South Dakota Politics

Senate ethics

There's still no story in the mainstream South Dakota press on whether Steve Erpenbach, Senator Daschle's State Director, violated the dictates of the Senate Ethics Manual when he coordinated a response to the US Chamber of Commerce ad for the Daschle campaign. For a refresher on the details of this story, see my post last week headlined "BOMBSHELL: E-mail indicates Daschle state director illegally doing campaign work."

Returning the Black Hills to the Sioux Nation

DVT reports that there will be a meeting between Senator Daschle and tribal leaders on September 25th, and points to a Washington Post article reporting that the meeting will address the return of the Black Hills to the tribes of the Sioux Nation.

Quote of the Day

"[I]f John Thune does indeed unseat Daschle, blogging will have had a major impact on that result." - Hugh Hewitt.

WaPo profiles SD Senate race

The Washington Post has a piece in today's edition headlined "Daschle's Senate Role Dominates S.D. Race; Rival Says Minority Leader Answers to Liberals." It's a generally good piece, although I agree with Hugh Hewitt that there's a major oversight in the story. I think the WaPo story makes an important point about "Daschle fatigue" that is worth exploring further by the Dakota Alliance as election day nears. Relevant excerpt:

At the Roadhouse Cafe in Watertown, where Daschle would host a community picnic a few hours later, Derek Stone and Lew Tollefson represented the types of voters that worry Democrats. Stone, the 24-year-old manager of cafe's convenience store counter, said he is an undecided voter who leans Democratic. He is sick of campaign commercials and phone calls -- "You can't listen to the radio more than five minutes without hearing one of them," he said -- but he doesn't blame Thune. Daschle "has been there a long time," Stone said, echoing a Thune campaign theme. "I think it's time for somebody else to have a chance, see what they can do."

Lunching at a nearby table, Tollefson, 50, said he has voted for Ronald Reagan, Bush and the president's father but also for Democrats Bill Clinton and George S. McGovern (the last South Dakotan with Daschle's prominence). Like a remarkable number of residents, he has met both Daschle and Thune, and he praised the minority leader for "bringing big [federal] dollars into the state." But Tollefson, who owns a business that makes components for telecommunications products, said he will vote for Thune. "I've met him, I like him. He's a wholesome guy," he said. "I'm not a liberal Democrat. I'm afraid Tom is."

(Emphases added.) It is rather remarkable that it's the Washington Post that coined the phrase "Daschle fatigue," rather than the bloggers. It's also worth noting that only one person (Karl Mundt) has been elected to a fourth term in the Senate in the state's history. Both George McGovern and Larry Pressler were defeated when they sought a fourth term. I think the notion that it's time for a changing of the guard will definitely be a factor in this race.

Local flavor added to Swiftboat vets controversy

Col. George E. "Bud" Day, the man pictured to the left, is the most decorated officer since Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and was Senator John McCain's cellmate in the Hanoi Hilton. In John McCain's book, "Faith of My Fathers," McCain credits Day with saving his life (pg. 200). Col. Day is also one of The University of South Dakota School of Law's most prominent alumni, and gave the keynote address to the law school's class of 2004, the class I graduated with. The tale behind his Medal of Honor decoration is awe-inspiring.

Today, Col. Day weighed in on the controversy surrounding John Kerry and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, firmly on the side of the latter. You can read the letter in its entirety at the No Pundit Intended blog. Excerpt from Col. Day's letter:

The major issue in the Swiftboat stories is, and always has been, what John Kerry did in 1971 after he returned from Vietnam.

Kerry cast a long dark shadow over all Vietnam Veterans with his outright perjury before the Senate concerning atrocities in Vietnam. His stories to the Senate committee were absolute lies.. fabrications.. perjury.. fantasies, with NO substance. That dark shadow has defamed the entire Vietnam War veteran population, and gave "Aid and Comfort" to our enemies..the Vietnamese Communists. Kerry's stories were outright fabrications, and were intended for political gain with the radical left..McGovern, Teddy and Bobby Kennedy followers, Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, and the radical left who fantasized that George McGovern was going to be elected in 1972. Little wonder that returning soldiers from Vietnam were spit upon and castigated as "baby killers". A returned war hero said so....

