Sibby Online

Secretly buying votes with Wind Cave?

DVT has found a KOTA report titled, “Wind Cave used as bargaining chip?”:

Earlier this year, Senator Tom Daschle convinced an independent challenger to drop out of the race for US Senate, but what did Daschle promise in return? A report published in the Lakota Journal newspaper says control and ownership of Wind Cave National Park were used as a bargaining chip in convincing publisher Tim Giago to leave the Senate race.

DVT also found an AP report regarding a closed meeting Daschle is having today:

The meeting Saturday will include chairmen, vice chairmen and council members from all nine American Indian tribes in South Dakota as well as Daschle, Sen. Tim Johnson, and staff from Rep. Stephanie Herseth's office, said Giago. Herseth won't join the meeting because she is traveling in Iraq.

Earlier this year Tony Dean posted a comment from one of his environmental extremist buddies who took Larry Diedrich to task for not being in favor of expanding Wind Cave. Guess who was in favor of expanding Wind Cave:

Tom Daschle supports the expansion. So does Tim Johnson. And Stephanie Herseth. Bill Janklow supported it before he resigned. But Larry Deidrich? No. I'm sure the Wise Use people think he's great.

I don’t think all wise people are welcome at today’s meeing:

The session, which is closed to the public, came about after discussions between Giago, an American Indian newspaper publisher, and Daschle, who is seeking re-election to his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.

One of those wise people is John Thune:

Among those absent from the meeting will be Thune. Dick Wadhams, Thune's campaign manager, said Thune was not invited and has scheduled other campaign events on Saturday.

Daschle melting down in DC

Tom Daschle was against tax cuts, but voted for it any how...must be up for re-election. From the Washington Times:

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat in a close re-election race, criticized the bill because its $146 billion value is not offset in any way, but in the end, he supported it.

"This bill is far from where it ought to be," he said, concluding later that it will help middle-class families so, "in spite of its flaws, it deserves our support."

"No one wants to vote against tax cuts — especially 40 days before an election," a Senate Republican aide said.

Lets not forget that Daschle said tax cuts cause recession. Here is David Limbaugh's response to that lack of economic wisdom:

Instead of heeding his own admonition that "No amount of hot rhetoric will get the economy back on track," Sen. Daschle said that President Bush's tax cuts, only a small part of which have been implemented, are responsible for the recession. Bush, he said, precipitated the "most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history" by pushing through the 10-year tax cut last year. Even Daschle's colleague, Sen. Feinstein, isn't letting him get away with this canard. "Over a trillion dollars of that tax cut has not yet gone into effect. The impact of the tax cut has not yet been felt, so I don't think it worsens the recession at all," she told CNN.

Daschle's assertion also conveniently ignores that the recession began before any of the tax cuts went into effect and the devastating economic impact of Sept. 11. More importantly, it ignores common sense and history, which say that tax cuts, especially modest and largely deferred ones, are not likely to retard the economy.

Today's strong economy proofs Daschle was wrong about the Bush tax cuts. Today Daschle's stupidity about economics was over ridden by his political smarts.

Latest poll...Thune still leading

Here's the latest poll:

SIOUX FALLS - The John Thune for U.S. Senate campaign today released polling numbers showing Thune leading Tom Daschle 50-47 in one the nation's most closely watched Senate races.

The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies (POS), surveyed 600 likely voters September 21-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. These numbers follow another POS poll released in late August, which showed Thune with a 50-48 lead over Daschle.

"Thune's message of independence, fighting for and being rooted in South Dakota are hitting home with voters," said Dick Wadhams, campaign manager for Thune. "It's time for a change, time for South Dakota to have a Senator who says what he means and means what he says, in both South Dakota and Washington D.C.," added Wadhams.

With less than six weeks to go before the November 2nd election, having spent millions of dollars and having run television ads since July 2003, the reigning Democrat Senate Minority leader is trailing his opponent. "These numbers have to be extremely disheartening for the Daschle camp,"said Wadhams.

