E&P: South Dakota Paper Probes Senator's Link to Jeff Gannon

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000827954

South Dakota Paper Probes Senator's Link to Jeff Gannon

By E&P Staff

Published: March 06, 2005 1:30 PM ET

NEW YORK When the national media bothers to cover the James Guckert case at all, it generally ocuses on the reporter/escort’s access to White House briefings for two years, operating under an alias (Jeff Gannon) and on behalf of a clearly partisan organization (GOPUSA). But there are local spinoffs as well.

Today, the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal examined the Guckert/Gannon links to the 2004 U.S. Senate contest in that state, which sent the Democratic leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, packing. The newspaper’s probe followed reports in E&P and elsewhere about Gannon’s apparent links to political operatives and bloggers in the state who are credited with helping to elect John Thune to the post.

According to the paper, Thune said last week that he barely knew Gannon. He said he appeared on Gannon's radio show once early in the campaign and later may have done another interview for a print piece. But Thune said “his campaign didn't pay Gannon for his reporting services and didn't coordinate its campaign strategy with him, as some critics have implied.”

....

But Steve Hildebrand, who was Daschle's 2004 campaign manager, said Friday that Gannon was “more manipulator than reporter in the campaign.” With money from wealthy Republican sources, Gannon generated one-sided news stories, fed to the bloggers, aimed at scuttling Daschle rather than covering news, Hildebrand said.


<</SNIP>>

[Mr.Green93]

1. Can this be the thing

that can overturn Thune's 'election'?

[NVMojo]

2. He'd certainly deserve it. Most states have election laws forbidding

the use of "anonymous" one-sided campaign material that defames one candidate without giving them recourse to know their real accusers.

[sabra]

5. It is the thing, but...

there are so many things, that should happen, but don't :-(

[SodoffBush]

3. The Bushies have placed bullseyes on journalists backs in Iraq

and press passes in the pockets of whores who undermine national elections and perform WH fellacios on the side.

We have lost our country.

[qanda]

4. We should do something to preserve every story Jeff Gannon

Did on Daschle. Perhaps we could organize something where we each coordinate the input into Google and each take a certain amount of links to cover. I think this would help show just how many stories Jeff Gannon actually did on Daschle and how he was a proud tool in bringing down Daschle. In fact, I remember reading that Jeff Gannon was an expert on South Dakota politics. How did he get or earn that title?

[sojourner]

10. Do you remember where you read that? Post a link, cuz

that is a question I would also like to see answered - whenever I bring it up I get poo-pooed. "It's all about Thune," is what others believe. But my reading of his various involvements led me to think he's got some kind of connection/roots/history in S. Dakota. :shrug:

[cosmicdot]

14. about G/G being an expert on SD politics?

hits for a google of 'Gannon expert on South Dakota politics':

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-33,GGLD:en&q=Gannon+expert+on+South+Dakota+politics

amongst the googled items is
http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week50/

the address http://www.jeffgannon.com/Daschle/daschle_paradox.htm is found by checking the properties of 'HERE', at the very bottom of the page where it reads:

Gannon on Daschle's defeat
Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, recently wrote an article headlined "Opposition to Death Tax Repeal Helped Topple Daschle." You can read Gannon's complete coverage of the 2004 Senate race in South Dakota HERE.

of course, the link no longer works


using the search feature at http://www.archive.org/
no specific page is found for the daschle_paradox.htm link; however, continuing the search by clicking
'Click here to search for all pages on jeffgannon.com/', does come up with some links re Gannon/Daschle
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K60C32D9A

one of several hits is:

jeffgannon.com/Daschle_machine.htm
~2 pages between Aug 10, 2003 and Dec 03, 2003
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A31C13D9A

clicking the above, at the next pagehere
two dates appear, clicking Aug. 10, 2003, takes one to

http://web.archive.org/web/20030810053723/http://jeffgannon.com/Daschle_machine.htm "Critics: Daschle's Soft Image Masks Political Machine
By Jeff Gannon Talon News Washington Bureau Chief July 15, 2003

another August 10, 2003, hit piece found by clicking
jeffgannon.com/daschles_rich.htm
~3 pages between Aug 10, 2003 and Dec 03, 2003
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K32C56D9A

click Aug. 10, 2003, which leads to:

