Political Brief - Daschle Files One With The Home Team
Filed under: Current Events— ardbeg @ 10:18 pm
Daschle is pushing the bounds of political tactics in his effort to hold onto his Senate seat, and in the process may be asking the judge in the case to push the bounds of ethics.
According to the Argus Leader:
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle sued his opponent, John Thune, and the GOP in federal court tonight, accusing Republicans of intimidating Native American voters in Tuesday’s election.
In a complaint filed late this afternoon and obtained by the Argus Leader, Daschle asked U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Piersol to keep 200 Republican monitors out of polling places across South Dakota tomorrow.
This is an unusual move for Daschle this late in the game, and one fraught with risk. It could spur increased turnout among American Indians, a reliable Daschle constituency representing of 8.3% of South Dakota’s population as of the 2000 Census. However, it could backfire with moderates and swing voters, who might see this as a crude political gambit. If so, he might lose more votes overall than he gains (fraudulent or valid) in the American Indian community.
But Daschle is trailing in the RCP poll average and is predicted to lose by Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball and the Tradesports political market. In other words, he’s desperate, and he has to take some risks.
Of course, the ruling by the district court will have a significant effect on the public perception, and is this regard Daschle may be in luck. As someone familiar with judicial appointments, I can tell you that though all judges are appointed by the President, the White House reserves the most control over appellate court appointments while senators essentially control who gets nominated to district court positions (especially when they are from the same party as the President).
Judge Piersol was nominated by President Clinton, and as the Argus Leader indicates, “Daschle chose [him]for the federal bench.”
Piersol and Daschle are longtime allies in South Dakota politics dating back to Piersol’s days as a Democratic state legislator, and another Argus Leader article from 2001 describes him as “a longtime friend of the senator.” In fact, Piersol was interviewed just four days ago for the syndicated AM radio show Coast to Coast. From the transcript:
Longtime friend Larry Piersol (PEER-sol) says people here feel that Tom Daschle is one of them.
AUDIO: CUT 1 PIERSOL
“The people that are out here, they believe in strength, but they believe in quiet strength. That’s exactly what he has, is quiet strength. That’s the same sort of thing that people out here believe they themselves have and I think they look for that in their leaders.”
The story didn’t mention Piersol was a judge, which is a good thing, since federal judges are prohibited under the judicial cannon of ethics from publically endorsing political candidates, and Piersol’s comments certainly straddle that line closely.
Still not “Home Town” enough for you? Well, did you know that Daschle won his first race for Congress in 1978, but only after a recount gave him the victory by 139 votes? Guess who Daschle campaign’s lead lawyer was on that case? Lawrence Piersol.
I should say that I think the vast majority of federal judges, appointed by Republicans or Democrats, always try to apply the law fairly and without prejudice. That said, I think most federal judges would recuse themselves in circumstances similar to those found here. Whether Piersol should be recused from Dashle’s case is an issue that only Piersol will be able to consider in the short period of time. And if he issues an order barring Republican poll watchers from the polls, it probably can’t be reviewed until after the election.
So while the law may not be on Daschle’s side, the “Law” may yet be in his corner. And even if Piersol does issue a conscientious decision in the case, it doesn’t change the fact that Daschle pulled a rather questionable move by even bringing the case in Piersol’s court in the first place.
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