Posted on 11/15/2002 10:12:12 AM PST by jwalburg
Now that the election season is over, some of those involved should look back at what they did and have some sense of shame. Lies, distortions, dirty tricks, cheating on fund-raising, and various other activities that are part of every election cycle were particularly obvious with some campaigns this year.
However, amid all the well-run campaigns and the ethically challenged efforts, there was one public servant who stood out and stood apart from the politics: South Dakota Attorney General Mark Barnett.
When problems were found with a couple of people working to increase voter participation and the issue came into the public view, Barnett had an opportunity to provide a great boost to his own Republican Party campaigns.
Here's what happened. Some workers, intentionally or inadvertently, violated required procedures. There was a connection to Democrats, as one woman involved was a contact worker for them. Immediately, some Republicans tried to make it more than it was, and even got the Rapid City Journal to run a story with a headline blaring "Massive voter fraud."
At least one Republican candidate slipped the issue into debates, and campaign operatives tried to juice up the issue by repeatedly calling on the Democrats to "come clean about vote fraud." There were rumors of phony "push polls" that tried to plant the idea into voter's thinking.
At this point, Barnett had lots of leeway as attorney general. If he chose to use his position to help the Republican Party, he could have done many things.
1. Call a press conference to discuss the issue every day
2. Pass along a bit more information every day to make the issue seem fresh and growing.
3. Make statements like "We may be seeing only the tip of a huge illegal effort to defraud the system and we won't know for sure until we get all the evidence".
4. Display charts for the TV cameras accentuating the problems as being centered on the reservations, playing to anti-Indian sentiment.
5. Leak real or phony information to willing media people, which would lead to more speculative stories.
6. Parade suspects in public.
7. Contact the national media and get their cameras and reporters to be at his daily press briefings.
8. Hint at post-election investigations and potential criminal charges, trying to intimidate new voters from actually going to the polls.
He did none of these things, despite knowing that most or all of them could have been done and could have been justified, certainly long enough to make the issue grow over the last couple of week before Election Day.
Had he wanted to use his office to do so, he probably could have easily turned around the close Senate race.
What did he do instead? He did his job.
Every time he was asked for an update, Barnett stuck to the facts about what the investigation learned to that point. He said there was not one single fraudulent vote cast as a result of the problems in question. There was not a massive effort to cheat, only a handful of voter situations were in question.
He told the truth as he knew it and performed his duty as a public servant in a manner that contrasts with what we have come to expect.
Mark Barnett could have been our Kathryn Harris. Remember her press conferences in Florida? Compare her performance to what we saw here, and we must acknowledge the difference.
Mark Barnett is not a political saint, and he is as competitive as anyone when he is campaigning for himself. That's OK, because he knows the difference between his own politics and his duty as a public servant. When this opportunity to do the right thing presented itself, he put ethics above politics.
Mike Levsen is youth director for the Aberdeen Family Y. Write to him at American News, P.O. Box 4430, Aberdeen, SD 57402, or e-mail at americannews@aberdeennews.com.
Particularly among the Necro-American voting bloc.
Katherine Harris not Kathryn...bonehead
The Democrat translation of "vote fraud". ;-)
Where is the description of what transpired? He admits that there were problems (inadvertently or intentionally). WHAT WERE THESE PROBLEMS?
This passes for journalism (or even an editorial) these days?
Barnett gets the 2002 Bob Michel Award.
1. Call a press conference to discuss the issue every day
2. Pass along a bit more information every day to make the issue seem fresh and growing.
3. Make statements like "We may be seeing only the tip of a huge illegal effort to defraud the system and we won't know for sure until we get all the evidence".
4. Display charts for the TV cameras accentuating the problems as being centered on the reservations, playing to anti-Indian sentiment.
5. Leak real or phony information to willing media people, which would lead to more speculative stories.
6. Parade suspects in public.
7. Contact the national media and get their cameras and reporters to be at his daily press briefings.
8. Hint at post-election investigations and potential criminal charges, trying to intimidate new voters from actually going to the polls.
Gee, that reads exactly like what Florida's Rat AG (and state Gore campaign chairman) Bob Butterworth tried to do in 2000. Where was the media concern then?
YMCA director? What kind of title is that to boast?
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