Posted on 09/02/2003 11:58:11 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
It's all a big joke to Rep. Bill Janklow, the Republican congressman from South Dakota with a lead foot, a hollow heart and an ego the size of his Cadillac death-mobile.
Conservatives with a conscience should be appalled that the powerful GOP representative, charged over the weekend with felony manslaughter in a fatal accident that killed a motorcyclist last month, refuses to step down immediately from office.
For years, this man who belongs to the party of personal responsibility – the party of law and order – has made light of his law-skirting ways. A notorious speeder, he jested in his State of the State address while governor of South Dakota in 1996: "For the first time since I can remember, I went a whole year without a speeding ticket, and so then the federal government goes ahead and abolishes speed limits." In his 1999 State of the State address, the governor (and former state attorney general) poked fun at his scofflaw reputation again: "Bill Janklow speeds when he drives. Shouldn't, but he does."
Hardy-har-har. According to the Associated Press: "His driving record shows numerous citations from the early 1990s, when he was ticketed 12 times for speeding and paid more than $1,000 in fines. In several cases, he was stopped for driving 15 to 20 miles per hour faster than the posted speed limits and once was caught going 90 mph in a 65-mph zone." He has reportedly been involved in at least eight accidents over the past 10 years.
Last December, according to Jennifer Walters of Trent, S.D., Janklow ran a stop sign and nearly collided with her family's pickup truck at a rural intersection. "A split-second difference and the Cadillac would have hit us," Walters (who was riding with her husband and two children) told the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week. "That's how fast the car came through." Eight months later, Janklow ran the same stop sign at the very same intersection – and Randolph Scott was not so lucky.
Scott was riding his Harley-Davidson safely at a legal speed on Aug. 16. The 55-year-old Vietnam veteran, volunteer firefighter, farmer and father of two didn't have a chance as Janklow came barreling through the intersection at a reported 70 miles an hour. Scott was killed instantly. Friends remembered him as a big, outgoing guy who knew everyone in his small town of Hardwick, Minn. He headed the local American Legion post. "He was always there for you," a former schoolmate recalled. He "liked hamburger steaks," another friend said.
The imperial Janklow has expressed remorse for the death of citizen Randolph Scott. Remorse, but not shame. Janklow's son told the New York Times on Sunday that his father "plans to go back to Washington and resume his congressional duties ... He has no intention of resigning." Janklow, considered a potential candidate against Democrat minority leader Sen. Tom Daschle, is clinging pathetically to his political ambitions. Meanwhile, Republican strategists are worried about losing South Dakota's only congressional seat to a Democrat.
Politics be damned. Janklow is a repugnant lawbreaker addicted to speed and power. His callous disregard for the rules cost an innocent man his life. The Republican Party should turn its back on Janklow and bear the electoral consequences.
Last year's Trent Lott episode showed that the GOP can hold its leaders to higher standards. Party officials once again have an opportunity to show that personal accountability is more than a catch phrase. The Democrats have their Chappaquiddick. Republicans don't need one, too.
If Janklow has to go, then by all means, Edward Kennedy has to go, and go with interest compounded. We all gripe about Republicans who don't fight (and I know we do have to pick our battles) but it sure does seem like we love to shoot ourselves in the foot at those times when we don't simply let the 'rats do it for us.
If anyone in the GOP really feels the need for getting the broom out, let him denounce both of them; sweep the whole floor.
Since every poor little public school victim has to put up with zero-tolerance for nearly everything a kid can do, then let this be the start of something similar for ALL politicians. It can be Bill and Ted's Not-So-Excellent Adventure. Unfit is unfit, regardless of party affiliation.
Then you've never been in the rural west. It's filled with intersections where the speeds can be as high as 70 miles an hour. In Montana there are, in fact, few speed limits. Though one must use one's head, of course.
Cops in the west are pretty forgiving about rural speeding and that Janklow has an extensive speeding record speaks to his abuse of the roadways. I fully expect he'll be convicted of something a bit less than the felony he's charged with though.
Removing him from the House is a sticky wicket indeed. The Governor will have 90 days to order a special election and unless the GOP can convince Thune to run, they'll lose the seat to the Democrats. And even if Thune runs, that leaves Tiny Tom without a serious challenger in the 2004 race. So, it's lose-lose for the GOP.
J
But there is no way he should be politically executed while Ted Kennedy - as unfit a man as ever walked this planet - still serves in the United States Senate. If there are unfit jerks in the office, then let's do the "moral" thing and scourge them all.
Where would a true believer stop? When he has condemned only those he has the power to chastize, or would he be obligated to take on the other party?
Russell Simmons has probably patented "chastize," and I'll be owing him $50.
I agree completely. He should resign immediately and face the charges as a common citizen.
You've lost any moral basis to comment on Democrats because you are just like them, defending your star because he scores for your team. In fact, you should do us a favor and reregister as a Democrat. You'll be at home there.
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