Another Daschle Link to Beleaguered Newspaper Revealed

Talon News ^ | 06/17/03 | Jeff Gannon

[bedolido]

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- South Dakota's largest newspaper has been rocked by recent accusations of bias in favor of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and other Democrats. The Argus Leader has steadfastly refused to comment on the 35-year relationship of its star political reporter to the Senate Minority Leader.

The Talon News investigation of the claims made by Sioux Falls businessman Neal Tapio has uncovered a second link between the newspaper and Daschle.

Steve Erpenbach, currently State Director for Daschle, was Assistant City Editor for the Argus Leader from 1986 until 1989. David Kranz, the reporter at the center of the controversy, was City Editor at the time. Erpenbach became Press Secretary for Ted Muenster in his 1990 bid to unseat Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). It was during this campaign that the New York Times and Roll Call criticized the Argus Leader for its biased coverage.

Neither the Argus Leader nor Daschle's office has commented on the current controversy. In Sunday's edition, Executive Director Randell Beck defended his newspaper's reporting of Linda Daschle's lobbying in a folksy editorial in which he uses his own wife as a foil. Beck wrote, "Some folks just refuse to let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Beck also wrote, "The fanatics intent on demonizing anyone who doesn't agree with them were already on the case," undoubtedly referring to the Talon News spotlight on the South Dakota newspaper's decision not to report a story involving a controversial $20 billion government contract for one of Mrs. Daschle's clients. In fact, the Argus Leader has rarely printed anything about the lobbying activities of the woman whose husband is one of the most powerful men in Washington.

Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

[Grampa Dave]

Fishwrap Lies&Spins

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OK , lets see if the system will take that!

Well it did sort of, wouldn't allow the & however!

[Grampa Dave]

See if you can modify it a little.

[floriduh voter]

Daschle's silence is deafening. I'll ping my Daschle Dem watch ping list asap.

[floriduh voter]

Daschle Dem Watch ping. I'm trying to catch some of the Daschle posts. It seems that someone is purposely outing TD re: various clandestine and questionable matters.

Is it the right wing conspiracy or is the DNC trying to dump Daschle? Something to ponder.

If anyone wants on or off of this ping list, let me know. Floriduh Voter

[floriduh voter]

Try western SD where the Rapid City Journal has the courage to print the truth about TD. You know, it depends what side of the Missouri River you're on. The Rapid City Journal imo thinks that Daschle's a strange bird.

[Darksheare]

When a liberal newspaper, or any news outlet, gets slammed for biased reporting by other liberal newspapers in an increasingly more radical liberal field, you KNOW something is up.

[MeekOneGOP]

[bybybill]

PORTLAND, OR, JUST VOTED FOR A TAX INCREASE SUPPOSEDLY TO HELP THE SCHOOLS. OUR FISHWRAPPER, THE OREGONIAN, FAILED TO REPORT THAT THE TEACHERS NEW HEALTH INSURANCE BILL WOULD RAISE TO $950 A MONTH RIGHT AFTER THE ELECTION. THEY DIDN`T THINK PEOPLE CARED.

[Susannah]

I've noticed that there are keywords below articles. I've added keywords, but I don't know how to do a search here by keyword.

[Grampa Dave]

Typical of the Oregonian. Lie about conservatives and spike the news like this new tax all the left wing maggots advance their agendas.

Remember, the Oregonian did this for the chilrun.

When that insurance cost is factored in, the cost for each chilrun will make Portland, Oregon's schools among the most expensive in the nation.

Teachers are huge users of health care. Our big local HMO apparently priced itself out of the teacher market and Kaiser picked them up. Local primary care docs say the local HMO has to be much better off now that Kaiser has them. Also, the Kaiser system has to be a shock to some of those who used to visit a doctor's office once or twice a week.

So are the property taxes going up since there are no sales taxes?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If the keyword has been added to the document you are looking at, just click on it!

Otherwise plug the following into the address URL of your browser window replace the word LINUX with the keyword you want to search on!:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/
k-linux/browse

Someone may have a better way !

[Springfield45]

"Lie and spike"...I like that. That needs to start being a FReep expression around here.

[henderson field]

Why does a Sioux Falls businessman have to investigate this? Why not the police? What are they doing? Are they corrupt? Are they involved? Let's find out.

[The Great RJ]

I read the Argus Leader every day--the front page, the editorials and the comics. Most days I can't tell much difference.