Daschle’s meltdown continues

By Blind Orange Julius (via Mount Blogmore)

Tom Daschle is quoted in today’s Argus Leader ad watch:

"I take a back seat to no one on the Second Amendment."

That’s a complete lie. The front seat he sat on was the bus going to the Million Mom March. On March 17, 2000 he introduced the Daschle Amendment No. 3148:

Determined, That it is the sense of the Senate that-- (1) the organizers, sponsors, and participants of the Million Mom March should be commended for rallying to demand sensible gun safety legislation…

So who was the emcee of the May 2000 anti-gun Million March March…Rosie O’Donnell. Remember what she said in April 1999:

I honestly think - and I am not an expert on the amendments - I think the only people in this nation who should be allowed to own guns are police officers. I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'sorry'. It is 1999, we have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun and if you do own a gun, I think you should go to prison.

If Rosie O’Donnell represents common sense legislation according to Tom Daschle, then Daschle started losing it a while ago.
That is one vote that the Argus Leader reporter Jennifer Sanderson did not cover. And here is another:

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of each law-abiding United States citizen to own a firearm for any legitimate purpose, including self-defense or recreation…

Daschle was among only 30 Senators to vote “Nay”. Daschle takes the back seat to the 69 Senators who voted "Yeah" in support of the Second Amendment.

Daschle’s quote in today’s Argus Leader shows that Daschle has lost it completely. He completely forgot how he has melted down are guns…or should I say gun rights. Or maybe he does remember, he just chooses to lie to the people of South Dakota. I say there is nothing patriotic about voting against the Constitutional rights of America. It is even worse to lie about those votes.

Response from Sibby's Mailbag

I received this response from the author of the column from my last mail bag post:

Thank you so much for posting my op-ed on your blog. It was nice to come home this evening and see it on the web.

One favor though - - where it says,
James B. Teela is director of sales for a large Tier I automotive supplier. Residing in Brighton, Michigan, is also enjoys writing about politics, social issues and his faith.

Could you also add,

"He welcomes your comments at [email protected]"

I'd love to hear what feedback your readers may have. Thanks again for providing me an outlet to South Dakotans when the newspapers wouldn't. I really appreciate it.

Speaking of out-of-state tourism, my Mom and Dad just came home from a week in western South Dakota in early September. They absolutely loved their vacation there including the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands.

Jim Teela

Environmentalists verses Agriculture

DVT has pointed out a Rapid City Journal report regarding a lawsuit filed by environmental groups regarding prairie dogs in western South Dakota:

Eight conservation groups asked a federal judge Wednesday to stop a state-federal plan to poison and shoot prairie dogs on federal land in western South Dakota's Conata Basin.

The groups said the state-federal prairie dog control plan, announced by Gov. Mike Rounds on Aug. 13, would violate federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act.

Lauck says, “These are the same groups that support Daschle and the Democrats in Congress. Believe me, the ranchers understand the connection.” He is right. One of those Daschle supporters is Tom Yseth, who is used by Daschle on his negative hunting ad. Here are the details.

One of the groups mentioned in the RCJ report is the Prairie Hills Audubon Society, whose President is Nancy Hilding. She played a big role in the environmentalists' feud with the west river ranchers regarding aerial hunting of coyotes. This is from Tony Dean’s web site:

I am finally getting a decent coalition going. Nancy Hilding, president of the SD chapter (Black Hills region) Audubon Society, started checking on some things for me, and she has ripped into it like a pit-bull! AGRO and Sinapu and Fund for Animals are also involved. AGRO is the coalition Against Aerial Hunting, based out of Colorado, so is Sinapu.

I have 2 articulate Action Alerts, and several letters for you, ~ (your web site, if you are still willing to post them).

Here is Tony Dean’s response to the request to post the animal rights activists' propaganda:

You bet we'll post your information so that sportsmen can see it.

So what kind of sportsmen would be interested in siding with animal rights activists? When I pointed this out in the very first issue of The Bird, I found out.

