South Dakota Politics

A Rumor of Treason Among Democrats

A shocking story is currently circulating among our regional blogs.  The original posting seems to be at AVT.  I reproduce most of it here:

Peter Cari - The head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) saw a troubling trend in October 2004. Word began leaking from the Daschle Voter ID program that a number of respondents were Thune and Herseth voters.

Sources close to Cari say on October 17th, 2004 he placed an emergency call to Herseth. He laid out her two choices. Herseth could let the Daschle team throw out the Thune/Herseth voters and risk a narrow win - or follow a secret plan.

Herseth instructed Cari to initiate a complicated computer subterfuge on the Daschle Voter ID program. Using a cryptic formula developed by a Cari staffer - the Herseth campaign downloaded a "virus" into the South Dakota Democratic voter turnout program that "masked" Thune/Herseth voters as Daschle/Herseth voters.

I take it for granted that AVT is faithfully reporting what it has heard, but I note that the "sources close to Cari" are not identified.  For that reason I think we have to consider the story suspicious at this point, and accordingly I call it a rumor. 

But if it is a fabrication, it is a very intelligent one, for it raises a very interesting question.  As the election approached both sides were using their voter ID programs to figure out who should be encouraged to vote and, just as important, who should not be encouraged to vote.  It must surely be the case that the Democrats identified many voters who were planning to vote for Herseth but against Daschle.  What would the Democratic party do with those names?  Herseth probably figured she had the election in the bag, but it would have taken a lot of nerve to sacrifice some of her voting strength in order to protect Daschle. 

It will be interesting to see what Peter Cari has to say about this, and whether any of the unnamed sources are willing to go on the record.  It would also be interesting to inquire what the Thune campaign did with the opposite problem.  I am sure that they went after every last voter and had to regard the Diedrich campaign as expendable.  Its what I would have done.

Only the "stealth virus" part of the story indicates a scandal, but what a scandal if its true!

Hitting Close to Home?

Here’s Powerline:

It seems to me that many Democrats--not a majority, probably, but certainly most of the party's core--have gone into a state of permanent opposition. No election is ever over. No administration not favored by them can ever be legitimate. This is, I think, something new in American history--or modern history, anyway. In the past, elections were hard-fought, but when they were over, the lawn signs came down and life went on. Hatreds were not nursed--not, at least, on the mass scale that we see today. And people, by and large, accepted the quaint idea that once a government had been chosen by the majority, people should accept it and even, in foreign policy at least, give it their support.

For many, today, unrelenting opposition has become not just a political position, but a way of life.

Sounds like some Brown County Democrats.  I await the cries of "malignancy," "propoganda" and "derogation."  Let's not forget "oppressive," "Stalinist," and something about "new depths of depravity."  Or words to that effect. 
 

Luckily I Had Already Eaten

Here's a picture of Condi Rice in Asia that I didn't need to see.  This is one of the drawbacks of being a female Secretary of State:

The Front

Prof. Blanchard notes the latest fumes emanating from the Brown County Democratic Party. I see his argument and raise him. What is with the left and their newfound hatred of the Soviet Union? The progeny of Henry Wallace now sound like born-again Cold Warriors in their invocation of the Evil Empire to scare folks away from conservative bloggers. Prof. Blanchard notes this passage:

South Dakota yearns for the nostalgic days of Larry Pressler. The difference is that the Bush Kremlin is supplying the words and the tactics.

And I would add this one for good measure.

Coporate [sic] America and its puppet government, the Bush administration, has other plans. It is working hard to reverse the headway made by labor, by conservationists, and by human rights advocates. If America is to be, people may well have to find another place for it. And if South Dakota with its level of poverty and its gulags is an indicator, that place won't be in America.

So South Dakota’s correctional facilities are likened to the Soviet gulag system. One never knows what to make of the Northern Valley Beacon as the first time we pointed out the shortcomings of the Bush Administration-Joseph Stalin analogy we were told that they were just joking, but the references keep coming up. I guess they NVB doesn’t know when to let a joke die. And now here is a passage from an editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which was noticed by Powerline:

In other words, Republicans for decades have wanted to control the press much as Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler did, by attacking and attempting to discredit independent journalism, and for them blogs are just the latest tool in their war. That's definitely newsworthy, but outside of the blogosphere, few publications will dare state this.

What is it that has Stalin on the minds of the leftists? Should we look to Dr. Freud and diagnose a case of transference? I don’t know. Certainly the NVB needs a refresher in history. I suggest they look at Anne Applebaum’s Pulitzer Prize winning history of the gulag, just published two years ago. Does South Dakota round up people for their political beliefs? Do we ship them to prisons in cattle cars, giving them no food and no place to relieve themselves? Do we make them slave outdoors in sub-zero temperatures and make them suffer on below subsistence levels of daily caloric intake? Do we make them take cold showers in freezing temperatures? Is death of inmates a matter of course in South Dakota prisons? Because, my dear Brown Country Democrats, that is what happened in the real gulag.

Then you get this strange pathology of the Brown County Democrats where they believe that American politics, and certainly South Dakota politics, is unsalvageable, making resignation and surrender the best options. That’s an odd position for a political party hoping to win elections. When the Democratic Party was moribund in this state in the 1950s, I don’t recall George McGovern giving up and plying his wares elsewhere. He built a competitive party from the bottom up. He did this not by whining, but by going out and convincing people with solid arguments. I bet he never once compared his opponents to Hitler or Stalin. Because that would have been silly and counter-productive. But then you have the statement above (the one with the gulag reference) from the current Democrats that suggests that there is no justice in South Dakota and America, so decent people must look elsewhere for hope.

This leads me to my conclusion. What kind of party constantly exaggerates the claims about its opponents, referring to them in the vilest terms that can only alienate large sections of the electorate? What kind of party regularly insults the character of those who think differently, accusing them of harboring secret sympathies with the most murderous regimes in history? What kind of party then suggests that the battle for justice is lost and is not worth fighting any more? This would be a party that actively seeks to loose elections. It would be a party that does not want power. This would be a party that wants the other side to win. Thus I can only conclude that the Northern Valley Beacon and the Brown County Democrats are only clever fronts for the Brown County Republicans. Since most any South Dakotan reading the NVB would be shocked at the bile posted there, and no political party would be so foolish as to alienate virtually every voter in the state, it must be a devious plan by those conniving Republicans to pretend to be intemperate and defeatist Democrats, thus further tarnishing the name of a once great Democratic Party. Although I am not a registered Republican, I am a card-carrying member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (although I shouldn’t announce that conspiracy in public, perhaps), and so I have my sympathies with the Republicans. I can only say to them: Keep up the good work at the Northern Valley Beacon. Much more and soon they’ll all be voting Republican (at this point he cackles and twirls the end of his Snidely Whiplash mustache).  

The Senate

There is an ongoing debate in the Senate about the Democrats' consistent use of the filibuster and whether the GOP should limit the ability of the Democrats to filibuster judges.  Such changes have been denounced as Hitlerian by Democratic Senator Byrd of West Virginia.  But in the past he's been happy to limit filibuster power:

In fact, Sen. Byrd is often credited with pioneering the Senate procedure he now derides as a denial of free speech and a threat to our liberties. Recall that it was Sen. Byrd who led the charge to establish new Senate precedents in 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1987 - including a number of precedents that were designed specifically to stop filibusters and other delay tactics that were previously authorized under Senate rules or prior precedents.

Read the whole thing as you'll be hearing lots more about this in coming months.