Daschles Among Richest South Dakotans; Net Huge Tax Break

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and his lobbyist wife Linda received a sizeable tax cut when the President’s Jobs and Growth Plan was signed into law. Already among the wealthiest South Dakotans, the high-power Washington pair will pocket an additional $250,000 a year as a result of a reduction in the marginal tax rate and capital gains taxes and elimination of the marriage penalty.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030810054445/http://jeffgannon.com/daschles_rich.htm

one article from Feb 15, 2004
Gannon writes:

To say that I lack credibility because I ask questions that don’t assume the President is an illegitimate, corrupt, lying, warmongering extremist is laughable. It seems that I am virtually alone in trying to balance out the agenda-driven questions so that the full story can be told. Apparently the President sees it that way as well, since he recently spoke out about the filtering that news gets about events in Iraq. http://web.archive.org/web/20040215020412/www.jeffgannon.com/smeared.htm

interesting that this one: jeffgannon.com/investigating_south_dakota.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20040215133732/www.jeffgannon.com/investigating_south_dakota.htm
no longer works

amongst the googled items is
http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week50/

that address is found by checking the properties of 'HERE', at the very bottom of the page where it says:

Gannon on Daschle's defeat
Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, recently wrote an article headlined "Opposition to Death Tax Repeal Helped Topple Daschle." You can read Gannon's complete coverage of the 2004 Senate race in South Dakota HERE.

of course, the link no longer works

from 'Rove-Gannon Connection?' dated 2-18-05

~snip~

Gannon also had Thune on his radio show "Jeff Gannon's Washington," and the White House correspondent for Talon became touted as the "resident D.C. expert on South Dakota politics" by the bloggers. Thune and Wadham (who has been hired by aspiring White House Republican Sen. George Allen) have become go-to guys on the use of blogs in campaigns. Thune was cited in The New York Times as introducing "Senators to the meaning of 'blogging,' explaining the basics of self-published online political commentary and arguing that it can affect public opinion." ~snip~
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/18/opinion/lynch/main675050.shtml

from 02/23/2005: "Thune and Gannon "Worked Hand in Hand"

~snip~
The content of the interview--indeed, the fact that the interview was ever conducted at all--immediately became a hot topic for two South Dakota bloggers (Jon Lauck's "DaschlevThune" and Jason Van Beek's "South Dakota Politics") which blogs (as noted above) received $35,000 from Thune to carry water for his 2004 campaign.

~snip~

Van Beek would refer to Jeff Gannon, once the so-called "Mansiongate" scandal hit (or re-hit) in the autumn of 2004, as "the indefatigable Jeff Gannon, once again did some investigative work on the matter"; though, on October 21st, 2004, he must have gotten his marching orders confused, as he called Gannon "the indefatigable Jeff Gannon, resident D.C. expert on South Dakota politics, ..."

~snip~
http://www.freddevan.com/blog/archives/00004790.html

info on Paul Van Beek, at Daily Kos
"Powerline & Van Beek's very rich week"
http://edwardsraysofsunshine.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/23415/9006



Edited to add:
accidentally, found the Gannon Daschle Paradox Page by using the wayback machine search of freerepublicradio.com ...

at the site below, the 4th window link down on the left goes to Gannon's radio program page
http://web.archive.org/web/20040224185704/http://www.radiofreerepublic.com/

which has this link
http://web.archive.org/web/20040216052530/http://www.jeffgannon.com/

The Daschle Paradox

Current Commentary Behind Enemy Lines

In May 2003, at the height of the New York Times scandal that exposed star reporter Jayson Blair as a fraud and led to the ouster of editor Howell Raines, I began to investigate charges that Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has a close, long-term relationship with the political reporter of his state's largest newspaper, Gannet's Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Critics claim that relationship, hidden for decades, has benefited the Senator and the Democratic Party in South Dakota.