My friend and room mate Senator John S. McCain denounced the Swiftboat video by John O'Neil. I have a different take on the Swiftboat tape and disagree with my good friend John.
John Kerry opened up his character as a war hero reporting for duty to the country with a hand salute...and his band of brothers..of which he was the chief hero. Most of his convention speech was about John Kerry..Vietnam hero, and his band of brothers. John Kerry's character is not only fair game, it is the primary issue. He wants to use Bill Clinton's "is", as an answer to his lack of character....

John Kerry for President? Ridiculous. Unthinkable. Unbelievable. Outrageous.

When will the Argus Leader endorse Daschle?

DVT has initiated a countdown, counting down the days until the Argus Leader endorses Senator Daschle. DVT also urges the AL to forego the charade of interviewing candidates Daschle and Thune before writing its endorsement and just endorse Daschle as soon as possible.

DVT also notes that the great defenders of free speech at the Argus Leader editorial board think that five debates in the biggest Senate race in the country are enough. Leave it to the Argus Leader editorial board to defend the indefensible proposition that there is such a thing as too many debates.

Daschle the isolationist

If you haven't already, be sure to read Q's insights and analysis of Senator Daschle's appearance at a barbecue here in Vermillion last night. Excerpt:

Most interestingly though Daschle continued his "America First" attitude that DVT mentioned earlier today. Daschle mentioned that we should fully fund all the road projects in South Dakota before we build roads in Iraq. Daschle mentioned that if we can fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we need to fund our programs at home first. He later mentioned the rising cost of health care and college tuition as some of the programs that we need to fund before we fund our projects overseas.

Daschle's rhetoric definitely tugs at the heart strings. However, the more I think about it the more dangerous his words are. I completely agree that we need to take care of things at home. We can't just forget about the war on terror though. We were attacked on our own soil September 11th 2001. Things will come and go in my lifetime but I will never forget what happened that day. If driving on some bumpy roads for a couple of extra years makes sure the appropriate funds are given to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, I'll gladly make that trade-off.

Don Frankenfeld

Senator Daschle's latest tear-stained ad, in which he has his four Republican supporters decry negative ads, ends with a scene depicting an avuncular fellow by the name of Don Frankenfeld. Frankenfeld makes the following statement:

"Ads that attack Senator Daschle in a way that is unfair, it's nonsense, and it's got to stop."

Considering this Daschle ad is in response to a US Chamber of Commerce ad criticizing Daschle's coziness with "wealthy trial lawyers" and blocking medical malpractice reform at the behest of these wealthy trial lawyers, it's interesting to note that Don Frankenfeld is in the business of offering expert witness services to trial lawyers. At his business website, Frankenfeld even has an audio excerpt of Senator Daschle plugging his business at the 2003 ATLA convention in San Francisco. It would seem that Frankenfeld has a pecuniary interest in appearing in these Daschle ads.

I discussed Frankenfeld's ties to Daschle in a long post earlier this year.

Daschle plays up his victim status with tear-stained e-mails

Rapid City Journal political reporter Denise Ross has a piece in today's edition headlined "Campaign ads go on the attack." Excerpt:

The chamber's $300,000 investment over two weeks outpaced the ad spending of either campaign, according to Daschle's campaign. Daschle's campaign workers pointed out a corresponding drop in Thune's own planned TV spending during the two weeks the chamber ads will run.

Daschle said his Republican challenger should intervene.

"If John does detest negative ads as much as he says, then now is the time to stand up for the people of South Dakota and tell his friends that South Dakota deserves better," Daschle said in a news release.

Then, Daschle's campaign sent out an e-mail, the ink smeared by tears over the deplorable ads, with a link for supporters to give money to Daschle's campaign so something can be done about this.

Then the Daschle campaign put up its own ad, with a string of Republicans decrying negative ads and one calling directly on Thune to "stop running negative ads." Then Thune's campaign manager called Daschle a liar.

"John Thune has not aired a negative ad. They are lying and run their own negative ad when they accuse him of doing so," Dick Wadhams said.