Picture of the Day

I meant to post this earlier, but this was taken when leaving North Africa.  No commentary on our allies.  We just report, you decide:

More of the Same

LGF is being attacked over in Minnesota by a Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist who makes things up and, yet again, compares Republicans and bloggers to Stalin and Hitler.  A few readers have asked if I submitted my column to the Argus noting the errors in the recent hit piece/column by the editor Randell Beck.  Yes, it was sent in on Thursday.  Unfortunately, it can only be 500 words (Beck's was 2,800).  Here it is, if you're interested: Download arguscolumnBECK.doc. 

Guest List

AVT has the list of dinner speakers for the Daschle return-to-SD-dinner on April 5.

Bishop of Sioux Falls

The pile of stuff to read that I missed last week is dwindling.  Here's a Dave Kranz column I missed which discusses the former Bishop of Sioux Falls Robert Carlson, abortion, and the last election.  Excerpt:

Carlson became the subject of letters to South Dakota newspapers, praising him for his stand; criticizing him for telling people how to vote.

He frequently clashed with former Sen. Tom Daschle over abortion. Daschle once took his disagreement with the bishop to the Senate floor. Even though Carlson and Daschle never acknowledge it, at least one story in the national press said Carlson told Daschle he could no longer call himself Catholic.

In the aftermath of Daschle’s defeat, his staff pointed to Carlson as a prominent reason for that outcome. He didn’t shun credit.

News of Carlson’s transfer to Saginaw fueled new discussion about the reason for the transfer. Either he was promoted for helping defeat Daschle, or the unlikely scenario that he was penalized by the Catholic Church for his political action.

Now I understand better this letter which appears in today's Argus Leader:

David Kranz's March 8 speculation for Bishop Robert Carlson's move to Saginaw, Mich., was ridiculous. Bishop Carlson's move to Saginaw has nothing to do with the Sen. Tom Daschle-abortion issue. Nor was it a penalty for his political action.

John Paul II looked at Bishop Carlson's track record in the Sioux Falls diocese - his ordaining of 33 men to the priesthood in 11 years, his loyalty to the magisterium, his administrative acumen, and said, "We can use him in another diocese."

Bishop Carlson said to his priests, "I expect obedience from my priests, so I could not do less than to go to Saginaw out of obedience to the Holy Father."

Fr. Charles J. Duman Salem

Ram Test

Rapid City Journal: "A Saturday, March 12, educational program at Hettinger Research and Extension Center will give sheep producers a chance to see how rams performed in the 2004-05 Dakota Ram Test Program."  Hmm, not sure what that is exactly.  The article also notes that "manager Larry Prager of Center of the Nation Wool in Belle Fourche will discuss current wool market trends. He will also discuss making ram selection decisions based on wool performance information."

ACLU v. South Dakota

Here's a story in today's Argus Leader which discusses a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against Charles Mix County, which attempted to force the county to re-draw its county commission districts.  In order to re-draw the lines, which apparently is only done every ten years, the county successfully sought a state law this winter which would allow them re-draw the lines at a different time.  The ACLU brought suit against that move too.  Anyway, note this sentence from the story:

The Charles Mix case is the seventh voting rights lawsuit the ACLU has filed in South Dakota since 1999.

That is quite interesting.  It would be good if somebody would synthesize all the information from those suits and explain what it all means.

Jobs

Argus Leader: "40% of Sioux Falls companies plan to hire new workers."

Carnival

SDBW's Carnival of SD Newspapers is up.  Teaser: "Couple marries at Pamida" (where yours truly worked for 3 years, but witnessed no nuptials).  SDBW has also posted an 'expanded' version of the SD State Bar Newsletter.

Highway Bill and SD Lobbyist

SDBW:

Good narrative by Argus V. Thune regarding the extra work by South Dakota lobbyists to shore up Fedral Highway Funds. John DeVierno, of the Wunder et al law firm -- has always lobbied for S.D. transportation (as well as other western states). As usual, AVT's information is dead on, but the only problem is that Raider forgets about the retainer already paid by the state for these services. Herseth dropped the ball, but the extra cost to taxpayers was minimal.

Our Blog and Theirs

The Northern Valley Beacon has again turned its sputtering, yellowed beam to us.  Or at least I think its us.  Consider the following:

The Thune Goons are reproducing his press releases extolling what John Thune is doing for South Dakota highway construction.

Since we have been reporting on such press accounts, I suspect its us they are talking about.  I take this as an occasion to compare our blog with theirs.

1.  We blog in our own names.  Consequently, each of us has to take personal responsibility for what he posts.  NVB blogs are signed either by pseudonyms, or "David Newquist."  But the latter are said to represent the contributions of unnamed participants.  So when they slander us, they do so anonymously.  Any informed reader will understand what kind of device the anonymous accusation is.

2.  When we criticize their content, we clearly identify them, quote liberally, and provide links to their blog.  Initially I went to the trouble of notifying them to make certain they had the opportunity to respond.  They do not return the favor, leaving their readers no easy way to find out whether their accusations are well founded or not.

3.  We attack their writings, and indeed the writings and speeches of other Democrats locally and nationally.  We are conservative Republicans, what are we supposed to do?  But we never question their motives.  We assume they are honestly expressing their own opinions.  They attack our persons.  We are "goons." 

4.  They accuse us of ad hominem attacks, but (oddly for a blog run by a retired professor) they do not seem to know what the term means.  We never try to undermine their arguments by reference to their person (how could we, since we don't know who they are?) or by associating them with unsavory persons.  But consider the following:

South Dakota yearns for the nostalgic days of Larry Pressler. The difference is that the Bush Kremlin is supplying the words and the tactics. Notice that the same posts that praise Thune spend so much time mao-mauing the Democrats in the Dakotas. They howl in wounded rage and get indignant when someone points out that they are using the same propaganda techniques used by the less savory regimes of recent history.

This is a textbook ad hominem: our arguments are discredited because we are communist infiltrators serving the "Bush Kremlin,"  and because they are like those of  " less savory  regimes." 

5.  We do not consider South Dakota Democrats to be bad people.  I have in the last week attended a dinner party and the next day a Sunday School class with folk who had Daschle and Kerry signs on their property.  These folk are salt of the earth.  Once a month I attend a small gathering of gentlemen (if I may include myself) that is about evenly divided, party wise.  Our friendship is based precisely on the disagreements we have.  That, in my book, is America.  But the NVB thinks that the Dakotans who voted for Thune, and the Americans who voted for Bush, are so stupid and corrupt that they don't want to share the same country with them anymore.  The NVB frequently talks about going somewhere else (Canada?) to refound America.  I implore them to reconsider.  As long as they are around, we are bound to look sober and moderate by comparison.

More Snow-blogging

From about 3:00 PM in Sioux Falls.

Governor Vetoes Scholarship Bill

Argus Leader/JOE KAFKA:

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Mike Rounds has vetoed a bill that would cut the amount of state scholarship money for future college students.  Details of the veto were not immediately available Friday.

I assume this means that the Governor wants the scholarship program to be fully funded, something that has strong support here at SDPolitics. 

Dakota Radicalism

Political radicalism from the left is the exception in the Dakotas, it seems safe to say, but there were strong socialist movements in certain counties during the late 1800s, which Bill Pratt, a historian at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has famously written about.  Some parts of the old NFO and NFU were also inclined toward radicalism.  Anyway, there does seem to be some new radical voices in South Dakota, a development which tracks certain national trends.  In 1999, for example, when I attended the massive protests against the WTO in Seattle, I met a number of anarchists, a movement which is growing (see some stuff here) and would seem part of the political polarization of the country the commentators always talk about.  Anyway, there is a blog in SD entitled "Tokala Resistance: Sowing Seeds of Revolt on the Dakota Prairie" which is part of this movement, as is the "Great Plains Anarchist Network."  This week, the "Tokala Resistance" (a key leader is apparently "Stan," who often comments on Mt. Blogmore) was part of a state-wide "Day of Dissent" againt the nation's current foreign policy.  Excerpt:

3/19-Day of Dissent Across South Dakota

It's inspiring to see our fairly revolutionary movements spread across the plains and swell in number. Few journalists (or Republicans, thank god) have even noticed, but we rebels are shaking things up like never before. In Vermillion, especially, the Community for Peace and Justice has quickly become the most influential and active student group at USD. Now the CPJ is sending organizers to other regional hotspots to get things going. Watch South Dakota in the next five years-the entire political landscape will be turned upside-down soon enough.