In a series of articles for Talon News, I was proved that relationship and the shameless and purposeful bias of the Argus Leader. * article links from this site at very bottom * *http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.jeffgannon.com/agrusleaderbias.htm


As a result of the original investigation I have continued to document a fascinating record of duplicity by the South Dakota Democrat. The image presented to the folks at home is that he is the soft-spoken son of the South Dakota soil. But in Washington, he promotes a liberal agenda that few of his constituents would ever support.

No small part of the story is his multi-millionaire lobbyist wife who has prospered greatly from her marriage to the most powerful Democrat in Congress.

Lobbying is Daschle Family Affair
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0618_daschle_lobbying.shtml

Critics: Daschle's Soft Image Masks Political Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.jeffgannon.com/Daschle_machine.htm

Daschles Among Richest South Dakotans; Net Huge Tax Break
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.jeffgannon.com/daschles_rich.htm

Daschle Calls for Independent Counsel to Investigate Alleged Leak
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/october/1001_daschle_leak.shtml

Daschle, Lautenberg Vow to Fight FAA Privatization They Supported in 1994
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/september/0923_faa_privatization.shtml

Daschle Claims Questionable Tax Credit for DC Home
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/august/0813_daschle_property_tax.shtml

Senator Blasted for Abusing Office, Seeks IRS Probe of Conservative Group
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/august/0808_baucus_irs.shtml

Daschle Angers Business Owners on Death Tax
http://web.archive.org/web/20040201220810/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/august/0807_daschle.shtml

to have a whole page dedicated to Tom begs to be an 'expert'

~ in these ironic times ~

*links from the argus link*

Daschle Challenger Calls for Reporter to Reveal Ties to Senator
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 5, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20031216182451/www.talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0605_argus_leader.shtml

Daschle's Hometown Newpaper Under Fire
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 9, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040205104244/www.talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0609_argus_leader.shtml

South Dakota Reporter Key to Daschle Strategy
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 10, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040214113346/talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0610_argus_leader.shtml

NY Times Probes Daschle Spouse Lobbying; Argus Leader Skips Story
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 11, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040205105015/talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0611_argus_leader.shtml

Daschle Mute on Argus Leader Link; South Dakota Probe Widens
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 13, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040205105850/talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0613_argus_leader.shtml

Another Daschle Link to Beleaguered Newspaper Revealed
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 17, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040214125528/talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0617_argus_leader.shtml

Argus Leader Breaks Silence, Admits Daschle Link
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
June 20, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20040205110910/talonnews.com/news/2003/june/0620_argus_leader.shtml

KELO Caves to Beck’s Blackout
http://web.archive.org/web/20040215134100/www.jeffgannon.com/kelo_caves_to_beck.htm

[yorkdane]

16. Request for cosmicdot

May I use the links and comments contained in your post for a follow-up post at this site, please?

http://www.argusleaderonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1415&page=1&pp=10

My apology if this is inappropriate - no malice meant!

[cosmicdot]

18. no problem n/t

[sojourner]

21. wow!!!!!!

Thanks. I think. It's gonna take me a day or two to get through that but thanks a million for posting it here!:)

[anarchy1999]

6. Gannon's Radio Show? Did I miss something?

I thought he was just a White House Press Corp Whore? What happened?

[cosmicdot]

7. would that be Radio FR?

googled "Gannon Radio Show", and got this freerepublic link ...

***JEFF GANNON of TALON NEWS Joins RadioFR***

Radio FR is pleased to announce that Jeff Gannon, the Washington Bureau Chief for Talon News will be hosting a Radio Free Republic show Wednesday, Sept 10 at 8pm eastern.

TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Announcements
KEYWORDS: FRN; JEFFGANNON; RFR; TALONNEWS
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1 posted on 09/09/2003 8:49:10 PM PDT by diotima
< Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies >

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To: agitator; Jeff Gannon
ping!