(Emphasis added.) I don't quite understand why Daschle is so troubleddisappointedalarmed by these Chamber of Commerce ads. The ad says that Daschle "killed medical malpractice lawsuit reform" and "sided with the wealthy trial lawyers." Well, that's indisputable. Daschle is happy to take trial lawyer money (they're his biggest donors) and receive awards in New York City for blocking tort reform. If Daschle is proud to be a strong voice for trial lawyers in New York, why is he bemoaning the fact that the Chamber of Commerce is letting South Dakotans know he's a strong voice for trial lawyers?

Daschle jumps the gun on victimhood

A prominent feature of Senator Daschle's campaign is to cast himself as a victim of the "evil Republicans" (to use Argus Leader editor Patrick Lalley's phrase) and their negative ads. The problem is that in order to cast himself as a victim of a negative ad, there first has to be a negative ad. This week, Daschle has reached into his grab bag of video footage showing people castigating negative ads and produced a new ad which contains the following quote from a woman named Kris Graham:

"As a Republican, I would like to tell John Thune to stop running the negative ads."

Um, John Thune has not run a single negative ad. The fact that the Daschle campaign would run this quote in an ad is itself negative, because it maliciously distorts John Thune's record. When the Argus Leader and KELO-TV run an "Ad Watch" of this ad (and they should) the fact that John Thune has not run a single negative ad should be reported if they are interested in accurately reporting the whole story.

Isn't it interesting that Daschle is so eager to be a victim that he's willing to conjure up a phantom negative ad made by Thune? The paranoia* must have finally reached the delusional stage.

DVT has more.

*Tom Daschle's campaign motto is "Only the paranoid survive."

Daschle to propose return of Wind Cave National Park?

DVT writes that there is speculation that the deal struck between Tim Giago and Tom Daschle that will "shock and surprise" observers is a proposal to return Wind Cave National Park to the Sioux.

Ryne McClaren has more HERE and HERE.

New blogs of note

First, don't forget to read Greg Belfrage's blog, as he will now be posting everyday, and will have a daily feature on his radio show called "Blogging Item of the Day."

I've also discovered a couple of new blogs that I think are worth perusing. First, John LaPlante, who recently posted to the Detroit News blog about the Dakota Alliance, e-mailed me today and informed me of his blog, "PolicyGuy."

Also, closer to home, I ran across a blog called "shirleyruminations" in my referral log, written by Anne Shirley. Anne lives in Garretson, SD and blogs about politics, Catholicism, mothering, etc. Speaking of Catholicism, there still hasn't been anything in the Argus Leader about this.

Daschle's "word of honor"

DVT noted recently that the "August meeting" Tom Daschle promised to hold with tribal leaders in exchange for prominent Native American journalist Tim Giago dropping his independent Senate bid has yet to come to fruition. There's eight days left in August, and, according to a recent editorial in the Lakota Journal headlined "To be or not to be" (PDF) the Daschle campaign is "clueless" about whether a meeting will even be held. What makes this development so rich in irony is the front page, top of the fold headline from the April 23-30, 2004 edition of the Lakota Journal announcing Giago's withdrawal: "On Daschle's word of honor, Giago drops out."

Here's a blow-up of the photograph of Daschle and Giago meeting at the Rodeway Inn Restaurant in Rapid City:

The photograph's caption reads: "Tom Daschle and Tim Giago met for a discussion of important Indian issues at the Rodeway Inn Restaurant in Rapid City on April 17."

In the story, Giago was quoted at length about Daschle meeting with tribal leaders in August. Excerpt from the April LJ story:

Although neither party was ready to discuss the specific ideas that were raised during the meeting, Giago said he an Daschle hope to initiate a gathering of tribal leaders and government officials in the near future in order to discuss methods of settling ongoing Native American issues that he said have been disputed for more than a century.

"A lot of the things that were discussed I can't discuss here," Giago said. "Tom wants to speak with the tribal leadership first--he wants to meet with tribal leaders in August. At that time, the issues that were discussed on Saturday will be laid out for input from the tribal leadership."

