From the MSM: a story on Hildygate from the Rapid City Journal
From tonight’s Rapid City Journal:
Hildebrand, a past campaign manager for Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson and former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle, said he and partner Paul Tewes decided recently to fire Schuldt after learning that he had been stealing from the company and failing to pay federal payroll taxes. Hildebrand said he learned of the tax problem about three weeks ago and that further investigation revealed that Schuldt, the firm’s business manager, had been diverting company money to pay for his video-lottery debts.
Schuldt has entered a treatment program for his addiction, Hildebrand said.
“Chad has dealt with a lot of issues of depression … and gambling, you know,” Hildebrand said. “So on one level, he’s an incredibly good, very smart person. On another level, he’s dealing with some illnesses that he needs to take care of.”
and…
Schuldt also called Democratic state Sen. Garry Moore of Yankton a “joke” as a legislative leader and encouraged his defeat by voters. Moore said Saturday that Schuldt should have been spending more time worrying about his own behavior and less time attacking others.
“I guess an individual like himself, when he starts casting stones, better make sure his house is not made out of glass as well. And I think this has come back to haunt him now,” Moore said. “I’ll probably try to be a little more gracious with him than he’s been on his blog site. Maybe he can take an example from others.”
Read it all here in the story by the Rapid City Journal’s Kevin Woster.
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Comments
Again, the Argus Leader looks pathetic. Naming Chad Schuldt and providing readers with details on this scandal is rather easy for the Roll Call and the Rapid City Journal.
The Argus is just protecting one of its former employees I guess.
1. makes a good point. Chad Schuldt once lashed out: “you have decided you want to fuck with my livelihood? You want to screw with the income I earn to support my three kids? If that’s where your idiotic game leads us, then bring it on. I’m ready to fire back if necessary.”
Those people who had their jobs and livelihoods f—d with by Chad need to hear from Chad how he is sorry.
Funny that Woster called Schuldt because Schuldt was always attacking Woster and calling him “my BFF Kevin Woster in the Rapid City Journal.”
This is a good question for the blogs–what duty does Schuldt owe all the people he has dumped on and tried to get fired?
The Argus Leader will be forced to cover this now. The dam has broken. Don’t expect leadership from the Argus. But after a while they will be shamed into covering this story.
Anyone looking forward to the idiocy of Randell Beck’s column tomorrow? no, me either
Minnehaha County State’s Attorney, Dave Nelson (a Democrat I think)
http://web.minnehahacounty.org/minnehaha/dept/sa/press_releases/press_releases.aspx
Hildy is clearly trying to weasel out of prosecuting Chad Schuldt. If he did the crime (while lampooning all Republicans for being crooked) he should do the time. I don’t see why this is Hildy’s call to make. Since when has our justice system been handed over to liberal hacks like Hildy?
So Dems have their Schuldt and Republicans have their Ted Klaudt. I think it’s pretty clear which one is worse.
another “Hildygate” will be if this alleged crime goes uninvestigated and unpunished. Unfortunately for the self-righteous Chad, he’s been demanding the Republicans be prosecuted and go to jail in recent years. And much of that is just political games and not real crimes. But grand theft embezzlement is a real crime.
Chad Schuldt on April 11, 2007:
“These people really are the most lying crooked bunch we’ve ever seen.”
“Very good ,smart people ” don’t become addicted to gambling and run up huge debts and steal money. I resent this being called “an illness, and he needs treatment”, like he contracted TB or something. These are things that weak, selfish, dishonest, irresponsible people do, and they need to be punished and make recompense.
1. has the best idea I’ve heard. we’re all human and will screwup royally and your fellow man will often be sympathetic. but remorse is necessary. all the people whose lives you have “f—d with” deserve to hear from you, especially those whose jobs and incomes you tried to take away. Doing something like that truly borders on the, well, evil.
If you don’t admit what you’ve done, you can expect your enemies to kick you when you’re down. And keep kicking.
If he’s addicted to keno and ripped off his boss to pay for it that’s one thing.
But that doesn’t explain why he trashed people and tried to get them fired.
Why does a gambling problem mean he hated other people so much?
all this “addiction” talk is the first step in Hildebrand and the Democrat state’s attorney letting their favorite attacker of Republicans off the hook, it seems
Clear Cut Convict will be blogging again in no time and people like Bob Ellis who are being generous and forgiving will be slimed again
the Argus Leader is busy with big stuff:
Armed robbery reported at Pizza Hut
By Staff Reports
Argus Leader
Published: July 28, 2007
A man robbed the Pizza Hut near the Western Mall at gunpoint overnight on Friday.
Employees of the restaurant, at 2600 W. 41st St., reported the armed robbery at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, according to a police press release. They said the robber fled northwest on foot with cash, the amount of which was not disclosed.