2 posted on 09/09/2003 8:49:34 PM PDT by diotima (So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >

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To: diotima
Congrats. Jeff's one of the good guys in D.C. I'd say he's 'fair and balanced' but I might get sued

3 posted on 09/09/2003 8:59:27 PM PDT by kristinn
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies >

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To: diotima; Jeff Gannon
Score. Jeff, keep up the great work...

4 posted on 09/10/2003 6:29:06 AM PDT by eureka! (Rats and Presstitutes lie--they have to in order to survive.....)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >

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To: diotima
Well done.

5 posted on 09/10/2003 7:12:07 PM PDT by A Navy Vet (government is the problem, not the solution!)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/979292/posts

[JoFerret]

9. Ah! those bottom-feeding freedom-hating freepers

...why do they hate America so much?

[cosmicdot]

15. wayback machine link to one of his radio shows

Wednesday, December 3
8pm Jeff Gannon's Washington
Guest: Star Parker
author, Uncle Sam's Planatation

Star Parker, freedom fighter and social policy activist, has written a blistering indictment of today's culture of government dependency.
"Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What You Can Do About It" traces the benign origins of the welfare state and its evolution into a $400 billion plus monstrosity of programs that effectively enslave America's poor.

Parker, a former welfare mother, has seen first hand the damage that a life of dependency renders. Years of massive government spending have left America's inner cities in shambles, black families destroyed, and youth uneducated and directionless.

It's time to cut our losses, get government and bureaucrats out of the way, and return our precious and limited resources to where Americans know how to use them best - to the control of private citizens. Perpetuation of the lie, says Parker, that government programs can solve the problems of individuals has left a generation of black Americans with a loss of a sense of self, hope, and responsibility.

http://web.archive.org/web/20031203014649/http://www.radiofreerepublic.com/



using RadioFR's web address at the wayback machine

[sojourner]

22. He was interviewed tonight on GNN

by a rightwing host...he no longer works for Talon. The exposure of his "gay escort" service websites caused friend Bobby Eberle to let him go.

DUers and kossacks are being targeted for "outing" him, and the host was sympathetic to the poor conservative journalist who is being treated so badly for his political beliefs.

[struggle4progress]

8. "This gay prostitute in my bed? Why, I hardly know him!"

[oasis]

12. Thune knew him only as "Bulldog". woof, woof.

[struggle4progress]

13. South Dakotans Launch Grassroots Campaign to Investigate Ties ...

Between Gay Hooker Jeff Gannon and the 2004 Campaign of U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD)

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

<snip> It was almost five weeks ago that gay hooker Jeff Gannon (nee James Dale Guckert, nee "The Bulldog" to prospective johns) offered the President of the United States, on live television, the opportunity to declaim for a moment on just how wonderful he is and how benevolent and reasonable his Administration always has been. Misquoting, in the process, both the Democratic Senate Minority Leader and the leading candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination must surely have been nothing more than a bonus. <snip>

The efforts are being spear-headed by a new (albeit accidental and uncoordinated) alliance of progressive blogs in South Dakota, most notably Todd Epp's Thune Watch, Trent Dlugosh's Thune v South Dakota, Chad Schuldt's Clean Cut Kid, Douglas Wiken's Dakota Today, and Kevin Woster's Mount Blogmore. <snip>

http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/03/south-dakotans-launch-grassroots.html

[oasis]

19. A twofer investigation. Turn the heat up on both of those bastards..

[cosmicdot]

11. Thune said “his campaign didn't pay Gannon ..."

others 'took care' of that ... :o

"... and didn't coordinate its campaign strategy with him"

oh, they're clever with their semantics


bring Thune down!

the Senate has been stolen and taken over the course of 3 elections

[cosmicdot]

17. one hand feeds another as they tie and lie together

I believe there should be some top to bottom investigation/reform of the whole 501 (c)(3)and (4) IRS organization regulation and classification system ... it's being abused ... imo, it's hurting our democracy as a result ... note how the ACU chair, below, reinforces the word "educate" ... to help justify the Rushmore's existence and status ... 'cause you have to be an educational organization ...

Gannon did a Daschle hit piece re Rushmore Policy Council, "a South Dakota-based family policy organization"

which is picked up by the South Dakota GOP website ...

