Posted on 10/30/2004 3:40:14 PM PDT by SoDak
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A tribal judge has no authority to keep Republicans from watching Tuesday's voting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney James McMahon said Saturday.
"It would be my interpretation of that order that it does not comply with the law, and I have let it be known to law enforcement that they should not be enforcing any order on the reservation which purports to keep the Republican Party away from the polls," he said.
"If anyone does that, they're subjecting themselves to violating federal law."
The Four Directions Committee, which calls itself a nonpartisan group trying to increase American Indian voting, got a temporary restraining order Friday against the state GOP and Ryan Knutson.
Oglala Sioux tribal Judge Marina Fast Horse signed the order without telling Knutson or the party about it ahead of time and scheduled a hearing for Nov. 12.
Four Directions accuses Knutson of intimidating its workers on Wednesday at Pine Ridge by videotaping them on private property. The order does not accuse him of harassing voters.
On Saturday, Knutson called The Associated Press and said they've got the wrong guy.
"This is bizarre. I have never been to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in my entire life," he said in a telephone interview from his North Sioux City home.
"On Wednesday I was helping my brother bury his dog in Vermillion."
Knutson, 26, said he worked for the state GOP for a few months after he graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law but quit his job at the party's Yankton office in September.
"I don't appreciate having my name drug through the mud," he said. "People are calling me today wondering what the heck is going on."
Knutson, one of South Dakota's 23 elected delegates to the Republican National Convention, questioned the credibility of a tribal court system that would approve such an order without solid proof. He said Four Directions is partisan.
"I question whether anything ever happened," he said.
Bret Healy, executive director of Four Directions, said one of the committee's workers positively identified Knutson as the person who videotaped and trespassed.
Healy and Steven Sandven, the lawyer who drafted the document, also cited campaign records showing that the state Republican Party reimbursed Knutson for his time, cellular phone use and travel expenses three times in September and October.
Jason Glodt, executive director of the state GOP, said that though Knutson hasn't worked for the party since early September, someone did videotape Four Directions workers at Pine Ridge because of reported voter problems.
He would not say who it was.
Sandven, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. House in 2000, said the judge's order is not intended to keep Republican polls watchers away - only Knutson.
However, the order would prevent any member of the party from having contact with Four Directions workers, videotaping them or harassing them in any other way, he said.
The tribe "absolutely" has the right to enforce it, Sandven said.
"Respondent Knutson has to stay at least 100 yards from the poll. He is a non-Indian and the tribe still has civil jurisdiction over him and he could be subject to contempt," he said.
Attorney General Larry Long could not be reached Saturday to comment whether the state planned to get involved.
Glodt said the party's lawyers had not yet decided whether to respond legally.
Any civil action in response to the order would likely be handled in federal court in Rapid City.
Healy said Four Directions got the order because its workers had been intimidated before.
"My guy didn't call whining over something one time.
This had happened more than once, in terms of problems and things that were intimidating," he said.
Glodt said Four Directions is effectively a front for the Democrats. Healy is a former Democratic Party executive director, the group printed negative ads against Republican U.S. House candidate Larry Diedrich before the June special election, and the Four Directions Political Action Committee - predecessor to the current group - contributed $544,500 to the state Democratic Party, Glodt said.
Four Directions Committee "is not a front for party organizations," said Healy.
He said his past involvement with the party has nothing to do with Four Directions. The ads were cleared by the group's lawyer as being appropriate under tax law, and it was a former PAC by the same name, not the new committee, that gave money to the Democrats, according to Healy.
"There was a Four Directions PAC and I did have some relation to that, but only in that I was raising money for them for 2002," he said.
Furthermore, the committee went after Democratic election officials in Lake Andes who mistakenly prevented some people from voting in the June election, though the charges were dismissed, Healy said.
Did Judge Fast Horse jump the shark?
Judge Fast Horse was slapped down this afternoon for exceeding her authority by a country mile.
Why do Indians living on reservations get to vote anyway?
Can I cast a vote for the tribal council, or whatever?
I remember this was a problem last time, but I don't even understand why these folks are voting at all.
Geez. Steal early and often should be their motto.
When you posted the story earlier about the video taping and restraining order my first thought was that the whole story was just really really strange.
I talked to some people from Pine Ridge that are unhappy with the present leadership, which is good for us.
Ping to those of you following this developement.
http://www.wesroth.com/
Keep the pressure on Daschle.
EMAIL letters@aberdeennews.com
In Re: Aberdeen News, Oct. 30, 2004
"Daschle resident status explored"
By Ian H. Fennell, American News Writer.
What is Sen Daschle hiding?
Aberdeen News tells the sorry tale of Sen Daschle's Kafkaesque metamorphosis from a down-home South Dakotan to an ultra-liberal lord of a $1.9 million Washington mansion who does not even pay his fair share of property taxes.