From the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center:

The President and his minions lie us into Iraq.
They lure our youth into the lethal, corrupting
kill-or-be-killed hell of war and occupation. They
won't rest till they screw the whole world and all it's
oil down tight under their imperial control. They
announce they will continue to devour all the youth
and treasure until the global war on terror (GWOT) is
won -- meaning, until all the people they infuriate
with their infuriating behavior (a.k.a. "terrorists)
cease being infuriated.

WE're not making this up. This week both
Bush and Blair prepared us to accept occupation of
Iraq for a long, long, long time. Ditto for Afghanistan,
according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General
Myers. In other words, PERPETUAL WAR!

The US House, SD's lone US Rep. included, has
just voted to give the President his $80 billion+ war
supplemental -- with no end in sight. Don't just sit
there. March 19 is a day to signal Congress and
your fellow citizens a big, fat NO. Publicly refuse
to accept the lying, killing, and imperial conquest.
Bring friends to make the NO bigger.

Blogs, North Dakota, and Kent Conrad

Powerline:

As South Dakota went. . .

I find it a bit shocking that North Dakota is represented by two Democrats who, unlike Tim Johnson of South Dakota, don't make much of an effort to conceal their liberalism. This state of affairs may end in 2006. Roll Call reports that popular Republican Governor John Hoeven (re-elected with 71 percent of the vote) is likely to run against Kent Conrad. Via PoliPundit.

UPDATE: Brett Narloch has started a blog called "Taking Back North Dakota" that is dedicated to working against Senator Conrad's re-election. We wish Brett well, and hope to have occasion to visit his blog often.

Judges

Washington Times:

An overwhelming majority of Americans — 82 percent — think qualified candidates for the nation's highest courts deserve an up-or-down vote in the Senate, while a similar majority wants partisan politics removed from the judicial confirmation process.
    "This sort of shoots what Harry Reid, Robert Byrd and others are saying about the right to filibuster right out of the water, huh?" says Washington publicist Mark Coyle, referring to recent remarks by the Democratic senators from Nevada and West Virginia respectively.

Has anyone asked Senator Tim Johnson if he favors judicial filibusters?

St. Urho v. St. Patrick

One of the few identifiably Finnish towns in South Dakota is Lake Norden (where there's a big cheese plant going up).  A student tells me Lake Norden will be having its St. Urho celebration this weekend with a parade.  Who is St. Urho?  I'm glad you asked.  Here's some info:

The legend of St. Urho began in Northern Minnesota in the 1950s. However, there are differing opinions as to whether it began with the fables created by Sulo Havumaki of Bemidji, or the tongue-in-cheek tales told by Richard Mattson of Virginia. Either way, the legend has grown among Finnish-Americans to the point where St. Urho is known across the United States and Canada, and even in Finland.

St. Urho's Day is celebrated on March 16th, the day prior to the better known feast of some minor saint from Ireland, who was alleged to have driven the snakes from that island.

The legend says St. Urho chased the grasshoppers out of ancient Finland, thus saving the grape crop and the jobs of Finnish vineyard workers. He did this by uttering the phrase: "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen" (roughly translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Hell!").

Of course, if you read 19th century South Dakota histories one of the contant problems is grasshopper infestations so this is a good holiday for SD.  One of my little projects is to collect ethnic data on the founding of SD towns, so when you run across fun stuff, please send it in. 

Snow-blogging

About 8 inches on the ground this morning as I got in the car to go to the university.

This tree had no snow in it last night.

Wyoming's Sen. Enzi to save Terri Schiavo?

Matt Drudge has quite an exclusive on the 11th hour fight to save Terri Schiavo:

**Exclusive Fri Mar 18 2005 00:50:07 ET** The Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual.

Members of Congress went to the U.S. Attorney in DC to ask for a temporary restraining order to be issued by a judge, which protects Terri Schiavo from having her life support, including her feeding and hydration tubes, removed... Developing...

The deadline for the removal of the Terri's feeding tube will be the big news story today.  Will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

UPDATE (12:12 am): Here is the AP story.

No Shamrock for Gerry Adams

Its a good question whether the Bush administration has the will to treat all enemies of freedom and democracy with the same reasonable contempt that they showed to Yasser Arafat.  Probably not.  But you have to give them credit for doing so whenever they can.  Gerry Adams, the Godfather of Sinn Fein, a gagle of  organized criminals masquerading as freedom fighters, has been invited to the White House for St. Paddy's Day merriment for several years now.  But not this year.  This from Gerard Baker at the London Times:

IT WAS GOOD not to see Gerry Adams at the White House yesterday. Not to have to watch as the leader of the free world exchanged pleasantries and shamrock with the Hibernian branch of the International Brotherhood of bin Ladens and Zarqawis. Not to have to listen as that charmless brogue touchingly recommitted itself to the promotion of peace and justice for all. Not to have to turn away in disgust at the whole grisly exercise in hypocrisy and cant and shamelessness.

Instead the White House hosted the McCartney sisters, whose brother was ruthlessly murdered by a bunch of IRA thugs.  In this world, that is what passes for progress.

The Grim Reaper

 

Today in the US Senate, the Democrats objected to a unanimous consent request to hear a bill aimed at saving Terry Shiavo's life.

Powerline notes a 2003 column by Yale Professor David Gelernter (a Unibomber victim, if I recollect well) regarding the attempts to kill Terry Schiavo in Florida. I find this passage most convincing:

When we have condemned a criminal to death, it is remarkable how patient we are in extending his life. So long as there are legal paths to follow, we follow them; and the courts are apt to postpone the execution. Both aspects of the process speak well for us: that we are willing (however painful it may be for us -- and it gets more painful every year) to execute murderers; and that we are in no hurry to, and will search on and on for a convincing reason not to.

With the likes of Mrs. Schiavo, we are a lot less patient. The governor can grant a stay of execution when a condemned murderer's life is on the line. Mrs. Schiavo's stay required that the whole Florida legislature mobilize for action. The frightening question is: What happens to the next Mrs. Schiavo? And the next plus a hundred or a thousand? How much attention will the public and the legislature be able to muster for this sort of thing over the years? The war against Judeo-Christian morality is a war of attrition. Time is on the instigators' side. They have all the patience in the world, and all the patients. If this one lives, there is always the next. After all, it's the principle of the thing.

For years, thoughtful people have argued that "reasons for taking a human life" should not be treated as a growing list. There are valid reasons to do it, and they have been agreed for millennia. If the list has to change, better to shorten than lengthen it.

Thoughtful people have argued: Once you start footnoting innocent human life, you are in trouble. Innocent life must not be taken... unless (here come the footnotes) the subject is too small, sick, or depressed to complain. One footnote, people have argued, and the jig is up; in the long run the accumulating footnotes will strangle humane society like algae choking a pond.

Who would have believed when the Supreme Court legalized abortion that, one generation later, only one, America would have come to this? Mrs. Schiavo's parents wanting her to live, pleading for her to live, the state saying no, and a meeting of the legislature required to pry the executioner's fingers from the victim's throat. 