I received an email from a Tom Yseth, who copied Tony Dean. Tony Dean posted the email on his web site. Yseth said this about the Audubon Society:

I did belong to the Audubon Society for years (I quit out of cheapness). It is true that their (SIC) are anti-hunters that are members, but the organization is hunting neutral.

As I mentioned above, Tom Yseth just happens to be on the negative Daschle hunting ad. He is the one that says:

"Tom loves to hunt. One time we got all done and we looked around, 'Where's Tom?' Well Tom and a couple guys realized we hadn't got our limit and they went back out walking the fields."

Jon Lauck is right, Daschle is on the side of the environmental and animal rights extremists…and so is Tony dean and Tom Yseth. The policies of these groups are not in the best interests of South Dakota agriculture.

The Federal government taking control of predators, such as coyotes and prairie dogs, away from the South Dakota landowners, is a property rights issue that is covered by the Constitution of the United States. Not only is Daschle in bed with those who are against gun owners’ rights, he is also in bed with those who are against property rights of landowners.

Many west river ranchers understand this and have challenged the Game, Fish and Parks (Yseth was a former commissioner of GFP) with a hunting lockout of nearly 2 million acres of land. The South Dakota farmers should also understand that the subsidies they receive from the federal government may not be free…they may cost them their property rights and their land.

We all should understand Daschle's efforts to make us more dependent on Big Government means we have less control and therefore the cost ends up being our freedoms. One example of this is the use of highway funding to control our lives. By the federal governemnt using bribery...18, 19, and 20 year old South Dakota soldiers, who fight for freedom, can not come back from Iraq and enjoy a beer (such as at the Ram Pub in Brookings which is owned by Yseth) without violating America's law.

Yes, those in the military can fight for freedom. But those of us not in the military can also fight for freedom. John Thune has fought for our freedoms while serving as Congressman in Washington DC. Thune’s fight for property rights of South Dakota farmers and ranchers, has put him out of favor with environmental extremists on the left, including the League of Conservation Voters, Tony Dean, and Tom Yseth.

Go see Larry Diedrich

Larry will be on both ends of South Dakota the next couple of days. Go say Hi:

Friday, Sept. 24
9:15 to 10:45 a.m. South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, Sioux Falls
Special note:
Diedrich’s daughter, Brandi, a senior at South Dakota State University, will address the South Dakota Republican Women Convention in Sioux Falls Friday evening.

Saturday, Sept. 25
6 to 10 p.m.MT Rapid City Chamber of Commerce dinner

From Sibby’s mailbag

I have made the point that I welcome out of state points of view regarding politics. I believe we can learn a lot from those with a different perspective. I also believe that a state whose economy is impacted by tourism should have an open attitude toward others. Therefore I I found this email interesting:

Although I am a Director of sales for a large Tier I automotive supplier here in the Detroit, Michigan area, I also enjoy writing op-ed pieces about politics, social issues and my faith for our local daily newspaper.

In my opinion, the campaign for Tom Daschle's senate seat in South Dakota is the most important congressional race in the country this year. Because Mr. Daschle is the Senate Minority Leader, the race for his seat in a nearly divided Senate has caught the attention of many of us who closely watch politics -- even a budding op-ed writer from Southeastern Michigan.

As a result, I wrote an op-ed piece, entitled "South Dakota Schizophrenia" and forwarded it earlier this month to all of the major newspapers in South Dakota. These included:

Argus Leader - Chuck Baldwin
Rapid City Journal - Randy Rasmussen
Capital Journal - Terry Hipple
Aberdeen News - Adrian Pratt
The Daily Republic - Kim Galliano
Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan - Gary Wood
Watertown Public Opinion - Jerry Steinley

As of today, all but the Watertown Public Opinion and Capital Journal have informed me that they do not intend to publish my piece for a variety of reasons. The publisher of the Capital Journal forwarded my piece to his editor and the Watertown Public Opinion has not yet replied to any of my
correspondence.

It appears that the state's largest newspapers are not interested in publishing a piece from a hobby writer from outside the state who is neither a nationally syndicated columnist or political commentator. This being said, I thought you might be interested in publishing my thoughts on your blog.

