I am reposting a 12/10/2005 post titled, "The Sopranos of South Dakota", which I put together the day Chad Schuldt threatened my livelihood while in a rage of revenge. That was the tip of iceberg when it comes to the Hildebrand gang's moral depravity. And note how the Argus Leader again refused to hold the Daschlistas accountable:
This is a post about Steve Hildebrand and his bloggers. One of the best pieces of journalism done about Tom Daschle was a Jeff Gannon piece titled, "Daschle’s Soft Image Masks Political Machine". Excerpt:
Talon News originally investigated accusations of bias at South Dakota's largest newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Information gained as a result of that investigation uncovered what one public official described as a "Sopranos-style" pattern of systematic political intimidation by some members of Daschle's staff and campaign.
He explained that under the cover of "hardball politics" the intimidation is accomplished by pursuing those who are most vulnerable. Small business owners and their employees are particularly susceptible to bullying. The official said that threats of the loss of business or employment are usually sufficient to silence open political opposition, but sometimes a newspaper article is necessary to discredit a rival or critic. In a largely rural state of 750,000 people, nearly everyone is "touchable" in some way.
Steve Hildebrand, Daschle's campaign manager recently defended their tactics in a statement to the Washington Post. "You'll see us spending a lot of time attacking the attackers," he said.
Calls to Hildebrand by Talon News for comment were not returned.
When South Dakota Family Council Executive Director Rob Regier mulled formation of the Daschle Accountability Project, the Daschle campaign went public with a warning that it had an audio tape of the conservative Christian's confession of paying for an abortion for a former girlfriend. But instead of creating embarrassment as the Daschle campaign intended, Regier told Talon News that this "revelation" was part of his oft-repeated Christian testimony and certainly no secret. He said that Hildebrand's actions brought "the politics of personal destruction to a new low."
Most individuals interviewed by Talon News will not allow the use of their names for fear of retribution. Others will simply not comment.
An insurance agent got the message to "get out of politics" or face financial ruin due to loss of business. A Republican campaign worker's employer was pressured to convince him that he had to choose between his job and his political activities. The family of a man whose business was less vulnerable to direct intimidation was subjected to a barrage of harassing telephone calls after he was identified in a newspaper as a member of a political opposition group.
An elected official speaking to Talon News under condition of anonymity said, "People in South Dakota are afraid to talk about the Mafia tactics and intimidation by the Daschle campaign precisely because of their Mafia tactics and intimidation."
Daschle's Washington arm-twisting was evident in the 2002 campaign that pitted incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson against Republican Congressman John Thune. Roll Call reported that one Democrat lobbyist recalled Daschle telling her, "We are going to be watching how you and your industry do in the race in our state."
The lobbyist remarked, "I have never had anyone tell me I could not give to a candidate before."
One GOP lobbyist was quoted saying, "Daschle is being subtle and heavy-handed at the same time." He continued, "He walks up, puts his hand on your shoulder, gives that Daschle grin and says, 'You know I am keeping track of people who give to Tim Johnson.'"
Politics of personal destruction was what ended the journalism career to the author of that report. It was when Chad Schuldt stated that he laughed his ass off when Daily Kos outed Jeff Gannon, that I began to realize that their was something disturbing about him. The comsumer activist from Iowa who went by the alias of "Erin" also noticed something wrong with Chad Schuldt. Here is an excerpt from a comment she left at Ryne McClaren’s web site on August 6, 2005:
I received an e-mail this morning from Chad, at least that's whose name was on the e-mail. Chad does have a couple of diffent e-mail addresses that he has sent e-mail to me from. Chad used all caps for emphasis in this e-mail which was some kind of blackmail in that he was "demanding" that I provide them with an explanation of my recent "comversion". In exchange for that the subjective opinions related to my mental stability or instability would go away. What a deal! Where can I sign up? Is Chad promising me something here?
All I have to do is, give my confession to Monsignor Chad and he apparently will make the "bad comments" go away.
I'm not liking the tone of that at all. Who do these guys think they are that they can try to impugne my integrity and then make a deal with me to make it go away if I do as they say?
Whew!
She said this about Steve Hildebrand:
When I went to that office and asked to speak with Steve Hildebrand, not only was he rude and abrupt with me, his menacing and cold demeanor was a definite message to me. He told me three times about a call he had to make, as if he was trying to convince himself of that.
Here is more insight about Hildebrand from Greg Belfrage of KELOAM radio in 2003:
A recent Washington Post story is a sign of things to come in the 2004 Senate race. Here's the portion that really caught my eye:
"We will be prepared to confront whatever comes, regardless of intensity levels," said Daschle, who appears poised for hardball. (Daschle campaign manager Steve) Hildebrand said the campaign has assembled embarrassing information on several conservatives who are considering more attack ads against Daschle. The information includes videotape of a conservative activist discussing how he paid for his girlfriend's abortion.
"You'll see us spending a lot of time attacking the attackers," Hildebrand said.
A few days later, I received an email "alert" from Rob Regier. Regier has become a friend of mine, although he and I often do not see eye to eye. Regier is the Executive Director of the Rushmore Policy Council. His efforts to raise money for issue ads targeting Senator Daschle's voting record have been widely reported. Here's a portion of the email that Regier sent (reprinted with permission):
Many of you have heard me give my Christian testimony. In it, I talk about a time in my life when I thought I was man enough to have sex outside of marriage but wasn’t man enough to deal with the consequences. My sinful and cowardly actions led me to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls where I brought an ex-girlfriend to have an abortion.
Thankfully, God sent His Son to die for my sins. I’ve since turned my life over to Christ and now encourage others in my position to choose life instead of death. God has blessed me with many opportunities to take my horrible experience and use it for good.
However, Sen. Tom Daschle is bringing the politics of personal destruction to a new low. He announced that he is going to use a videotape of one my public appearances where I shared my testimony to try to embarrass me.
Here's the Straight Talk: Senator Daschle's campaign manager seems to be involved in a coordinated effort to stifle dissent through intimidation and embarrassment. Senator Daschle's role in this strategy is unclear. However, Steve Hildebrand's comments speak volumes about his intentions. Using someone's Christian testimony for personal political gain is absolutely despicable.
Intimidation and embarrassment seem to be SOP for Steve Hildebrand and some others in the Daschle campaign. I'll be counting the days to see how long it takes for Democrats to deliver a copy of this webpage to my employer. It's happened before. While we're at, let's see how long it takes other local media to report this effort. Or will they simply ignore it? That's exactly what they've done with every other news story that reflects poorly on Senator Daschle.
What we have with the Hildebrand gang is a mindset that they are untouchable. And if anybody holds them accountable they come unglued and attack the messenger. That is what happened to Quentin Riggins and myself last week. We were holding the Hildebrand bloggers, the South Dakota Democrat Party, and the Argus Leader accountable for money Tom Daschle received from Jack Abramoff. The Hildebrand boys first denied they made demands of John Thune regarding Abramoff. After I proved that to be false, Chad Schuldt went off the deep end. He began posting with the "F" word and proceeded to attack me in a way that I have never been attacked before.
Clearly the conduct of the Hildebrand gang has been troubling to many of us for a while now, yet the South Dakota MSM has given them a pass. Instead of looking at my research on the Abramoff issue, David Kranz and Randell Beck deleted my email without even looking at it. If this were only an episode on the Sopranos, it would be entertaining. But because it is real, it shows the troubling scene that the Hildebrand gang has created for today’s political environment in South Dakota, which has been allowed to continue by the refusal of the Argus Leader to hold them accountable.
We have been calling this a permanent campaign. For the sake of South Dakotans, I hope that is wrong.
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