No injuries were reported. Police are still looking for a suspect described as a 5-foot-6-inch black man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, baggy jeans and a dark bandanna over his face.
I appreciate the irony in the tact used by everyone in talking about Chad’s situation. Will anyone be “Chad enough” to really let him have it for lying and stealing, perhaps with some extra colorful language?
Excellent point, 21. Everybody has been dealing with Chad with far more restraint than he EVER gave anybody else. Also…Let me get this straight. This guy steals from Hildebrand, and Hildebrand kinda makes excuses for him: “The state of South Dakota and the people here made a huge mistake by allowing video lottery to be so incredibly accessible,” Hildebrand said. “The state should deal with the gambling-addiction situations, and it doesn’t.” Typical liberal response…wanting the government to pick up the pieces when there’s no personal responsibility.
23. For Hildebrand to acknowledge Schuldt is at fault would mean Hildebrand would have to acknowledge errors of judgement on his (Hildebrand’s) part. Or, the people that both Hildebrand and Schuldt see themselves as better than and smarter than, especially in the SDDP, might have been on to something when they complained to Hildebrand that Schuldt was a liability and his behavior(s) was unacceptable.
I don’t see that happending.
Schuldt should clearly apologize to these he has wronged, but the authorities should also investigate and bring charges if there was a crime. This isn’t Russia, where the politically-connected aren’t prosecuted. Even Paris Hilton and Bill Janklow did time.
The Rapid City Journal story today about Chad Schuldt and Steve Hildebrand is front page and above the fold. 3
Has the Argus Leader named Schuldt yet?
Roll Call named Chad on Thursday.
The Rapid City Journal wrote a long front page/top of fold piece today.
Still nothing about Schuldt in the Argus (where he used to work).
Watch, when the Argus finally does something the story will be buried and they won’t go into all the Daschle/Obama connections and all the terrible things that Chad has said and the fact that he tried to get lots of people fired just because he didn’t like their politics.
This is a typical liberal dodge, hiding in “rehab” like he’s Joan Rivers.
Face it man–you ripped off the money and stabbed your boss in the back and betrayed your liberal friends.
Hildebrand is desperately trying to avoid an investigation and so he’s created this sob-story about addiction. Bull! He just wants to avoid his firm looking even more pathetic than it does. A full investigation by the authorities and a prosecution if he broke the law, nothing else!
Ever think that maybe Chad Schuldt is just an angry, crazy, irrational left-wing nut who suffers from Bush Derangement Syndrome. Some of the left-wingers out there, including some of the people in the SD blogosphere, are just really whacky people. Why they are listened to I’m not sure. I may think Blanchard is pedantic and writing about things way off the topic, but I know he’s smart and has a grip on reality. Same for Schaff. Some of the left-wingers, however, are just plain bat-sh-t CRAZY. I think Blanchard and Schaff deserve credit for actually trying to turn Schuldt’s ravings and slashing attacks into some kind of an argument which they would then rebut. They were too forgiving for me. When Schuldt tried to organize people to call Northern State University and get them fired they should have fought back. It’s to their credit they were tolerant, I guess, which is more than they could have expected from Schuldt, who would have sent them to a gulag if he could have. Under a Schuldt regime, smart dissenting voices like Blanchard and Schaff would have simply “disapeared.”
28. Maybe you’re right. Here’s the litmus test, Ann. 1. Is Sibson crazy? 2. Are you? 3. How do you know? Please advise.
Ok people - before I start my rant(by way of full disclosure):
1) Did Chad commit a crime? Sure as hell looks like it.
2) Should he be punished for this crime? Yup. Restitution, jail time, whatever the state/jury/judge/victim thinks is appropriate after hearing all the evidence.
3) I am not going to defend the Argus Leader. The paper has gone downhill so much in recent years I know I dropped my subscription.
Now the rant:
Any of you who seem to think that addiction in general is a joke, or that gambling addiction specifically is a joke, you are wrong. This is a real addiction, much like alcoholism. No, there is no physical addiction, but the psychological addiction is real and in many cases impossible to break without help. Does this excuse illegal behavior? NO. But it does explain it. Chad got in too deep. Thought he could win. Thought he could make it right. He couldn’t. Anyone with a math or statistics background knows that you can’t…but thinking logically isn’t always possible when in the influence of addiction. (for more information about gambling addiction : http://www.addictionrecov.org/aboutgam.htm )
Another group of people here seem to have a “Blame the Victim” thing going on. If Chad had gone into a Wells Fargo and held it up, would you try to blame Wells Fargo? This is much like blaming a rape victim for the clothes they were wearing. We all know that that line of reasoning is bull crap. Hildebrand was Chad’s friend. He trusted him. He was betrayed. Have you ever had someone you trust screw you? Have you ever been taken advantage of by someone you trusted (and liked)? When this happens, a lot of people will make excuses for the person they trusted. If Hildebrand had really wanted to cover it up…it would have remained covered up. No press, no announcements, no anything except Chad getting his walking papers and an explanation to the Obama campaign that the bad publicity would be worse than the missing $100000.
