Dem’s admit stalking Kirby. All in good clean “fun?”
Apparently the Dems in Sioux Falls are all about fun.
The problem is that their idea of fun is staking out Steve Kirby’s home, and performing surveillance on the people who come and go. Apparently their idea of fun involves generally stalking Kirby like a serial rapist would stalk their next victim.
According to the Argus Leader, who conveniently buried the bigger story on the Johnson campaign’s stalking in the bottom of an article on web sites today…
Kirby said Tuesday he’s considering a number of factors, including a couple incidents that suggest somebody is watching his house. Last week, Kirby said he was outside his home when a car drove by, and he saw what he thought was somebody in the back seat with a telephoto lens, presumably taking pictures.
“You hate to use conjecture, and until it’s confirmed that it’s them, you don’t know who it is,” he said. “I’d only be guessing.”
And Feb. 27, a Web site paid for and authorized by the South Dakota Democratic Party implied that Kirby is out of touch because he uses a mobile dog grooming service. Kirby said Tuesday dog groomers recently had been at his house.
The site, BadlandsBlue.com, is run by Virginia-based blogger Lowell Feld, who helped Democrat Jim Webb win a Senate seat in 2006. In an e-mail, Feld said he has sources in South Dakota.
“I’m not going to reveal those,” he said, “but let’s just say that there are people in Sioux Falls who might have noticed the dog grooming service truck in Kirby’s driveway.”
Rick Hauffe, the party’s executive director, said BadlandsBlue has “fun” posts from Feld, who also works for other state Democratic parties.
and…
He said young, inexperienced political operatives have been known to cross the line, however. The line would have been crossed if somebody were staking out an opponent’s house.
Whose idea of fun is it taking Britney Spears style ’stalkerazzi’ photographs of Kirby family members and visitors? And generally harassing a private citizen who hasn’t entered the race?
In the past, you might occasionally have seen donations from Hollywood to South Dakota Senatorial candidates, but until now, you couldn’t accuse them of adopting their values. Until now. What’s next? Cars pinning a Kirby vehicle in an intersection so photos can be taken of a terrorized family?
Who’s diseased set of values considers stalking a private citizen a valid campaign tactic?
The Johnson campaign machine has clearly gone beyond all reason in this instance. A good sign that no one is manning the brake lever of this runaway train.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Tim Johnson needs to answer for this smear and stalking campaign. And he needs to quit and end the charade that he’s serving South Dakota. He’s listed as the 90th (out of 100) infuential Senator after two full terms in the Senate. He’s a nobody in Washington and everybody should realize that. Hang it up Timmy!
Tim Johnson has been a joke for a long time, but he always had the protection of the Daschle machine and then he got sick and so the media treated him like he was above any and all criticism…well, all of sudden, we’re getting a good look at the real Johnson, angry, snarling, venomous, hack and smear campaigner
I can’t believe the stuff I’m reading from the Johnson campaign. It turns my stomach. After everything South Dakota did to be nice to him…and this is how he repays us.
There are no two ways about this: Tim Johnson ordered his goons to spy on and intimidate a private South Dakota citizen. I guess we now know what a slimeball out “senior senator” is.
I remember seeing a bunch of photos from INSIDE Tom Daschle’s house on GOP websites in 2004. If I recall correctly, it was Dan Nelson’s partner in Rapid City that was posting the photos. Nelson, you’ll remember, was described as John Thune’s best friend.
I don’t remember PP or any other GOP bloggers saying that was “slimeball” at the time.
The indignity looks pretty contrived…
Here’s an example of the “slimeball” tactics that resulted in a picture posted by Thune Staffer Jon Lauck of Tom Daschle’s House.
http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week43/index.html#entry-2496311
Not clear if the used a “telephoto lens…”
To anon 9:45: Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because the GOP allegedly did this doesn’t mean the Dems have to do the same thing. Thought you guys and the sainted Senator Johnson were above that sort of stuff, ha.
And, according to Lauck, that picture was used in a GOP mailer in 2004.
http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week43/index.html#entry-2496311
9:45. Yup. Alligator tears.
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/LAORLEAN/2000-05/0957925358
Someone call Captain Hook.
The Daschle mansion was written up in Forbes and the New York Times etc. I think Daschle’s lobbyist wife liked to show it off. But Kirby is a PRIVATE CITIZEN who has not even entered the race and who has not exposed his life to the spotlight…Tim Johnson is really blowing his campaign
Sorry – My mistake, the photos above were South Dakota Politics — posted by another Thune Staffer — Jason Van Beek.
Below is a link to one of the photos posted by Thune Staffer Jon Lauck.
http://daschlevthune.typepad.com/daschle_v_thune/2004/10/daschles_loggia.html
It’s of his back yard.
Here’s another photo from Lauck of the INSIDE of Daschle’s home.
http://daschlevthune.typepad.com/daschle_v_thune/images/porch.jpg
there you go again, bf. because x did y in 2004, it’s okay for z to do y in 2008.
however, i would argue that the daschle issue was about his claim of residency. he claimed a dc housing exemption, when he was supposed to be a south dakota citizen.
the kirby issue is … well, i don’t know what the purpose of it is other than to intimidate a guy into not running for office and to make people hate him because he’s wealthy.
if personal wealth is an issue to you, you must really hate obama.
And another from the inside by Thune Staffer Jon Lauck.
http://daschlevthune.typepad.com/daschle_v_thune/images/secondporch.jpg
And just to be perfectly clear, 9:55am, your objection is that someone allegledly took a photo of someone’s house before they announced. But if those photos are taken and/or released after he gets in the race, you’ll have no problem with it. Correct?