"Tim and I had a very important, thorough discussion about Native American issues," Daschle said. "We shared ideas about working with the government and the tribes to bring economic change to the reservations. We discussed a possible meeting with tribal leaders other government officials in August in an effort to bring people together."

Giago said, "Every Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota will be shocked and surprised at some of the issues Senator Daschle will bring forth."...

Giago has high hopes for Daschle's commitment to Indian issues and trusts that the Senator will keep his word.

"At the end of our meeting [on Saturday], we shook hands," Giago said. "I told him if he follows through on the things we discussed, I would throw my full support behind him. He shook my hand and said, 'You have my word of honor.'"

In 1978, Daschle gave his word of honor in a letter to constituents saying he would "do everything in my power to persuade others that abortion is wrong" and enclosed a letter from eight nuns in Aberdeen vouching for Daschle's veracity on the subject. In 1986, Daschle sent a letter to constituents stating "The truth is that I am unalterably opposed to abortion on demand" and enclosed a letter from a pastor vouching for Daschle's veracity on the subject. You can read a pdf copy of all of these letters by clicking HERE. Now, of course, Tom Daschle writes fundraising letters on behalf of NARAL boasting about how he "stood up for a woman's right to choose."

The point is that it seems when Daschle gives his word of honor, he's hoping you have a bad memory.

South Dakota Senate race on "Meet the Press"

Here's a portion of the transcript of the debate between Senator Corzine and Senator Allen regarding South Dakota's Senate race on yesterday's "Meet the Press":

MR. RUSSERT: Let's look at South Dakota: the Democratic leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle, against former Congressman John Thune. Tom Daschle, leader of the Democrats, in a very close race, Senator Corzine.

SEN. CORZINE: He's got a 59 percent approval rating. He's 7 or 8 points ahead of where Tim Johnson was against the same candidate at the same time in the 2002 election. Tom Daschle is known by everybody in South Dakota as somebody who cares about their interests and fights for them. In fact, often I think some of the actions or the votes and the leadership that he shows on farm issues, which are certainly South Dakota's interests, are not in New Jersey's interests. I think this is a man who represents the people of South Dakota. He has very effectively, and I think that South Dakota appreciates having a national voice, a leadership voice, in the United States Senate.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Allen, there used to be some collegiality; when there was a leader of the other party running for re-election, there was not a direct attack against him. This time Senator Bill Frist, the Republican leader, went to South Dakota to campaign against Tom Daschle. The Bush White House has invested everything to topple Tom Daschle. Why?

SEN. ALLEN: Because he's the chief obstructionist on so many issues, whether it's tax cuts, whether it's energy policy, whether it is fair consideration of judges. The people of South Dakota, yeah, they do know Tom Daschle. And he has spent $9 million--$9 million--since January of last year and can't break 50 percent. It's about 48-45 right now. And for $9 million, for a state like Virginia, that would be like $90 million being spent and can't break 50. John Thune is a positive, constructive leader who will represent South Dakota values. Tim Johnson's not the same as Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle has to carry the water for Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy and all of these views that are so contrary to the values of the people of South Dakota. The fact that Bill Frist went into South Dakota shows that a leader is vulnerable. When in history has a leader of any party ever been so vulnerable? You didn't see folks going in against Bob Dole because no one's going to beat Bob Dole.

MR. RUSSERT: And Tom Daschle and John Thune will debate right here on MEET THE PRESS on September 19.

Can you believe that there won't be another debate between Daschle and Thune until nearly a month from now? The Rapid City Journal noted yesterday that, to date, there have been no debates scheduled to be held West River. That's appalling. John Thune has accepted every debate offer from every legitimate group in South Dakota. At the close of the debate at Dakotafest in Mitchell last week, Senator Daschle said that debates are "great" and was "democracy in action." Well, let's have more democracy in action!

Daschle responds to WSJ "Daschle's Dead Zone" piece

A reader has forwarded Senator Daschle's response to the July 22, 2004 Wall Street Journal editorial headlined "Daschle's Dead Zone." Below is the entire text of that response:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the recent Wall Street Journal editorial expressing frustration and assigning blame for what they consider to be the lack of legislative progress in the Senate. I appreciate this opportunity to respond to the Journal's less-than-full picture of events.