The last part of my rant: Yes, Chad was an attack dog. No, he was not always fair. Or balanced. Or consistent. If you were going to his web site, you knew that if you had two or three synapses that were still firing. Was he alone in this? Nope (cough-Sibby-cough). You talk about “people he smeared” and “people he tried to get fired”. Ok…did he get anyone fired? Did he really have any affect on peoples jobs? Or their lives? Let us step back for a second. The only ones who read political blogs are the true junkies. They have their minds made up. It is quite rare that anyone’s opinion is swayed in any way. To 99% of the state, this is a simple embezzlement story. The blogs mean nothing.
Heaven help South Dakota if Blanchard and Schaff are the standard bearers of wisdom and rationality.
The larger political scene resulting in large part from the Bush years and the even longer rhetorical assaults from the rightwing, if you think Chad was brazen in words you’ve had you’re head in the sand, has in fact demanded that the left and the little guy fight back. Horowitz’s pals have been far more toxic and damaging in trying to remove, not just individual professors but liberal academia overall, from higher education. Chad is but a speck in that rhetorical war which has taken an ever more pungent and deadly turn with Bush/Cheney/Gonzo in power.
This pile on Chad is misguided. The views of Steve Sibson and Bob Ellis and Bill Napoli have been just as damaging to South Dakotans understanding of real life and political issues as those of Blanchard and Schaff, though the first bunch attempts to channel Jesus and the second David Horowitz. The lack of real media coverage and access in SD has made these blowhards into credible talking heads and that’s unfortunate.
Left wing voters and thinkers continue to be demonized by the dysfunctional rightwing blogosphere in SD, which self-purports to be the standard bearers of decency and intelligence.
Some of us doth protest this whole wacky thread on Chad. Absolutely I recognize the depth of his shortcomings with these disclosures but his blog antics were nothing compared to the wholesale theft of government by the people that occurred, for example, in the dark process that led to Referred Law 6. That was truly despicable. And for all we know the IRS still has something in store for Leslee Unruh, too.
What you intend for Chad, aim at Chad, but please don’t create paragons of goodness out of the rightwing bloggers at the expense of the rest of us who recognize the many, many good people in South Dakota who still believe Democrats have better policy for South Dakota than Republicans and who craft thoughtful political analysis despite the deep anger we often recognize over rightwingers overreaching and bloated sense of self importance.
And if you think $100,000., which can be paid back, is comparable to what a sitting legislator did to young, vulnerable women, though Klaudt for some odd reason has escaped this brand of piling on in the blogs (as has SPEAKER Deadrick, remember that, Dist. 21 voters) you’re not really looking for justice but vengeance.
Political discourse of all stripes is needed for healthy politics and government. Its okay to be angry, we should be outraged sometimes. And Chad was, but he was no more out of line than the rightwingers who coat their rhetorical hubris with Jesus and free markets and utter propaganda manufactured, out of state, btw, by consultants for World Net Daily and Ann Coulter.
30: “Another group of people here seem to have a “Blame the Victim” thing going on. If Chad had gone into a Wells Fargo and held it up, would you try to blame Wells Fargo?”
If Wells fargo says, well he had an illness, so we won’t prosecute…yes we would and should blame Wells Fargo.
And I am not surprised Fleming would promote that pro-Democrat spin.
32: Thanks for bringing up abortion, another agenda item promoted by the Hildebrand lead Culture of Destruction.
30. “If Hildebrand had really wanted to cover it up…it would have remained covered up.” Your wrong. The press broke the story. Hildy didn’t want it out.
32. That you Newqui??
Yes, I am blaming the “victim.” Hildebrand created this monster and he fed him and paid him and encouraged him. He loved see Chad do his circus act and smear Republicans. That is what he was paid to do. And to get people fired. So yeah, Hildebrand is to blame in all this. He could have said to Chad a long time ago “please stop smearing people and trying to get them fired on your blog.” But Hildebrand didn’t do that. Hildebrand is an accomplice, not a victim.
30. ok, good points. Gambling is a serious matter. But I also think that after reading the Rapid City Journal article that it is clearly Hildebrand’s intent to let Schuldt off the hook.
36. is on to something. In the legal arena, there’s something called “agency,” which means that when someone is acting as the agent for person X and commits crimes and bad acts then person X is also responsible. Hildebrand was controlling Chad Schuldt when he was attacking Republicans so doesn’t Hildebrand have to answer for that?
4.22 AGENCY
A. Master/Servant
A servant is a person employed to perform services for another in his/her affairs and who, with respect to his/her physical conduct in the performance of the service, is subject to the other’s control or right to control.