I would never have made such an argument when the abortion decision came down, and I would never have believed it. I still can't believe it. Is this America? Do I wake or sleep?

A Cause Common to the Left and Right of the Blogosphere

From the Daily Kos:

Harry Reid introduced a bill (PDF) today that would exempt Internet communications from campaign finance laws. The bill reads:

Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end of the following new sentence: "Such term shall not include communications over the Internet."

Reid also released this statement:

The Internet has generated a surge in grassroots involvement in our government and has proven to be a democratizing medium in our political process. Regulation of the Internet at this time would blunt its tremendous potential, discourage broad political involvement in our nation and diminish our representative democracy. For all these reasons, we should avoid silencing this new and important form of political speech.

Here I think we have universal agreement, at least among those who know how to post online. Now if only we can get the KOS folk to consider that the same may be true of other forms of media.

 

The Sound of One Mind Closing

Here’s Barbara Boxer on why federal judges should need 60 votes to be confirmed:

Why would we give lifetime appointments to people who earn up to $200,000 a year, with absolutely a great retirement system, and all the things all Americans wish for, with absolutely no check and balance except that one confirmation vote. So we're saying we think you ought to get nine votes over the 51 required. That isn't too much to ask for such a super important position. There ought to be a super vote. Don't you think so? It's the only check and balance on these people. They're in for life. They don't stand for election like we do, which is scary.

Besides the fact that Sen. Boxer needs to go back and read her Constitution about “advice and consent” (it doesn’t say anything about supermajorities), if it is “scary” for people who “don’t stand for election like we do” to have life appointments to the federal courts, why then does she and her fellow leftists insist on giving these un-elected scary people the final say over the most important questions facing us such as what is what is human life, marriage, what is human sexuality for, what is obscene, is there a public morality and what role should religion play in public life? Just to name a few.  By the way, Senator, Congress can also check the courts by impeachment, constitutional amendment, setting the jurisdiction of the courts, and in cases involving judicial interpretation of federal statute the Congress may simply reword the statute if it does not like the court's interpretation.  I invite Sen. Boxer to take my American Government course, because she clearly doesn't know her Constitution.   

Governors v. Knights

Went to the state AA basketball tourney tonight and watched the Pierre Governors get stomped by the Sioux Falls Catholic school, the O'Gorman Knights.  The Govs did start the game ahead 8-0, but it quickly fell apart after that.

Also went to the St. Patrick's day parade in Sioux Falls.  Here's a group of Civil War re-enactors after they shot their fancy muskets.

Lastly, this bus was in Sioux Falls tonight.  I don't know details, but I'm sure curious.

What's Wrong With Kansas

It appears Planned Parenthood of Kansas is protecting child rapists.  Realclearpolitics has the goods. So I guess they'll defend unplanned parenthood too, if it means protecting the ideology of abortion. 

Disappointment in Pierre over Highway Bill

Leta Nolan Childers, writing for the Capital Journal, has this to report about Pierre's reaction to the House version of the Highway Bill. 

The city of Pierre had first requested $80 million to help pay for the proposed $165 million bypass plan to solve the problems raised by 100-car trains rumbling through town up to 37 times a day, planned by D. M.&E. Railroad.

Then, in the alternative, it had requested $23 million to mitigate the problem provided that the bypass fell through, which it did a few weeks ago. Pierre withdrew the request for the $80 million and hoped for the $23 million.

Instead, the bill passed by the House offers Pierre $1.1 million, about enough for one grade separation or underpass.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., said that she was glad to have helped obtain the $35 million for the state.

 

SD Corn Growers Weigh In On Thune Bill

Press release from SD Corn Growers:

(March 16, 2005) – The South Dakota Corn Growers Association applauds the committee passage of an upgraded Renewable Fuels Standards bill, sponsored by South Dakota Senator John Thune, which increases the RFS from 5 to 6 billion gallons by 2012, a 20 percent increase over similar legislation in Congress last year.

Senate Bill 606 passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee today, clearing the way for more of the nation’s fuel supply to be provided by renewable, domestic fuels such as ethanol. Enacting an RFS would be an important step in reducing consumer fuel prices, increasing energy security and bolstering rural economies. Sen. Thune and EPW Committee Chair James Inhofe, R-OK, introduced the bill last week along with Kit Bon, R-MO and George Voinovich, R-OH.

“The South Dakota Corn Growers Association is thrilled at Sen. Thune’s initiative in stepping up the minimum usage for renewable fuels, including ethanol, in the RFS by a billion gallons and we congratulate him on this important first step toward securing an energy policy for the United States,” said David Gillen, White Lake, S.D. producer and president of the SDCGA.

The ethanol industry’s production capacity has experienced extraordinary growth since the original RFS agreement was reached in 2001. Thune’s ethanol bill reflects a growing industry consensus that the original RFS schedule must be updated to reflect the ethanol industry’s growth.

“The SDCGA has worked diligently with our Congressional delegation on an energy policy for years and we recognize this is only the initial phase in a lengthy legislative process,” said Gillen. “The ball is now rolling with Senate bill 606 and with that groundwork we look forward to affecting this legislation in coming months and will continue to work with members of Congress to adopt further improvements to the RFS package.” 

Thune’s RFS bill also includes a phase out of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in the U.S. fuels marketplace in four years, eliminates the federal oxygenate requirement in reformulated gasoline (RFG) and enhances RFG air quality requirements.

Krystil Smit

Communications Director

S.D. Corn Growers

605-334-0100

Thune Ethanol Bill

KELO-Land News:

Senate Panel Advances Ethanol Blending Bill

The South Dakota ethanol industry got a boost when a Senate panel approved a renewable fuels bill sponsored by U.S. Senator John Thune.

The bill passed the Senate last year but died when it was tied to a big energy bill that failed.

The measure would require refineries to blend six billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline by 2012. It also increases the use of biofuels produced from agriculture products.

Also see this from a Sioux Falls ethanol group:

Sioux Falls, South Dakota [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The US Senate Environment & Public Works Committee passed legislation to enact an improved Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Led by Chairman Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Senator John Thune (R-SD), the RFS bill adopted by the committee increases the amount of ethanol and biodiesel to be used in the U.S. to 6 billion gallons by 2012. The RFS pending in the 108th Congress called for 5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012.

"This is a critically important first step to ensure that ethanol plays a more significant role in our nation's energy policy, and we applaud Senator Thune's leadership in working with Chairman Inhofe to make passage of an improved RFS a top priority," said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). "We look forward to strengthening the RFS schedule to reflect the ethanol industry's long-term growth pattern as this legislation moves through the U.S. Senate."

ACE convened a meeting of the ethanol industry in December 2004 where it was determined that the RFS schedule needs to better reflect the industry's rate of growth. U.S. ethanol producers are poised to supply approximately 4 billion gallons of clean burning performance fuel by the end of 2005.

"Today's development opens the door for ACE and other RFS supporters to work with all Members of Congress to improve the schedule and move another step closer to passing a more robust RFS," stated ACE President, Bob Scott.

Other committee members instrumental in supporting the improved RFS today were Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Max Baucus (D-MT), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Barack Obama (D-IL).

And see this from the Wisconsin Ag Connection--note the Dineen quotes:

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President Bob Dinneen Wednesday praised Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chair James Inhofe (R-OK) for spearheading the effort to pass an improved renewable fuels standard (RFS) package through the EPW Committee.

The legislation is similar to an RFS fuels agreement included in prior comprehensive energy bills, but increases the RFS from 5 to 6 billion gallons by 2012.

"Senator Thune displayed tremendous leadership in encouraging Chairman Inhofe to support a greater role for ethanol in solving our Nation's energy challenges," stated Dinneen.