James B. Teela
Brighton, Michigan

Here is his column:

South Dakota Schizophrenia

Tom Daschle is a great senator. That is if you live in Massachusetts, New York or California.

Based on Senator Daschle’s record, you’d never know he was the senior senator from South Dakota. On issue after issue, rather than siding with the people of South Dakota, Tom Daschle votes with his liberal colleagues like John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Boxer.

In the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, South Dakota voted convincingly for George W. Bush with 60% of all ballots cast vs. only 38% for Al Gore. Polls show that South Dakota will again vote overwhelmingly in Bush’s column this year. Yet as minority leader, Tom Daschle, more than any other, is responsible for obstructing George Bush’s agenda in the Senate. So with such strong support for President Bush, why would South Dakotans even seriously consider returning Tom Daschle to office?

As Minority Leader, Tom Daschle would have constituents believe that his position as Democratic minority leader brings tremendous benefits to the state. Tom Daschle would have you believe that bringing home the pork will somehow substitute for his votes against the values of South Dakota’s citizens.

Don’t buy it.

The majority of South Dakotans support the protection of traditional marriage. Tom Daschle worked to prevent cloture, obstructing the Federal Marriage Amendment from even getting an up or down vote on the Senate floor -- protecting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards from having to take a firm stand on the issue.

South Dakotans have enacted some of the strictest abortion laws in the country. Tom Daschle has used filibusters in an unprecedented way to block Bush’s conservative federal judicial nominees from getting an up or down vote in the Senate because they don’t pass his liberal colleague’s pro-abortion litmus test.

South Dakotans support tax cuts over spending increases. Tom Daschle voted for Clinton’s tax increases and against President Bush’s tax cuts.

And on, and on, and on. . . .

But, thanks to the wisdom of our founding fathers, South Dakotans can affect change well beyond the geographical boundaries of their state. The framers of our Constitution designed Congress so that the interests of South Dakota (and other states whose populations are comparatively small) are protected through the establishment of equal representation in the Senate. This gives South Dakota a tremendous amount of clout in the United States Congress and the nation as a whole.

Based on 2000 census data, South Dakota is generously blessed with one vote in the Senate for every 377,422 of its citizens. That’s nearly 45 times greater representation than California with only one vote for every 16,935,824 people. Consider that other bastions of liberal thought like New York have only one vote for every 9,488,228 residents and Massachusetts has only one vote for every 3,174,548 of its citizens. South Dakotans would be well served to ensure that this tremendous influence is used for their advantage – not for the advantage of those who oppose their values -- or for the personal benefit of Tom Daschle’s political career.

In 2004, South Dakota will again vote overwhelmingly to re-elect George W. Bush. That’s why Tom Daschle would prefer to have you see him hugging President Bush instead of admitting he hugged Michael Moore.

This time, South Dakotans owe it to themselves to send a man to Washington that will clearly support their values. John Thune is that man. Any other outcome is nothing less than schizophrenic.

James B. Teela is director of sales for a large Tier I automotive supplier. Residing in Brighton, Michigan, is also enjoys writing about politics, social issues and his faith.

"He welcomes your comments at [email protected]"

Editors are the problem

My praise of the Argus Leader this morning fell on deaf ears. I sent an email to Randell Beck congratulating the fine report Jennifer Sanderson put together in today’s issue. I used the receipt verification feature and found out that Beck deleted the email without opening it:

Your message

To: Beck, Randell
Subject: Great job
Sent: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:00:33 -0400

was deleted without being read on Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:22:30 –0400

I did get a response from editor Chuck Baldwin regarding a letter I sent a month ago:

Steve,

Your letter was published on our website.

Chuck Baldwin
Editorial Page Editor
Argus Leader

I thought I was pretty good at finding things on the net, but I can’t find this:

To the Editor of the Argus Leader:

Jeff M. Hart’s August 21 letter claimed that Daschle was “one of the most powerful senators”. Hart said that his job requires him to monitor specific legislation. Perhaps Hart should look at the vote on February 13, 2003. Daschle was one of only twenty senators to vote against the 2003 Omnibus Bill.