I don’t care if he gambled it or built a new wing on his house or hid it in his freezer in the basement….if he stole the money he stole the money and he should do the time.
The victims are the people Chad Schuldt smeared and certainly not Hildebrand, who was giving Chad orders for Lord’s sake! Chad was used by Hildebrand to spread hate and attack people that Hildebrand didn’t like. Chad was Hildy’s puppet, paid well by him for being a hit-man. If there’s anything more here about Hildy being a “victim” i’m going to vomit. Believe me, the last think Steve Hildebrand is is a victim.
You can be sure that Hildebrand does NOT want this case to be prosecuted. It would be very embarassing for him in the consulting world to have his business manager on trial for stealing funds. Hildebrand wants to bury this and that’s why he’s putting excuses out there about “addiction” etc.
It has been my experience in over 30 years in the medical field that people who spend time hating and dissing others usually end up depressed and unhappy.
Anyone who spends time rehearsing hate and hateful conversations in their mind will have outward effects at some point.
40. (#44 part 2) So, go ahead and puke. That’s pretty normal when one comes face to face with their real Christian values. Oh, and welcome to the Crossroad.
The consulting firm was a mafia-style organization. Steve Hildebrand is Tony and Schuldt is Chrissy. Steve/Tony would order Chrissy/Schuldt to whack somebody and he would fire up the blog and smear them and try to destroy their livelihood. Friends of the family, like liberal bloggers and the Argus Leader, were given protection by the firm. Those who didn’t play ball like Gary Moore and Brett Healy were gunned down in an alley. But like Chrissy, Schuldt got sloppy. So Tony had him whacked.
I admire the sentiment by the Christians here, but just remember–Hildebrand would toss you to the lions if he could.
50. Hildy is the ony one acting like a Christian, actually. The is the one who was “trespassed against.”
Is it Christian for Hildy to have ordered his subordinate to trash other people and try to ruin their careers?
52. Good question, do you have evidence that he did that? If not, is it Christian to bear false witness against thy neighbor?
So Hildy wants to let Chad off the hook and not prosecute? The “kid” stole money. I’m sure there are others serving time in the pen for the same offenses (tho many times much less money) and for the same “addictions.” They would love it if their crime was swept under the rug and not prosecuted. If CCK doesn’t get prosecuted for the stealing, then I think people now in jail for similar crimes should demand review of their cases and equal treatment.
Do you actually mean that if Hildy doesn’t prosecute that CCK will be off scott free? Doesn’t seem right to me.
55. please dig into this. whose decision is it to prosecute? Hildy? or district attorney Dave Nelson? if Schuldt uses his political connections to get out of an investigation/prosecution then their needs to be an investigation of that.
the Roll Call and Rapid City Journal have written stories about Schuldt being fired but NOT the Argus Leader
Far be it from me to defend the wretched slimeball Hildebrand, but you folks need to seperate the two issues. Just because Hildy hired Schuldt and had him smear people doesn’t make Hildy guilty of embezzelment.
61. Fair enough. Hildebrand is guilty of hiring this nut Schuldt to go out and whack decent people and to try and ruin them.
It so happens that Schuldt screwed over Hildebrand (you get what you pay for). So Hildy didn’t embezzle, but he enabled the embezzler.
62: He enabled the embezzler? He allowed Chad to keep his blog going (which as a political operative, he should have either shut down or toned down). He enabled an attack dog. Saying that Hildebrand somehow deserved what he got is (or at least should be) beneath you. He was betrayed by a friend. Saying that he deserved this betrayal is wrong (Un-Christian/immoral/however you want to put it). This is again like saying that a woman was a fault when she was raped because she was wearing a low cut dress. As the IRS and the Police are involved, Chad is going to be punished. (I don’t care who you are, the IRS will make you have a REALLY bad day.) His gambling addiction should no more free him of responsibility for his actions than an alcoholic who kills someone while driving drunk.
Let’s turn this around for a second, shall we. Say Sibby get’s busted for – I don’t know – having a really bad pony tail. Would it be fair for us to start jumping all over his employer because he didn’t make Steve get a hair cut? Would it be fair to jump all over Steve’s boss because of the stuff he puts in his blog?
If Hildebrand did use CleanCutKid.com to attack his opponents (as opposed to what I think it was, Chad jumping on people who annoyed him) he did a really poor job of it. Did anyone actually get fired? Did anyone actually have their life ruined? Did anyone who isn’t a political junkie read his blog and therefore give a rat’s hind end about what Chad Schuldt had to say about anything?
This is sad, but I think Chad Schuldt should immediately apologize to those he smeared and tried to get fired. Think of all the pain and misery he caused to the people he tried to get fired.
Maybe then people will be more forgiving.