"Their combined efforts, along with other members of the committee like Sens.

"Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), Max Baucus (D-MT), and Barack Obama (D-IL), will help maximize the use of renewable fuels in the years ahead.

"Raising the RFS target from 5 to 6 billion gallons by 2012 is a big step forward and demonstrates the emerging consensus that the original RFS schedule, which was established four years ago, needs to be updated to reflect the extraordinary growth in U.S. ethanol production since that time.

"To that end, the RFA will continue to work with RFS coalition members and Members of Congress to adopt further improvements to the RFS package as the legislative process continues."

The Thune/Inhofe bill creates an RFS that requires a small percentage of our nation's fuel supply to be provided by renewable, domestic fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Highway Bill

AVT:

Kranz Puts Herseth Staff Thru the Paces

Resurgent David Kranz tired of barrels of ink, blog and TV coverage and his own Editor portraying him as victim - comes roaring back.

Kranz reveals that Herseth directed her staff to spend hours recording Congressional web sites of colleauges as some sort of an arcane measurement that her Highway Bill work was not so bad. Having fun with Herseth's staff - Kranz rattles off the so-called web site "research."

Saving his best work for future columns look for two simple devastating facts:
1. Thune 1997 $50 million - Herseth 2005 $35 million
2. Thune 1997 SD ranks 8th in Highway increases - Herseth 2005 SD falls to 46th

As an aside look to AVT to reveal the lobby firm used by Pierre trasnportation officials when they could not get SD funding numbers from Herseth's staff - after she voted for the bill. Hat tip to super sleuth Bob Mercer for breaking this news.

Rounds signs Anti-Abortion bills

Breaking news...from the AP:

PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Mike Rounds signed a series of anti-abortion bills, including one that requires doctors to tell women the procedure ends the lives of humans, his office announced Thursday.

The bill-signings further tighten state abortion restrictions that some characterize as among the toughest in the nation.

One of the four new laws requires doctors to inform pregnant women, in writing and in person, no later than two hours before an abortion that the procedure ends the lives of humans and terminates the constitutional relationship women have with their fetuses.

Women also must be told that some women die during abortions and the procedure can lead to later depression and other problems.

Rounds also signed a bill that will automatically ban most abortions in South Dakota if the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) reverses its 1973 Roe decision and gives states authority to prohibit abortion. The only exceptions would be cases where a woman's life is in danger. Doctors who perform illegal abortions could receive up to two years in prison.

Another bill signed by Rounds tightens the state's parental notification law to require parents to be told within 24 hours if their minor daughter receives an emergency abortion to protect her life or health. The minor could seek an exception through a court order.

A fourth new law establishes a state task force to study the history of abortion since 1973 and to see if other laws need changing. Abortion opponents said science, medicine and technology have changed considerably since the Roe v. Wade decision.

Good news for pro-lifers in SD.  Also, South Dakota will be a state to watch if Roe v Wade is ever overturned.

Sclerosis of the Legislature

The wheels of democratic government were jammed fast by a tootsie roll in St. Paul this week.    This from the Grandforks Herald-Commune's "Happenings at the Minnesota Capital," feature, which turned out to be an optimistic title.

Sen. Mike Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, thought the Senate would make quick work of his bill allowing politicians to hand out candy at parades without violating bribery laws. The proposal was deemed so mundane that it was on the "consent calendar," which is usually reserved for items with broad support.

Sounds like an easy one?  Not so. 

The bill applies to gifts of "nominal" value, but Sen. Tom Neuville, R-Northfield, was uncomfortable with the vagueness. "Could someone give away cans of pop at a parade? Would that be nominal?" he asked rhetorically.

Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, raised the safety concerns. "This bill doesn't really get at the issue of whether or not it's a good idea or bad idea to throw stuff out of cars," she said. Kids lining the route shouldn't be enticed to run out in the street when there are moving cars, she said.

But then come to think of it, aren't parades an unacceptable public menace in the first place?   Miles of heavy steel concealed beneath paper flowers moving deceptively slowly only feet away from innocent men women and children, alongside a few Republicans.  Its shocking that nothing has been done up to now.

Ethanol and the New Senate

In addition to helping ANWR to pass yesterday, Senator Thune's office is reporting another major victory for his ethanol bill (you may remember the sad end of the ethanol bill in the last Senate):

Senator John Thune’s ethanol bill passed a critical hurdle today, clearing the way for the U.S. Senate to greatly increase ethanol use in the America.

In a bipartisan show of support, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed Thune’s renewable fuels standard legislation. Thune introduced the bill last week with EPW committee chairman, Sen. James Inhofe, R-OK.

“This is a critical first step to increasing ethanol use in America,” Thune said. “We are closer to passing legislation that will dramatically increase ethanol demand, guaranteeing a good market for South Dakota farmers. Today’s vote clears the way for the Senate to make ethanol a cornerstone of America’s energy policy. The Senate now has an opportunity to improve – and pass – this vital legislation to strengthen America’s energy security.”

Thune’s legislation establishes a renewable fuels mandate requiring refineries to blend 6 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline by 2012 and phases out the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

The bill improves similar legislation that ethanol and oil producers agreed to last year, which set a 5 billion gallon requirement for refineries by 2012. That legislation was incorporated into the Energy Bill, which stalled in the Senate.

Quick facts about Thune’s ethanol bill:

·        S. 606 - Sponsored by Sen. John Thune, R-SD and co-sponsored by Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK), Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH)

·        Establishes a renewable fuels mandate requiring refineries to blend 6 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline by 2012, a 20 percent increase over the last year’s number.

·        Improves similar legislation that ethanol and oil producers agreed to last year, which set a 5 billion gallon requirement for refineries by 2012. That legislation was incorporated into the Energy Bill, which stalled in the Senate.

·        Greatly increases the use of biofuels produced from agricultural commodities.

·        Phases out the use of MTBE in the U.S. fuels marketplace in four years, eliminates the federal oxygenate requirement in reformulated gasoline, and protects air quality.

Cleft Palate People Got No Reason To Live

This story from out of England.  Evidently, those with cleft lips and palates are "seriously handicapped" and they'd be better off being killed in utero.  That's news to some of us.  Chalk up another victory for the culture of death.  Now if we could just get around to killing that annoying woman in Florida.  If she's going to die, she had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. 

Who Will Control the Spending

Yesterday it was reported that Stephanie Herseth was blasting the president’s budget for being injurious to rural America. 

"Rural America is being taken for granted by this budget, and it's being taken advantage of," Herseth said. She is co-leader of the House Democratic Rural Working Group, which conducted the analysis.

Bush's proposed cuts would have a negative effect on rural economic development, rural housing loans, education and health issues, according to the group's report. But the most devastating hit would be a $5.7 billion reduction in funding for farm programs during the next 10 years, the report said.

Today, funny enough, Herseth is under fire for not getting “enough” highway funding for South Dakota. It seems to me that anyone who criticizes George Bush for his plans to rein in spending owes it to use to say exactly how they would reduce the size of the federal deficit. Heresth’s problem is that her party really has no plan this side of raising taxes. This, it seems to me, is the problem of modern government. Given that the Progressive view of unlimited government has long since replaced the founding view of limited government there is no principled way of arguing over federal spending. Given that most believe there is no project that is automatically out of bounds because the Constitution doesn’t give Congress the power to appropriate money for that particular purpose, it means that every piece of federal spending has some legitimacy. The problem becomes one of collective action. There are thousands of groups, such as the House Democratic Rural Working Group, advocating for the protection of government spending and likely for increased spending, but there is no group that is against government spending. The fact is that if we are serious about controlling government spending, every congressman in the Union will have some complaint and will resist holding the line on the spending that is “absolutely crucial” this his or her district. I note my post below. When your neighboring district gets government money it is the triumph of “special interests.” When your district gets government money it is “desperately needed federal spending.” What’s the solution? Just give everybody all the money they want, and run up $400 billion a year deficits. And yes, both parties are to blame. 

