[jwalburg]

What timing! $250,000 worth of votes expected. "The faucet is on" but will stop right after the election. How transparent! These Democrats assume that Indians are stupid and can be bought right before an election. This could backfire.

[billhilly]

The have had six years to do this. Who do they think they are fooling?

[Uff Da]

There's nothing the Democraps won't stoop to to get re-elected..........This is such a farce.........Interesting this is happening JUST BEFORE the election....Using under-priviledged Indian children to enhance their images....Get the Hook!! Go Thune!!

[OldFriend]

Helping with the absentee ballots is she?

[Blue Screen of Death]

Maybe if they didn't elect so many democrats they would be making more than $4,000 a year.

"Daddy, are we democrats because we are poor, or are we poor because we are democrats?"

[lsee]

People rarely question the motives of people who give all year round...it is those opportunistic givers who raise eyebrows.

[Cicero]

Mark Gelber, president of Kids In Distressed Situations, gives money just before the election to help re-elect Tim Johnson and ensure that the Supreme Court continues to support the "right" to kill kids.

[concerned about politics]

"The faucet is on," ........ "It will continue to flow."

Now does that sound like a Democrat, or what? Give away something that was never personally theirs in the first place!

KIDS started in 1985 sending $600,000 in clothes, shoes and toys to children in Ethiopia and mud-slide victims in South America.

Well, if there's another natural disaster somewhere in the world, I guess the children will have to wait. The Democrats need the votes. Besides, Democrats think they all should have been aborted anyway.

[chnsmok]

Wouldn't this need to reported as a campaign contribution? Is this a preview of how the Dems will slither around campaign finance reform?

[Steve_Stifler]

If the $4,000 annual FAMILY income figure is correct, that means the Democratic party -- which paid Becky Red-Earth Villeda approximately $12,000 for a few months work according to reports -- is either really overpaying its workers or was up to to something more than a little fishy.
On second thought, nevermind, nothing to see here. Keep moving along.

[joesnuffy]

The Casinos on the Rezs are raking in billions...so where is it all going?

[Number_Cruncher]

Doesn't the government spend billions on welfare? And what is the budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs? It seems none of the government aid is getting to the poor. Only private donations are getting through.

[Savage Beast]

It's a step up for the Democrats to buy votes. The usually steal them.

[YaYa123]

The timing on this is astonishingly brazen, but it needs to have the right spin on it. Thune should lamblast Daschle and Johnson ...get Indian voters on the warpath ..because the democrats in power have denied their children this largesse for so long. It's a crime how neglectful Daschle and Johnson have been!! Lookie here: Democrat Senator Dorgan got his share to North Dakota Indian children over a year ago!!!

"K.I.D.S. Partners with Great Plains Food Bank to Distribute Clothes & Toys to Needy Children
By Helmut Schmidt, Summer 2001

The Great Plains Food Bank already feeds the hungry throughout the region. Now it’s aiming to warm children’s bodies and souls.

Working with K.I.D.S., a New York-based charity, Sen. Byron Dorgan and four corporate sponsors, the Great Plains Food Bank announced that it will distribute new clothing, toys, shoes, books, beds, car seats and other products to needy children in North Dakota and part of western Minnesota.

Steve Sellent, program director of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota’s Great Plains Food Bank, said about $200,000 worth of materials — more than a semi trailer load — has been received. Some $500,000 in goods is expected to be arrive at the Food Bank this year. “I don’t think it took us a second to decide to get involved in the program,” Sellent said. “We think it’s going to be fun.”

K.I.D.S. stands for Kids In Distressed Situations. K.I.D.S. President Mark Gelber said the organization takes donations of products from about 300 manufacturers and retailers and distributes them around the nation and the world.

K.I.D.S. started in 1985, focusing on the nation’s largest cities.But as is has grown, it has shifted some of its focus to rural areas. Gelber said K.I.D.S. figures there may be 50,000 children living in poverty or near poverty in North Dakota who could use the donated goods.

“There’s no seconds. There’s nothing damaged. It’s the kind of thing that would make a child or a parent happy,” Gelber said. Both Sellent and Gelber credit Dorgan with making the partnership possible. Dorgan said the program will be a great help for American Indians on reservations in North Dakota and other children around the state.

Dorgan said having good clothing can increase a child’s sense of self-worth. A toy can bring “a measure of joy.” Dorgan praised local sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, Community First Bankshares, MDU Resources Group and Alerus Financial. “This represents the best of our country,” Dorgan said. “Children are all of our responsibility ....."

[CyberAnt]

"what timing"

That was just what I was thinking! LOL

These people are so pathetic! They think we don't see why they are doing this. Besides, the lady the dems PAID to register the people on the reservation, botched it up big time. I wouldn't be so friendly with the reservation if I were the dems - it already has a bad stink to it.

[tubebender]

Can we thank Custer for this...

[Dengar01]

If she really wants to buy votes she should give the indians booze. South Dakota has a problem with druken indians. Trust me I was almost hit by one who was drinking a bottle of booze while driving.

[YaYa123]

from the same article I quoted a few replies back, which was written in the summer of 2001, "The organization now works in every state but South Dakota, Wyoming and Hawaii." Does that make Johnson and Dashcle look bad, or what?

I'm telling you, if Democrats intend this giveaway as a bribe, then they've handed republicans a great campaign issue. The headline in next week newspapers should read:

"Democrat Senators Johnson and Daschle Delinquent
Delivering The Goods To Indian Children of South Dakota

The charity, K I D S, is recognized as a worthwhile project, the crime is that in this instance, Democrats are misusing it for political advantage. I hope Republicans are smart enough to capitalize on it without looking like they don't want "the children" to go without.

[mvpel]

One of my uncles, a staunch Republican and devout Catholic, has been doing just this kind of thing for years - gathering cast-off bedding from hotels, excess food from restaurants, etc, and bringing it to an Indian reservation near where he lives, without any fanfare or press releases.

I think it was demonstrated at a recent Freep that when there's no camera, there's no charity from Democrats.

[ppaul]

But on South Dakota Indian reservations the average annual family income hovers around $4,000

What?
They haven't discovered casinos yet?

[tillacum]

The trouble is.....a lot of indians will vote for johnson, because his wife is such a "nice lady" because she brought all those things for the kids. I know.........I've seen this type of thing happen in our village. The average Indian on a reservation pays no attention to politics and can't tell who their senator or representative is. So, Johnson will benefit from his wife's schrewdness. I don't believe Mr. Cedar Face thought of KIDS all by himself.