Earlier today I posted this Quentin Riggins observation:
Dave Kranz of the Argus Leader does his usual routine this morning and reprints the criticisms of Senator Thune made by the Democratic Party and the Hildebrand bloggers, who are demanding that Thune return Jack Abramoff donations. But don't forget who was getting lots of Abramoff donations according to the Washington Post:
The Post reported that Tom Daschle received $40,000 from Abramoff.
Later Chad Schuldt posted a link to a post made by fellow Hildebrand blogger Nathan Peterson who made this denial:
We have never called on John Thune to return Jack Abramoff donations. Period. We have, however, called on John Thune to return money from Randy "Duke" Cunningham. While not currently available to me on this website’s archives, it is also very likely that while he was running his previous website, Thune Watch, Theron called on Thune to return money he received from Tom Delay following his indictment. Thune has returned the money he received from the former (which is right), but kept monies received from the latter (which is wrong). To our knowledge, Thune never received any campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff (if our readers have any knowledge to the contrary, we would be happy to learn about it).
Either Riggins completely misunderstands the Abramoff debacle and is confused by the entangled culture of corruption the currently pervades Washington, or he is trying to falsely criticize us and re-focus the discussion back on former elected leaders.
Whatever the justification or excuse, Riggins is wrong. We would appreciate it if he would check his facts in the future before publishing criticism of this website.
Perhap it is Nathan Peterson who should check the facts. On November 30, 2005 he posted, in agreement, a couple of South Dakota Democrat Party press releases. Excerpt:
On Monday, November 28th, Republican Congressman Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham pled guilty to bribery and resigned his seat. Republican Congressional candidate James Feldkamp immediately donated contributions from Cunningham’s PAC to charity. According to the FEC, Cunningham’s PAC, American Prosperity, gave $2,000 to John Thune’s 2004 Senate campaign. On October 4th, Democratic Committeeman Nick Nemec asked Senator Thune to donate to charity campaign contributions from PAC’s connected to indicted Congressman Tom Delay and indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Peterson also posted the October 4th press release that contains the amount Thune received from Jack Abramoff:
Representative Tom DeLay has been indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges. Thune has also taken $5,000 from Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was recently indicted for fraud.
"Senator Thune indicated that his tenure in office was going to be centered on values," said Nick Nemec, South Dakota Democratic Party Democratic National Committeeman. "How can he represent values while hoarding tainted funds other Republicans can’t give back fast enough? Senator Thune should follow his colleagues’ lead and donate DeLay’s dirty money to the hurricane relief effort."
On November 30th (just nine days ago), Peterson posted the $5,000 amount of Abramoff’s contribution to John Thune. Today Peterson says: "To our knowledge, Thune never received any campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff." Riggins had his facts straight alright, it is Peterson who is off his rocker.
And the title of the post was, "SDDP Joins in Calling on Thune to Donate Tainted Money". Peterson was obviously agreeing with the SDDP demands that Thune donate the Abramoff contribution.
So the Hildebrand Boys are making false accusations, instead of of admitting that their man, Tom Daschle, should be following the same rules that the Hildebrand Boys and the South Dakota Democrat Party expect John Thune to follow. Like I have said before, to the Democrats their are two sets of rules. One for the Republicans, and none for themselves. They are pathetic.
And since the Hildebrand Boys are so concerned about giving energy assistance to the poor, perhaps they should urge Tom Daschle to fork over $40,000 to the cause. Of course, that would be biting off the hand that feeds them.
I think its about time I confront Randle Beck on this one. Perhaps these facts should appear in Dave Kranz’s column this Sunday. Do you suppose the paper that likes to carry the water for the Democrats will hold them accountable?
