Some of our long-time readers will recall how the editor of the Argus Leader would just make up facts when attacking conservatives. Apparently, the Thune office has gotten sick of the Argus making things up and released an open letter hitting back:
January 19, 2006
To: Mr. Patrick Lalley and Mr. Chuck Baldwin of the Argus Leader
Re: An open letter regarding Argus Leader inaccuracies and bias
Dear Mr. Lalley and Mr. Baldwin,
The Argus Leader editorial on January 15, 2006, relating to the selection of a U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, was factually incorrect, biased and left out relevant information.
After this office pointed out these mistakes, the Argus Leader ran an obscure correction that repeated the claims against Senator Thune. The Argus Leader also failed to follow through on its agreement to print my letter to the editor giving your readers Senator Thune’s side of the story.
It is troubling that the Argus Leader refuses to present both sides of the story to its readers.
The editorial first claims that Senator Thune has "made no public comments" and “never has commented about his efforts to nominate a U.S. Attorney.” However, your own paper, the day before, ran Senator Thune's comments in a story entitled "Hearing nixed for U.S. Attorney." In addition, I, as the Senator’s official spokesman, repeatedly spoke to Argus reporters over the course of the last few weeks on this very topic.
In the days leading up to the printing of this editorial, no one from the Argus Leader editorial staff contacted this office to discuss this matter. This action, or inaction, shows a severe bias on the part of the Argus Leader against Senator Thune.
Although your editorial claims that the "message" of recent events is that there "are no qualified lawyers to be our U.S. Attorney," the Argus Leader was in fact informed that South Dakota names have been advanced to the Department of Justice. It was not until today, January 19, that the Argus reported this fact.
Senator Thune and this office have repeatedly stated that for privacy reasons we cannot go into detail about who has, or has not been recommended by the Senator to the Department of Justice. The Argus Leader has a right to ask these questions, but the individuals involved in these recommendations also have a right to privacy.
Senator Thune has been discussing the matter with DOJ over the past year. Several Argus Leader reporters were clearly informed by our office of these facts, yet your editorial states that due to Senator Thune’s “inaction” this post has been vacant for a year and is now in the hands of a non-South Dakotan. In fact, Senator Thune first sent the names of qualified South Dakotans to the DOJ last spring after the position became open.
Your editorial failed to include relevant information about the judge who precipitated the current situation. Judge Piersol chose to recommend Mr. Meierhenry, a Sioux Falls lawyer, to serve as the temporary Acting U.S. Attorney rather than leave Michelle Tapken in that position. This action created a crisis because the Department of Justice would not have the time to conduct the necessary background check on Mr. Meierhenry before the position became vacant. By refusing to leave a South Dakotan in this position who already had the necessary background check, Judge Piersol forced the Department of Justice to put a non-South Dakota attorney in place on a temporary basis to avoid any disruption in the administration of justice in South Dakota.
The Judges involved in this dispute, who were active in the Democrat party and appointed by Senator Daschle and President Clinton, then took action to challenge the DOJ in court. If this information had been included in your editorial, your readers would have had a more complete understanding and could have decided on their own how to evaluate this situation rather than be told by you, the Argus Leader, how they should think.
Your editorial was filled with information that you knew to be inaccurate and it left out relevant facts that you knew existed, but yet was still presented to your readers as the full truth. You have also failed to give your readers both sides of the story by refusing to run my letter to the editor.
As an elected official, Senator Thune is not above scrutiny by the media, and despite your hostile coverage, he will continue to work with the Argus Leader in the hope that your readers will have better access to their elected representatives and the truth.
Thank you for your time,
Kyle Downey
Communications Director for Senator John Thune
Good for them. It's about time.
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