ANWR and the New Senate

When watching the PBS "News Hour" last night, they showed long excerpts of Senator Thune making the case for opening ANWR, which is one of the smartest votes the US Senate has made in a long time given the energy crunch.  Why it has taken since the 1970s for this to happen says a good deal about the power of certain interest groups in DC.  As part of the "News Hour" story, Senator Inouye of Hawaii said that 229 of 230 Indian tribes in Alaska supported the opening of ANWR.  Anyway, the estimates of another million barrells of oil a day coming from ANWR makes this an obvious policy decision, it seems to me.  And it's another sign that the new Senate, with a stronger GOP majority, is getting things done.  Here's the story about ANWR that's in today's Argus.  AVT notes that, more generally, Thune had a big day yesterday:

A Senior Aide for Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) tells AVT this is, "single best legislative day in a decade for America - we have Thune to thank."

In a breathtaking advance for America and South Dakota - in one day - the following occurred:
1. Thune's Ethanol Bill (the largest ethanol bill in history) passes Thune's EPW Committee.
2. Thune shepherds the Senate Highway Bill (with huge increases for South Dakota) to passage. With Herseth negotiating SD to 46th in the nation in highway funding with the House version - Thune has much work to do in Conference committee.
3. New energy resources become available for America thanks in part to Thune's impassioned Senate speech about opening up ANWR.

Senate Dems shocked at GOP efficiency.

Herseth staff cringes at progress - to much work to soon.

I Am Very Interested

I heard on the radio yesterday John Kerry denouncing the Senate's action regarding ANWR as a victory for "special interests."  I know Prof. Blanchard is a fan of Devil's Dictionaries.  So I have a new entry for him:

Special Interest: When my neighbor benefits from government action.
Public Interest: When I benefit from government action. 

Seriously....

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was slapped on the wrist for publishing a family photo album on his official website. From KARE 11:

Governor Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday that he directed his staff to remove childhood photos from his official state Web site after a DFL state representative questioned if it was a proper use of state resources.

"Believe me, I would be more than happy to get rid of those pictures and take them off," Pawlenty said of the "Pawlenty Family Photo Album" that includes a number of school pictures of the governor, and family photos of Pawlenty playing with siblings, riding a tricycle and mowing the lawn.

But Pawlenty brushed off another concern raised by Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, who pointed out that Web users who type in three Internet addresses — pawlentyforgovernor.com, pawlenty2006.com, timpawlenty.com — are automatically connected to the governor's official, state-sponsored Web site.

***

"The state is paying us to get a little walkthrough of Tim Pawlenty's life," Rukavina said. "Isn't that cute?"

Turns out, Pawlenty did nothing wrong (no policy against posting pictures on-line).  Rep. Rukavina really does need to find better use of his time.

ANWR Drilling Passes in Senate

By 51 to 49, Republicans defeated an amendment that would have stripped the Appropriations act of language authorizing oil drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  As the larger act cannot be filibustered, this probably means that the pro-drilling folk have finally won. Thune voted Nay (to keep the support for drilling in the bill).  Johnson voted Yeah (to prevent drilling). See roll call of vote.

Senate Transportation Bill

The Senate transportation bill is looking quite a bit better for South Dakota than the one passed by the House last week.  Sen. John Thune who is a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee supported a bill which passed committee today with approximately $1.465 in funding over the next 5 years for South Dakota

According to a Thune press release: 

South Dakota would see a $266 million increase over funding in TEA-21 [the previous transportation bill], a 24.38 percent increase. The bill passed in the House last week amounted to a $172 million increase for the state. The Senate is expected to act on the committee-approved bill in the next 3-4 weeks.

The press release also featured some comments from the South Dakota Department of Transportation offering their approval for the bill. 

“We appreciate Senator Thune’s efforts and time spent in developing a highway reauthorization bill that provides funding for South   Dakota over the next 5 years,” said Leon Schochenmaier with the SD Department of Transportation. “Senator Thune has been instrumental in securing a substantial increase in formula funding for South Dakota.  In fact, Senator Thune’s efforts as a member of the EPW Committee ensure that our state’s overall share of highway funding is locked-in over the coming years. Basically this means that South   Dakota will continue to receive a 2-1 rate of return for every dollar of motor fuel tax that’s collected. While it is still up to the Senate to approve this measure and conference the bill with the recent House-passed version, we look forward to completion of this important piece of legislation.”

The bill should come before the full Senate in the coming weeks.  The fact it passed committee with this much funding is encouraging though, in light of last weeks developments in the House. 

SD Scholarship Issue

Alert reader Eddie sent us this link from the Argus Leader: "Planning in Limbo for Scholarship Students," by Terry Wooster.

Higher-education officials halted printing last week of college-prep material until they learn whether Gov. Mike Rounds signs a bill that cuts $1,000 from the value of a state-paid scholarship.

The scholarship is designed to encourage our better students to choose in state colleges and programs.  As a Professor at Northern, I have to disclose a vested interest in the latter policy aim. But it surely seems like something critical to the future of this state.

Because of the unexpected number of qualifying students - 827 instead of the projected 650 - the Legislature decided the scholarship should provide $1,000 for each of four years. When lawmakers funded the program last year, they set a $2,000 payment in the final year after three years of $1,000 each. In a compromise just before session ended, legislators agreed to keep the $2,000 final payment for college freshmen this year and for high-school seniors who will be scholarship recipients next fall. The $1,000 cut would kick in the following year, depending on Rounds' decision.

The cut is hardly draconian in individual terms, but it does show how hard its going to be to arrest the population drain that threatens the whole region.  Anything that keeps a student in state for a bit longer raises the chances that he or she will ultimately stay.  Anything that can attract someone from outside will help to replenish our supply of citizens.  If we really wanted to help the state grow, we would be creating new scholarships to out of state students who want to come here.  Once people get here, they usually find they like it. 

Why Your Children Should Attend Northern State

OK, forgive the shameless promotion, but I could help but think of the advantages of a smaller institution of higher education when I read this from the Wall Street Journal about embattled Harvard President Larry Summers.

While the crowd quizzed Summers on an array of issues, the president conducted an informal poll at last night's forum to identify students' primary concerns.

A chorus of [students] complained about the poor quality of academic advising and a lack of interaction between students and tenured professors.

When Summers asked the crowd whether "two senior faculty know you well," barely a quarter of students raised their hands.

I can guarantee you that at certain intimate South Dakota universities, perhaps one that goes by the initials NSU, you will have at least two, and likely more, senior faculty members who know you well. Virtually every class will be taught by a full-time faculty member and that faculty member will get to know you. In fact I was just chatting with some students before class today about university life and one of them, without prompting, said that Stanford might be more exclusive but they don’t care about their students and you might never be taught by an actual faculty member; it’ll be all grad students and adjuncts. That doesn’t happen around here. Now back to your regular programming.

The North Dakota Front

From today's Roll Call:

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven (R) has grown increasingly interested in challenging Sen. Kent Conrad (D) in 2006 but has not reached a final decision on the contest, according to national and in-state Republican sources.

Former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer (R), who himself was repeatedly recruited to run for the Senate in 2002, said that he believes “Gov. Hoeven wants to run for a Senate seat.

“His natural transition is to head off to Washington,” Schafer added. “This is a perfect time for him to do it.”