Both Democrats from North Dakota voted for it. Both Senators from Iowa and Nebraska voted for it. Even Tim Johnson voted for it.

If Hart wants to see through election year propaganda, then he should be supporting John Thune and not Tom Daschle. You see Daschle has been running ads taking credit for some of the funding provided by the Bill he voted against, such as $900,000 for the Distance Learning program at Dakota State.

The Bill also contained over $3 billion in drought aid, over $73 million for water projects including $7 million for Lewis and Clark, $4 million for the I-29 Interchange at Sioux Falls, $1 million on a SDSU study on ethanol, and many millions for Native Americans.

Now I understand why Daschle doesn’t what the people who have been paying attention to his record in Washington DC to be running ads.

Note that my letter was in response to a pro-Daschle letter that was published in the print edition of the Argus Leader. Is it fair to put my letter online where few, if any, see it?

I sent a question to the Argus Leader blog on where they put the rejected letters on their website. I wonder how long it will take for a response?

This time the Argus gets it right

On page 3B of today’s Argus Leader is a Jennifer Sanderson ad watch on the most negative ad so far this here:

Dressed in an orange hunting vest and cap, Daschle cradles a semiautomatic shotgun while a friend talks about their many hunting trips together. The senator pledges his continued support to preserve the Second Amendment.

For those that do not hunt, hunters wear blaze orange so that they can see each other for safety reasons. It is the exact opposite of camouflage, which is used to help hide the hunter. But there is a very small number who use blaze orange as camouflage. It is an anti-gun political running for re-election who wants to hide his anti-gun votes in Washington DC. We have two of those this year…John Kerry and Tom Daschle.

Sanderson also provides Thune’s response to the ad:

“Tom Daschle gets an ‘F’ from the NRA. How are you an advocate for the Second Amendment if the largest gun owners association in America flunks you?” Thune asked. “Daschle has consistently voted with the anti-gun lobby. When you’re in a state like South Dakota, with a very gun-owning culture, and you vote against that culture, you have to spend a lot of money to convince people you’re not.”

Sanderson provided the March 2004 anti-gun votes of Daschle:

Though Daschle received some favorable NRA feedback earlier this year for the limited-liability bill (S.1805), officials at the association retracted their praise when the minority leader voted for two amendments they considered unacceptable. The first (S.AMDT.2636) would have required criminal background checks at gun shows and other sites where licensed and unlicensed dealers sold products temporarily. The second (S.AMDT.2367) would have extended by a decade the assault-weapon ban that expired this month. After the Senate added the amendments, the NRA urged senators to kill the bill it first had celebrated.

Sanderson then pointed out Daschle’s vote against gun shows went against the wishes of his South Dakota constituents:

A few months before the Senate vote, the South Dakota Legislature had passed its own concurrent resolution (SCR3). State senators voted 33-1 and state representatives 64-0 to recognize the “many positive contributions” made by gun shows and to resolve that “all future attempts to inappropriately regulate, restrict, encumber or eliminate gun shows should be judiciously resisted.”

Her report made this conclusion:

In the wake of the student shootings in Columbine, Colo., Daschle supported President Clinton’s administration in pushing for tighter restrictions on gun-show sales. The Senate split 50-50, with Vice President Al Gore casting the deciding vote to require criminal background checks at gun shows (S.AMDT.362 to S.254, in 1999). Thune is correct in his assessment of Daschle’s rating from the NRA. The group gives Daschle an “F.” In contrast, the Brady Campaign reports a 78 percent rating for the incumbent.

A great job of analysis by Jennifer Sanderson. The record is clear…Tom Daschle turned his backs on his South Dakota constituents, the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of South Dakota with regard to the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms without the interference of the federal government. A true American patriot would defend the Constitution, not attack it. A true South Dakota Senator would represent the wishes of his constituents, not turn his back on them. In the ad Daschle states, “I believe in the Second Amendment”. That is an outright boldfaced lie about the Constitution of the United States of America. Instead he failed to represent the good people of South Dakota. It can’t get more negative than that.