News reports say that the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) is investigating whether Sen Daschle is actually entitled to a property tax exemption he claimed on the $1.9 million Washington mansion he and his wife purchased in 2003, and that Sen Daschle declared on official documents filed with OTR that the District mansion was his "principal place of residence." At issue is the homestead exemption, a property tax credit limited to owner-occupants who declare their homes to be their "primary residence."
The affidavit filed with OTR that bears the senator's signature makes that claim. A flurry of activity began on September 29, 2004 when Talon News filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the executed Application. That same day, Carl Piggott, an OTR auditor rescinded the homestead exemption---possibly at Sen Daschle's direction. The following day, the OTR legal staff reinstated the credit.
A second news source reported that OTR faxed a letter to Daschle's Washington office asking that a new application be executed. The details of the activities that ensued beginning September 29 have not yet been revealed, but Doug Schauss, a spokesman for the OTR told news organs that the matter was "under review with the legal staff" and that a "resolution was expected soon."
These puzzling circumstances suggest Sen Daschle has something to hide. First Sen Daschle claims he did, and then he says he didn’t, apply for a tax exemption.He can't have it both ways.
South Dakotans should ask themselves, " If Sen Daschle lied to you about this issue, what else has he lied to you about?"
I was one of the freepers that stayed up all night following the obvious cheating going on election night at some S.D. reservations. Thune should be in the senate, not Johnson. There were more votes at one reservation than legally aged voters for sure and super high dem voting rates at other dem strongholds.
I also remember a couple that tried to protest a voter for good cause and they were told they had no right to be there or take pictures. It was 2 dem lawyers throwing a bunch of legal terms at them and so they left figuring the lawyers must be right. I am hoping the training of poll watchers makes it clear what they are allowed to do this time around.
I think there were 4 heavily dem areas that didn't turn in votes until the entire rest of the state was in and they managed to come up with enough votes to overcome Thune in the wee hours of the morning. If we aren't there to watch every move they will manufacture alot of votes once again. I am really beyond weary of hearing poll watchers trying to make sure it is a fair election is intimidation, although it will be a tad bit more difficult to manufacture votes at the last minute I hope so for cheaters I guess that is intimidating.
I am looking forward to sweet, and somewhat poetic justice if Thune beats Daschle.
Thanks for the ping. Mr. RR just called me from party headquarters with this news.
Love your FReeper name.
I put my "Dump Daschle" bumper sticker on my very large garbage can.
Ya know, that's a very good question. Aren't tribal lands considered sovereign nations (little countries within the borders of the U.S.)? I thought the tribes were allowed to purchase and sell cigarettes, liquor, gasoline, etc. without incurring the taxes that would be charged in the states where they reside.
If people residing on tribal lands consider themselves independent of the U.S. for tax and business purposes, how can they be considered citizens for the purpose of voting?
"Aren't tribal lands considered sovereign nations (little countries within the borders of the U.S.)?...If people residing on tribal lands consider themselves independent of the U.S. for tax and business purposes, how can they be considered citizens for the purpose of voting?"
Yeah, that's what I want to know.
I remember years ago hubby & his brother complaining about the Idians opening casinos (and quite frankly, I thought all that stuff was great, very enterpreneurial. I guess it's been corrupted, and maybe the real Indians aren't getting the money, but I don't know that that is the case every where, and anyway, I still think it's a good idea) and I explained to them that this was basically a different country, and if they wanted to own casinos they should petition their own gov't.
This So.Dakota stuff went over my head last time, but I'd still like to understand it.
Well, Dasche just won his reelection with this.
There is nothing the Republicans can do now to win SD senatorial race.
Thune might as well concede now.Huh? How so? Did I misread something? It sounded to me more like this guy is saying that the tribal judge is incorrect and they plan for a "full speed ahead" and there WILL be GOP poll watchers.
Someone help me out here. I don't want da$$hole to win this thing STEALING it in front of our noses.
They probably identified the wrong person because all white guys look alike to them.
Hey, Liz!Wasn't there another article that I posted to and we Freeped this, sending notes to the website and email ??? I can't find that article now.
Anyway, I DID get a reply back from the AG!
Here is my email and their reply:
My email:
Oglala order could prevent GOP poll watching on Pine Ridge
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10051938.htmIt appears to me that Democrats are gearing up for massive voter fraud.
PLEASE do whatever possible to allow Republican poll watchers at these polling locations.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Their reply:From: help@state.sd.us
The United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota has taken a lead on this issue. He issued a statement saying the order was invalid and he directed federal law enforcement to ignore the tribal court order. We have analyzed the court order and we agree with the US Attorney's position. Because these events are occurring in Indian country, the US Attorney has much greater authority to oversee this dispute.
Yay!
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