Will someone explain this to me. Those “photos” your ref came from a realator’s website (anybody can get those). Nobody stalked the family our tried to harass ,intimidate or otherwise. To compare is beyond political hackery. I have voted for both parties and the hacks on the left need to seriously take a step back and re-think there position on this. Tactics on the east coast are not well received here.
I think Realtor photos of a house which are placed in the public domain IN HOPES people will see them to buy the house are a lot different from someone monitoring the comings and goings of who is at the Kirby Residence.
lexrex, I don’t know why the Johnson staff is calling Kirby out. I’m not in that loop. Maybe it’s to kick the fundraising effort up, maybe they actually want to run against him, who knows?
But as noted elsewhere here, Kirby has been in public office in SD before, has run for office, and is publically visible about considering a run against Tim.
So that seems like fair game, to me as far as political discussion and campaigning goes.
In another context (there’s that word again) the new abortion ban is not on the ballot yet, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss it does it? (I’m trying not to, by the way… even so, I’m just sayin’.)
My comment at 9:53 is that I think the Republican outrage over this is insincere, just politics. But that’s just my opinion.
i get that, bf, but you earlier said that you disliked johnson’s and the dems’ latest actions regarding kirby. so what exactly was it you disliked? or were you just being disingenuous?
No, I wasn’t. I don’t like a lot of stuff that happens in political campaigns. But I try to keep it in perspective. If everything is “over the top” then nothing is. Do you see what I mean?
Here’s a great example of the moral equivalence of flaming lefties. Showing pics from a realty site or Forbes Magazine piece is the same as stalking a family(which is against the law in South Dakota.)
Yeah, you guys keep on trying to defend it, to”..try to keep it in perspective.”
Bill makes a good point w/ regard to if “everything is over the top” then nothing is. What is needed is discretion that a higher purpose is truly served and it isn’t just gratuitous.
Steve Kirgy is wealthy by any standard. Evidence abounds. If people want to make class-envy an issue, they can but they need to be prepared to face the consequences. The Kirby family has been very generous with they blessings. Evidence also abounds.
Also, it is now an accepted practice to have opposition “monitoring” of more private behaviour. I don’t like the growing practice because I think it contributes to spreading innuendo. Will those who applaud this also applaud the spreading of unflattering pictures of Tim Johnson in situations that highlight his disability?
On this particular situation, what rubs me wrong is it doesn’t consider Steve’s particular situation. He has Newfoundland dogs that require a great deal of care. I know as I often see Steve and Suzy walking their dog on the bike path and I once had a Great Pyrennes. Sometimes other commitments just don’t allow one to do the care yourself or you make a value decision to delegate it. The “dog grooming” incident was totally gratuitous.
Will the people who are “stalking” Steve also distribute pictures that Steve does the family grocery shopping? I know this because my middle daughter worked at HyVee and saw him every week. Like many of her “regulars” they became friends. So much for Steve being out of touch? He knows the price of groceries better than at least half of South Dakotans. 
I once used to scoff at people who had cleaning help or lawn fertilizers. But now that I’m a little older and have my grandchildren nearby, my wife and I now have this hired out because it allows us more time to assist my daughter and son-in-law w/ child care in the evenings and on Saturday so we can spend more time with them. It is less a sign of “wealth” but allocation of priorities.
Politics is a rough and tumble sport. Steve and Tim can’t and shouldn’t expect total privacy. But we should be especially sensitive to the family of the candidates. With Steve, the issue is even more of an issue because he still has kids at home. Besides Tim and Steve, Suzy and Barb will have to be ready for a thicker skin. But let’s not create a situation where Steve’s kids and their friends have to fear being posted all over the internet in an effort to discredit their father.
With regard to Tim, I think a “Roosevelt” standard is appropriate. I will not appreciate and will condemn gratuitous pictures of him in a wheelchair or otherwise having limited mobility. This is not a material detriment to the performance of his duties. I think the “dog grooming” analogy is comparable.
However, I also think that we need to be sensitive to how Tim’s speech is used. If it gratuitous exploitation, it is over the top. If it displays inability to coherently communicate which is central to being an effective US Senator, it is appropriate but it is a very fine line which charity and decorum require it to be done very carefully.
What I fear is this incident is setting the standard pretty low and I don’t think the Democratic party will think it such “fun” when turned against them. And most importantly, there will be Steve supporters who Steve can’t control who will use this new low-bar to justify their actions especially when combined w/ the recent Johnson campaign fundraising letter included innuendo w/ no basis in fact before Steve had even announced.
I don’t like the road we are on and it is no consolation that the first salvo’s were cast by the Democrats.
The following is a teaching from my Church. I think it transcends religious values but reflect universal values.
“Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons’ private lives. Those in charge of communications should maintain a fair balance between the requirements of the common good and respect for individual rights. Interference by the media in the private lives of persons engaged in political or public activity is to be condemned to the extent that it infringes upon their privacy and freedom.”
Goodbye kids. It’s been fun. But I’m not going to post here any more for a while. I have things to do that preclude my participation here. Thanks sincerely for putting up with me. Maybe later, but no more for now. XXXOOO, BF
BF, look forward to your return. I wish I had your gift for satire and wit. I’m just a sledge-hammer.
I like to think I’m filled with hope that we can debate the issues hard, be gracious and committed to serving the people in victory, lick our wounds in defeat, and do it all with proper respect and charity.
More disgusting shenanigans from Tim Johnson. Smearing opponents for “fire up” donors. Stalking potential opponents. Smearing opponents as gay. Stealing votes through voter fraud. This guy MUST GO.