The Democratic leader in the South Dakota Senate says a Sioux Falls consultant under contract with the party is advancing a pro-choice philosophy on abortion at the expense of Democratic candidates for the state Legislature who oppose abortion.
Sen. Garry Moore of Yankton said consultant Steve Hildebrand, a former executive director for the state Democratic Party and past campaign manager for Tom Daschle, is working to defeat Democratic legislators who voted for HB1215, the controversial near-total ban on abortion approved by the Legislature this year.
Moore said Hildebrand has made it clear that electing pro-choice candidates is more important than electing Democratic candidates. Hildebrand and his employee Chad Schuldt have also issued critical and — in Shuldt’s case — profane statements about Democrats who supported HB1215.
During the past legislative session, Schuldt referred to some Democrats who voted for HB1215 as “(expletive) idiots” and “sickos” on an Internet political blog he maintains. Schuldt also called Moore “a joke” as a legislative leader and encouraged his defeat, along with others who voted for the abortion bill.
Moore said such behavior is unprofessional and inappropriate and cause for the Democratic Party to pull its contract with HildebrandTewes Consulting.
“But nobody in the state party has the courage to stand up to him,” Moore said of Hildebrand. “They haven’t been able to muzzle him. He owes each and everyone in the Democratic caucus an apology, not that we’ll get one.”
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“I share his view that the new South Dakota law limiting abortions is extreme and unfortunate,” Daschle wrote in an e-mail to the Journal. “But outside of his consulting contract with my political action committee, he conducts his business without any involvement from me.”
When asked about Schuldt’s harsh comments about Democrats who voted for 1215, Daschle said: “While I don’t know Mr. Schuldt, I find his comments highly offensive and inappropriate. There is no room in politics for that kind of inexcusable language or department.”
Olson Duhamel said she didn’t condone or approve of Schuldt’s comments and was disappointed that the abortion issue had caused a division between some Democrats. But she also has confidence in Hildebrand, who assured her that he would operate the party voting list in a professional manner, helpful to all candidates, regardless of their position on 1215.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: SD War College has a counter-argument regarding the story.
UPDATE II: Bill Harlan: "And what’s up with Chad Schuldt? What’s the upside of using the Internet to call a fellow Democrat an '(expletive) idiot'?"
UPDATE III: Recall this from Kevin Woster:
Led by public statements from former Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand and the pointed and sometimes profane Internet sniping from other former staffers, the Daschle team continues to wage political war against Thune.
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It some cases, it can also be profane. Former Daschle staff member Jeremy Funk, who works with Hildebrand, uses a personal Web log, or blog, to promote "F... Thune" T-shirts.
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Funk and another former Daschle staff member, Chad Schuldt, run personal Internet blogs critical of Thune. And some of that criticism is shaped in language that many South Dakotans would consider offensive.
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