Schafer noted that he has not had a conversation with Hoeven about the Senate race specifically.  ...

The source added that Conrad would take a far more aggressive approach in attacking his opponent than Daschle did with Thune.

“They don’t call him Chainsaw Kent for nothing,” said the source. “Hoeven better be ready for blood on the floor if he runs for Senate.”

Daschle's Dash

We have given the story of Tom Daschle's new job some attention here at SDPolitics.  The main reason is that it highlights what I suppose was the single issue that cost Senator Daschle reelection: the question whether he was still a resident of Aberdeen, or of Washington D.C.  As I have indicated, I do not regard this as a moral question.  Many national politicians do not return to their home states after they leave office.  Bob Dole is one.  Bill and Hillary are two more.  The whole point of sending someone like Daschle to Washington is so he will involve himself in national affairs, hopefully with the interests of his home state in mind.  On that score I have no quarrel with our former Senator. 

But in a place like South Dakota, too much detachment from the home turf can cost such a politician as Daschle, and in this case it cost him dearly. I bid him godspeed.  It cannot hurt to have a homeboy among the power brokers of the beltway. 

I add what I have said elsewhere in print: that I liked and admired Daschle.  He was a brilliant politician, and was scrupulous respectful to anyone, like me, who was willing to talk with him.  I did not vote for him, for the simple reason that I am a conservative Republican and he did not represent my point of view. 

I wonder what Daschle would think of the following lines tapped out in his honor:

South Dakota has shown its great capacity for plain old uncouth red-neck stupidity in the matter of Tom Daschle's future. Newspapers, blogs, and discussion boards are filled with observations and opinions. Few ask the question (although some almost have) of what there is for a person of Tom Daschle's experience, knowledge, connections, and progressive attitude to do in South Dakota. And after the electorate endorsed a particularly debased and intellectually perverted attack by John Thune against him and his family, why would South Dakota be even a remote consideration? Some go so far to suggest that if Tom Daschle had any real interest in South Dakota, he would return here. The only conclusion to be drawn from that attitude is that there is no reasoning with dementia.

Maybe our former Senator is sore about the way that the campaign was conducted, but I like to think he would chafe at the suggestion that he has left because he is just too big a man to stay in such a small place.  I like to think that he has left us with some fondness in his heart, and not contempt for our "plain old uncouth red-neck stupidity."  Daschle was short enough in physical stature.  But I think he was a bigger man than that.

Argus Editor Gets "Facts" Wrong in Recent Opus About the Inaccuracies of Blogs

In his recent 2,800-word essay criticizing blogs, Argus Leader editor Randell Beck assailed critics of “South Dakota’s largest and most influential newspaper, the Argus Leader, and longtime political reporter David Kranz.”  Beck said that, during the last election, bloggers would twist “facts” (Beck uses quotes), engage in a "gutter-level war of words," and “manufacture evidence” to “damage the newspaper’s credibility.”  To claim that someone “manufactured evidence” is a very serious charge.  It turns out that the editor of the state’s “most influential newspaper” is the one who made up “facts.”  Again. 

When prospective US Senate candidate Neal Tapio criticized the Argus Leader’s main political reporter, Dave Kranz, for his close ties to the Democratic Party, Tapio noted that Kranz was a campaign worker for the anti-war candidacy of Senator Eugene McCarthy in 1968.  This matter was noted by Dakota blogs.  In his latest debunking of blog criticism, Argus editor Beck says “And that bit about Kranz working for McCarthy?  It didn’t happen.”  The problem is that it did. 

Kranz’s December 13, 1987 Argus column is completely dedicated to reviewing how he worked for the McCarthy campaign in the crucial presidential primary in Wisconsin 20 years before:

It was the McCarthy campaign that pushed my “politically active” button for the first time.  …  By March of 1968, we, the residents of 1107 4^th St., decided to go into action.  …  So five of us gathered one morning in March to make our contribution—a few days in Wisconsin ringing doorbells and making phone calls—spreading the word. … I didn’t get a grade for that mission in Marshfield[where the McCarthy campaign sent Kranz], but the Sunday night we arrive back in Brookings, President Johnson went on National television.  At the close of his address he told the world: “I shall not seek, nor will I accept the nomination of my party for president of the United States.”  We five cheered this announcement, hoping this would mean the end of the war.  We gave ourselves A’s for forcing the hand of this powerful man. 

Well, good for Kranz.  He was part of the historic McCarthy insurgency of 1968.  But bad for Beck, who maintained in his recent column attacking blogs for making up “facts” that Kranz had nothing to do with the McCarthy campaign. 

In his recent column, Beck also says that former Senate hopeful Neal Tapio “apologized and said he regretted making the unsubstantiated accusations against the political reporter.”  Again, not true.  Tapio has made this very clear:

Specifically, when Randall Beck said I apologized to Dave Kranz, he is right. But he couldn't be more wrong about what the apology was about. I met with Dave and apologized to him for putting him through this. It is not in my nature to try and hurt someone. I did not, however, say that what I said was "unsubstantiated" and that I "regretted" it. That is the same as saying that what I said was lies and I wish I didn't do it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I felt then as I feel now, that it was important to keep Dave Kranz and the Argus Leader in check in this election, because I think he(they) has(have) a very close relationship with Daschle and his staff and his(their) reporting reflects that relationship.

In his recent column, Beck also says Tapio and the blogs falsely claimed that Kranz was a member of the college Political Science Club with former Senator Tom Daschle during the 1960s.  Beck wrote that “No, Kranz was not a member of the political science club.”  But that’s not what the record indicates.  While Daschle was president of the Political Science Club which organized a 1968 mock Democratic convention, Kranz was “publicity chairman,” according to the April 3, 1968 issue of the South Dakota Collegian.  In 1976, Kranz recalled his and Daschle’s “tireless” efforts during the convention: “I remember our tireless search to find a renowned public speaker to address the convention such as McGovern, McCarthy, Humphrey or some other prominent Democrat.”  I suppose, to be fair, it's not entirely clear if Kranz was "publicity chairman" for the Political Science Club (Daschle was President of the club) or the 1968 Mock Democratic Convention (which was chaired by Daschle).  But isn't that something of a distinction without a difference?  Beck needs to explain the confusion, if there is some.

Beck has misstated the facts before.  In August, after The New York Times ran a story about Daschle raising money in the Hamptons, observers wondered why the Times was doing more reporting on this than the Argus.  Beck testily responded that “Daschle's fundraising visit to the Hamptons has been reported at least twice in this newspaper.”  It had not.  Beck’s “facts” were wrong.  Ironically, Beck was simultaneously berating a reader for relying on blogs for information because blogs “fail to let the facts get in their way.”  After he was consistently informed of his misstatement, Beck still did not issue a correction. 

Beck says in his recent column that Jason Van Beek and I “weren’t going to let facts stand in the way” of our blogging and that we "manufactured evidence."  Again, this is a serious charge.  And it is completely unsubstantiated.  Beck needs to issue a correction.  The blogs commitment to factual accuracy still stands untarnished (we are happy to correct any problems people find).  Beck’s attempt to show otherwise indicates he doesn’t know his “facts,” is making them up, or has been misinformed by someone about what the facts actually are.  In an attempt to discredit blogs for spreading inaccuracies, Beck in fact spreads inaccuracies and discredits himself. 

