads on the guy (and in South Dakota, a million dollars buys you a heck of a lot of negative ads) back in 2002. He wasn't even up for election in 2002! That's how badly they want to take Tom Daschle out.

After all, they know that George W. Bush and Karl Rove hand-picked Tom's opponent -- former Congressman John Thune -- because he's a rubber stamp for their right wing agenda. Dick Cheney and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist have already been to South Dakota to campaign for Thune. And they are raising millions to help his campaign.

In fact, Bill Frist has been bragging that he raised $160,000 for John Thune. So I challenge you today to help match what Bill Frist and his friends have done for John Thune by showing that a lot of Democrats standing together can do the same thing for Tom Daschle.

Click here to take the James Carville Challenge!

I've always said that Americans won't trust a party to stand for them that doesn't stand for its leader. Tom Daschle is our leader in the Senate, and here's how we're going to stand for him.

That means we need to raise $160,000 by June 30 -- a crucial fundraising deadline for Tom. Every dollar you give helps us towards this goal, so please dig deep and give what you can.

Look, it's as simple as this: We can sit back and watch the right wing take down our Senate Leader -- let them run millions of dollars of negative, misleading and vicious attacks ads against Tom and leave him defenseless. Or you can take my challenge and help our friend Tom Daschle today.

James Carville

P.S. Republican Leader Bill Frist has been bragging about the $160,000 he raised for John Thune. Let's raise the same for Tom. Help us reach our $160,000 goal today! Click here to take the James Carville Challenge!

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