"DASCHLE MACHINE CRUSHING DISSENT; USING IRS TO SILENCE OPPONENTS -
Senator Blasted for Abusing Office, Seeks IRS Probe of Conservative Group" By Jeff Gannon Talon News August 8, 2003
http://www.sdakotagop.com/newsdetail.asp?iNewsID=180 -

this sdakotagop.com declares itself yet another "active group of life-long South Dakotans that are a not-for-profit organization established to promote and defend principled candidates who support the Reagan vision of limited government, free markets, lower taxes, family values, economic growth and a strong national defense."



ON May 7, 2003, Josh Marshall reports on "Daschle-bashing reaches a new low in South Dakota" ...

If you’ve ever needed a textbook example of the psychological theory of projection, it’s those GOP operatives and their dingbat jihad against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. ~snip~

Erickson’s partner is Robert Regier, executive director of the Rushmore Policy Council, the organization slated to run the campaign. Regier’s other outfit, the Family Policy Council, turns out to have cosponsored that ad linking Daschle to Saddam Hussein.

Still with me? Good. You might wonder how one man could run so many policy councils. One of his secrets seems to be keeping expenses low: the Rushmore Policy Council and the Family Policy Council both share an address with Compass Care, the business run by Paul Erickson. ~snip~

The key to success, they argue, is having a sponsoring group that is “putatively based in South Dakota.” And, the brochure assures them, “the ‘Rushmore Policy Council’ was designed precisely to meet these criteria.” In other words, the key to nailing Daschle as a tool of out-of-state interests who lacks credibility is to run the operation through a front organization that hides its own connections to out-of-state interests. ~snip~
http://www.hillnews.com/marshall/050703.aspx

And, then, more and more of their support organizations pile on; and, lend support ... the American Conservative Union, i.e., helps to propagate the message ... so, they do a piece to criticize Daschle ...

"Ranking Democrat Member on Senate Finance Committee -
Abuses Position to Silence Conservative Critics"

Thursday, August 7, 2003

ALEXANDRIA, VA - The Internal Revenue Service has been asked to investigate the tax-exempt status of the Rushmore Policy Council, a South Dakota-based family policy organization. The investigation would be based upon Rushmore's advertisements that educated voters regarding Democrat Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's, D-S.D. voting record on abortion, human cloning, and stalled judicial nominations to the federal bench. ~snip~

"As a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization, the Rushmore Policy Council would have had to do one of two things to warrant such an investigation," explained Keene. "It would have had to either told voters to 'vote for' or 'vote against' Senator Daschle-which the ads did not do-or engaged in illegal campaign coordination with Daschle's opponent. Senator Daschle, incidentally, doesn't yet have an opponent. The IRS can easily rule out coordinated campaign activities, and the ads can be easily enough examined. This complaint is utterly lacking in merit." ~snip~

(American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene)
http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/030807.asp

and, blogs such as http://sibbyonline.blogspot.com/2003_09_07_sibbyonline_archive.html
join the echo chamber

Friday, September 12, 2003
The inside story on Argus Leader letter to the editor
South Dakota Politics has reported that a letter in yesterday’s Argus Leader was written by the brother of Jonathon Lehman, Tom Daschle's legislative aide for Agriculture and Energy policy.
~snip~

The Other Side of Tom Daschle
The Rapid City Journal is reporting that a book titled, “The Other Side of Tom Daschle” is listed for sale on the Internet but the listed author, Rob Regier, is not writing it:


The 96-page book hasn't been written, and Robert Regier, the Sioux Falls man listed as the author, told the Rapid City Journal he doesn't plan to pen such a tome.

Regier is executive director of both the South Dakota Family Policy Council and the Rushmore Policy Council, a group that has organized anti-Daschle ad campaigns.

Regier said he had discussed the book with the publisher, Jameson Books of Ottawa, Ill., in late spring or early summer but then withdrew from the project in July.
~snip~

etc., etc., etc.

[NYC]

20. It seems Gannon was a busy little bee.

Who paid him?