Beyond his failure to get the factual record correct, Beck simply ignores inconvenient evidence.  He doesn't address the internal Democratic memos (listed at the right) reported on by Sibby and Van Beek which noted how Democratic insiders viewed Kranz and how they worked together to advance their mutual interests.  The memos are a large part of the criticism of Kranz, so to ignore them is telling.  Beck also derides my post entitled "The Argus Leader and the Degradation of American Democracy," where I calmly note the larger implications for the democratic process of the Argus Leader's poor reporting record in recent decades (I even note how I like Kranz personally, but object to his record of reporting--nothing personal, just criticism of his content).  Beck derides the post, but doesn't mount arguments against it or claim anything was factually wrong in it.  He just derides.  Beck also never mentions the very reasonable and rational platform of reforms that the Dakota Blog Alliance suggested to the Argus last summer.  I had hoped prior to Beck's column that he might take the criticism of recent years more seriously:

Beck [has] said that the blogs had no impact whatsoever on the Argus.  Of course, that's not what his assistant managing editor told the National Journal--see here.  He said there was no doubt the blogs had an impact and others at the Argus said there was a "siege mentality," whatever that means.  And Dave Kranz said blog claims about him had some validity.  Anyway, one assumes that in his column this weekend Beck will have to address how the current controversy started, i.e. with criticism of the Argus, and then address the merits of that criticism.  Hopefully he won't go down his previous path by talking about how 'even Hitler would have a blog' (the comment which prompted the former editor of The New Republic, Andrew Sullivan, to write a post entitled "An Editor Loses It").  Maybe he'll even address how he made up something on the Argus blog and refused to correct the mistake when asked politely several times.  Most know how Beck feels about blog criticism of the Argus (it is "crap" driven by a "violent" internet "cabal" of "yahoos" and "jokers," who are full of "hatred" and "vitriol" and lack "guts" because they hide "behind their computer screens" and won't face him "man to man").  To be fair, I'm sure Beck wasn't happy about blog criticism and to a certain extent did his duty defending his newspaper/reporters and may have said some barbed things that he now regrets or would now say differently.  No problem.  But now he has a chance to actually respond to substantive criticism made by the Dakota Blog Alliance.  He can actually respond to arguments with counter-arguments.  The criticism of the Argus, after all, is how the SD blogosphere took off, gained national attention, and sparked the current controversy about Gannon, who first wrote about the Argus.  Beck can also explain what the Dakota blogs got factually wrong, which no writer has ever done.  If Beck simply launches another Howell Raines-ish 'blogs are evil' diatribe, then the whole discussion will remain stalemated and circular.  Seriously, Mr. Beck, please elevate the debate by responding to specific criticisms of the Dakota blogs and spelling out what they got wrong factually.  One would think that a newspaper which has been accused of "vituperative" treatment and "hysterical bashing" of Republicans by The New York Times and Roll Call and whose coverage has been questioned by the Wall Street Journal in an editorial about Rathergate (the WSJ questioned the control "Tom Daschle's pals at the Argus Leader have long had on [South Dakota's] political dialogue") and by the Economist ("Local bloggers also had an effect; in South Dakota, for instance, they repeatedly highlighted Tom Daschle's partisan record in Washington, DC, something that the Democratic Senate majority leader's friends in the local print media had never laboured to expose.") and other publications would want to clarify the record.  Beck might also want to address why Senator Daschle's former media advisor Karl Struble has explained in a magazine article how his media operation has used the Argus in the past: "The press ate it up. Our campaign systematically doled out the information piece by piece to reporters in D.C. and South Dakota. The result was a series of damaging articles. ... We used the headlines generated as validators for our ads." Again, in all seriousness, this a real opportunity to move the debate to the next level.  Let's hope that happens.

It didn't happen.  Regardless of whether Mr. Beck ever honestly comes to terms, at long last, with the arguments made against the Argus or whether he takes seriously the criticism from other major publications in the mainstream media (like The New York Times, Roll Call, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist etc), Beck has an obligation, at a minimum, to correct the factual errors in his recent column.  I've never done this before (but this is an exception given Beck's serious and dishonest charge that blog "manufactured evidence"), but please email him and respectfully request that he fix the clear factual errrors in his column:  [email protected]

Also, I've requested space in the newspaper to respond to Beck's charges.  Please request that I be given that space, especially given the seriousness of the charges, i.e. "manufacturing evidence," Beck has made.  Beck has consistently gone on about how wonderful the Argus is and how it maintains "high ethical standards."  Well, here's another test case--will Mr. Beck retract what was incorrect and allow those he criticized unfairly with knowing the "facts" to respond?  We'll see. 

Mitchell Newspaper on Daschle Lobbying

From the editorial in today's Mitchell Daily Republic:

Daschle is not a lawyer, but he is expected to give Alston & Bird even more lobbying clout and expertise than it already possesses, thanks to a stable of former politicians that includes former Senate Leader Bob Dole, who helped recruit Daschle.

No one should be surprised by this.

No one, or at least hardly anyone, expected Daschle to move back to South Dakota and begin coaching Little League baseball. Perhaps a few had harbored the notion that he would return to his home state and play a leading role in rebuilding the state’s Democratic Party. Though Tim Johnson and Stephanie Herseth hold a U.S. Senate and House seat, the Democratic party remains in a weakened condition, as evidenced by its solid minority in the state Legislature and its distant second-place ranking in voter registration.

However, Daschle chose to follow the path often taken by retiring politicians, whether their retirement was by choice or at the voters’ behest.

Not that the new post will occupy all of Daschle’s time. He soon will announce his affiliation with a university, and intends to be involved in a project involving American Indians.

What seems unlikely is that he will run for a Senate seat in Maryland. With the retirement of Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, 72, the longest-serving senator in the state’s history, there has been some speculation that Daschle would be tagged for the job.

The Washington Times reported Saturday that “rumors have even centered on former Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who was bounced by voters last year in South Dakota and currently resides in Washington. At a farewell party for Mr. Daschle earlier this month, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat and chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, was reportedly overheard whispering that Mr. Sarbanes had some ideas about Mr. Daschle’s filling his Maryland seat were he to retire.”

Daschle’s decision to stay in D.C., while not surprising, is disturbing to some observers. Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, points out that nearly one third of former members of Congress end up lobbying on Capitol Hill, compared to only 3 percent in the 1970s.

It’s a free country. Once you’ve been in Washington, D.C., as long as Daschle it no doubt feels like home. However, if Congress would pass a law that prohibited former members from lobbying - Daschle cannot legally lobby Congress for a year - it could make a difference in what Holman calls “a revolving door” between Congress and law and lobbying firms, which pay sumptuous salaries.

Since those positions are so lucrative to retired members of Congress, don’t expect those same lawmakers to pass such a law anytime soon, or ever.

Denise Ross

Apparently, the Rapid City Journal reporter Denise Ross is leaving her political reporting to become an editor and a new woman from New York is coming in:

This year marked my sixth legislative session and my last, at least for the time being. I'll be moving off the politics and state government beat to the night editor job here at the Rapid City Journal. ... South Dakota politics is still the best entertainment going, in my opinion, but I'll be watching it, not covering it, from now on. Celeste Calvitto, a New Yorker who has escaped the East Coast in the Black Hills, will now ask the tough questions.

She notes one of her reporting memories:

The Saturday right between New Year's and the start of the legislative session in 2003, I meet Daschle for breakfast and, his eyes sparkling, he tells me how awesome it would be for South Dakota if he were president. His words say he is "leaning" towards a presidential bid; his eyes say, "I'm in, baby!" The next Monday morning I would say to the newsroom at large that we should get ready to send a team to Aberdeen for Daschle's announcement. I would then leave to move my car and return to have Heidi Bell-Gease tell me that the wire is reporting Daschle has announced he will not run for president. I will think she is playing a joke on me, even after she shows me the wire story on her computer screen.

I don't think Daschle's decision to run for President and then decision not to run has ever been explained very well, which is too bad.