The Kristi Noem campaign has accused Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of being unduly influenced by her husband's lobbying income. Makes sense. Max Sandlin, the former congressman from Texas' 1st District, is now a partner in the lobbying firm, Mercury, LLC.
No problem so far. Max Sandlin is considered one of the top Democratic strategists. He was Chief Deputy Whip to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. He was a leadership representative on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.
As examples of Sandlin's power and the undesirable influence on his wife, Herseth Sandlin, Noem's campaign cites Herseth Sandlin's support for the Firearms Excise Tax Improvement Act of 2010 and the Local Radio Freedom Act. Sandlin was employed by proponents of both. Both pieces of legislation are arguably good for South Dakota.
The larger question of whether congressional relatives should be allowed to lobby Congress at all. Noem should have hit that message harder than she did. She should have hammered on Sandlin's long-time association with Pelosi. She didn't.
The Noem campaign misses the mark here.
13 comments:
Noem will have a tough sell with this one, because Americans have a first Amendment right to petition the government and redress grievances.
I believe it is to late to pull Max into this race.
I have deleted a post here by cheidelberger because it contained an accusation that one of Noem's relatives had committed a crime. I tried to find evidence that such a crime had been committed, and I found no such evidence. I am reprinting the rest of Cory's comment below. If Cory can show me the proof of his accusation, I will restore his comment in its entirety. In the meantime, we do not allow posters here to accuse people of committing a crime unless we can prove it.
Cory's comment:
Noem also failed to make clear that she would never, ever let her insurance-man husband have any influence on her votes on insurance-industry regulation, or let her café-owning mom influence her vote on restaurant or food safety legislation...
Mike,
http://outdoornewsdaily.com/index.php/archives/14027
Wesley Grantham is Noem's brother in law. Is that what Cory H. was posting about?
http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2010/09/unsportsmanlike-conduct-poachers-filch.html
Or maybe it was these:
"It isn’t that uncommon in Noem’s family, based on court records since 1989. Noem’s husband, Bryon, had 18 recorded traffic citations during that period, 11 of them for speeding. Noem’s brother, Rock Arnold, had 34 citations during that period, 25 of them for speeding. He also missed court or fine payment dates four times and had warrants issued three times. Another brother, Robb, had 21 citations, including 12 for speeding. And Noem’s mother, Corinne Arnold, had 11 citations, nine for speeding."
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_268757a4-b876-11df-a43e-001cc4c03286.html
Another area that Noem slips is that she all but admits she can't beat SHS by the fact that her commercials campaign against Pelosi. Sorry Nancy.
Michael: Bill Fleming points to the same evidence I was going to cite. Refer to the links Bill provides. I believe the remainder of my comment offers factual information, not merely an accusation of a crime, but a statement that an individual has been adjudicated guilty and legally fined for said crime.
[word-verification: flarain ;-)]
I don't want to censor for profanity here. But we are trying to have a "civil discussion of the issues."
I would prefer profanity, when used, be used for effect...not just insult.
Cory:
I believe your point has been made by both you, Bill and the Madville Times. I don't think we can hold Noem responsible for her sister's matrimonial choices.
But, if Democrats are going to try to paint Kristi Noem as the head of a crime family, based upon speeding and parking tickets, the tactic will likely backfire. Almost every farm and ranch operation has similar family speeding ticket histories.
But only one of them has a family member who is running for the US House of Representatives this year Mike.
And only one of them ignored the fines and had to have bench warrants issued to get her to pay up.
And only one of them tried to cover her indiscretions by lashing out at all the other candidates in the field, then their families, then their staff... a process which was only brought up short when a John Thune staffer was noted as having had a recent DUI. Then suddenly, everything got very, very quite on the Noem campaign front.
These are legitimate campaign issues, going to the candidate's character and poor political skills, whether you choose to turn a blind eye to it or not.
Kristi's simply not ready for prime time.
The SDGOP should have chosen Nelson instead of Noem. But that's what you get sometimes for being dazzled by a "hottie." (God, how many times did I hear that drooling, sexist BS on PP's blog?)
Sometimes, boys, them gals is just too hot to handle.
I'm seeing SHS up in the polls over Noem by 13%.
It's a Dem poll, but something tells me it just might not be all that far off.
Too bad. If Nelson would have run, I would have voted for him. I think about 2,500 Dems may have too.
Bill,
I'm not sure Kristi's not ready for prime time.
Her campaign is blowing a golden opportunity.
Nelson could not have won. He is a milk toast public speaker and a really nice guy and probably as squeaky clean as they get. But he couldn't win.
Clearly, the gloves are off in this campaign. I think it's still much closer than the SHS poll suggests.
But, until Kristi starts talking more about what she would do as our representative.
The "sorry Nancy" ad is a good one because she discusses how she will vote if elected, and gets a minor jab in at SHS as a punchline.
Unless she starts talking about how she's going to represent South Dakota better than SHS does, she'll see the gap widen.
Mike - the double-standards applied by GOP'ers are wearing awfully thin. Beating on SHS for caucusing with the Dems for instance. She's a Dem, well, sort of. If the GOP did gain majority control of the House in November - and Kristi Noem defeated SHS - she'll caucus with the GOP and likely John Boehner as Speaker. Whether Republicans like it, or not, Dems find him to be shallow, disgusting, and the anti-Christ. So, what's the difference? Like we're supposed to feel good about that possibility? And I'm still not voting for SHS.
I thought positively about Chris Nelson too - until he started campaigning and trying to out right-wing the other primary candidates when that BS got rolling.
It's all BS.
Mike, for the record, I too don't care too hold people resposnible for the matrimonial choices of their siblings. However, given Noem's desire to make family connections an issue, there is some logic to asking how far and fairly those concerns apply to both candidates. Noem just keeps opening a can she should leave on the shelf. But that's what you get from a candidate who, as Bill explains, isn't ready for prime time.
[By the way, Mike, I appreciate your caution with the comments and your willingness to excise only the portion of concern while still publishing as much as you initially considered permissible and relevant to the conversation.]
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