Right-wing pundits and the Republican congressional leadership have used the "obstructionist" label in an effort to both generate momentum for their policy agenda and explain where it has failed. However, there is another side to this story. Where some see Democratic obstructionism, others see an unwillingness on the part of the Republican leadership to negotiate with those senators with whom they disagree. Our Founding Fathers consciously structured the legislature as a place where opposing views are discussed and legislation is negotiated, not dictated. And that is what is happening here.

First, the editorial cites the failure to complete action on three specific bills - the corporate tax bill, welfare reuthorization legislation, and class action reform - as examples of Democratic "obstructionism." The facts belie that claim.

With regard to the corporate tax bill, the Senate passed the bill on May 11, and I called for its swift consideration in the House of Representatives. The House did not schedule action on the bill until June 16, more than a month later. As soon as the House did act, the Senate agreed to the appointment of a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills. However, to date, the House has still not appointed its members, or conferees, so the conference has not yet begun. The Senate has not delayed this bill; to the contrary, the Senate has done everything it could to expedite its passage. On this bill, the ball is clearly in the House of Representatives' court.

On welfare reauthorization, although I worked with Majority Leader Bill Frist to bring the bill to the Senate floor in March, he withdrew it after only one amendment had been considered. An August 8 Washington Post article may shed some additional perspective on this and similar bills. It reports, "Frist tends to shift to a different bill when he hits legislative roadblocks, rather than grind through tough negotiations that would
probably involve concessions to political opponents."

The Journal correctly asserts that over 60 senators were expected to support the class action reform. What they neglect to mention is that the Majority Leader refused to work with Democratic and Republican senators who wanted to offer amendments to the bill, which is their legislative right. Soon after the Senate turned to the bill, while a Republican amendment was pending, Majority Leader Frist filed cloture to cut off further debate. As a result, the bill received only 44 votes. And it is important to note the bill failed due to bipartisan opposition to the Majority Leader's attempts to silence legitimate debate. Conservative columnist Robert Novak's take on the vote: "Republicans pulled defeat from the jaws of victory."

The Journal editorial also uses a graphic containing a list of bills that have allegedly ended up in the "Senate Graveyard." When combined with the provocative title of the editorial - "Daschle's Dead Zone" - the clear,
but false implication is that I am responsible for blocking the items listed in the graphic. Again, a closer look at the record reveals the truth.

On energy legislation, I voted in favor of cutting off debate on the bill last fall, much to the distress of many of my Democratic colleagues. The reason the energy bill has not been passed this year is because the Republican leadership in the House insists on retaining a provision to protect polluters of ground water, without which the bill would easily have the support it needs to achieve passage. Every time the bill has been brought up in the Senate, I have voted for it.

With regard to extending middle-class tax cuts, on July 22, the White House killed a bipartisan plan to extend these tax cuts for two years, and further discussions have been postponed until September. That plan was agreed to by key Senate and House Republican leaders, but torpedoed by the White House.

And as for bankruptcy reform, the flag burning amendment, and pension security, the Republican leadership has not yet called any of these bills up for consideration in the Senate.

Finally, charges of "obstructionism" ignore the fact that I have worked with the President and the Republican-controlled Congress on many issues, from the slate of post-September 11 proposals Congress enacted, to corporate accountability legislation, to the forest health bill. In the last seven months alone, Senate Democrats have cooperated in moving forward on legislation that funds nearly every aspect of our government, pension funding equity, victims' rights legislation, and defense reauthorization and appropriations bills. We've reached an agreement on appointing conferees for the transportation bill and finalized an agreement with the White House on judicial nominations. In total, the Senate has confirmed over 95 percent of the President's judges.

I understand why the Wall Street Journal editorial frustrates you. I hope presenting a broader perspective on the Journal's charges will give you a fuller understanding of what actually happened in these instances. Thanks again for contacting me.

With best wishes, I am

Sincerely,

Tom Daschle

United States Senate

TAD/spm