If he was AG he would have 10 times the name id that Larry Long has. It’s just a plus of being a senators son.

I think Brendan being the Dems only option and his last name being Johnson really hurts Dusty and Jarrod.

Besides I think Kristi Noem would be far more exciting.

The idea that he “removed” himself is a joke. Anybody who knows how these nominations works knows it. Senator Johnson neither served himself, his son, nor the people of South Dakota by this charade. This is what is shameful.

I believe everything you write is bad so please include the phrase ‘my bad’ after all your future posts.

I totally agree that Johnson’s kid is not qualified enough or is too young. We Republicans can truthfully say this because we ARE EXPERTS in this area. Any of you remember Monica Goodling? Do an internet search and you will find: Graduated from Pat Robertson’s evangelical Regent University Law School; the year Goodling graduate was the first year Regent U. became accredited. the year Goodling graduated from Regent U., roughly 60% of all its graduating law school students failed the bar exam — reputedly among the worst failure rates ever recorded; upon graduating from Regent U., Goodling found work in the Republican Nat. Committee during the campaign to elect Bush in 2000; after Bush was sworn in as president in 2001, Goodling was offered a job in the DOJ press office; Less than one year later, she was assigned to the Attorney General’s office where she served as a the 3rd highest Justice Department official in the country, directly beneath John Ashcroft (later Alberto Gonzales); Prior to this time, she had never worked as a lawyer, much less as a prosecutor, either at the state or federal level; it does not appear that she ever clerked or interned in any capacity as a lawyer while in law school or thereafter; She was 31 years old at the time; At the time of her testimony before Congress, the Bush Administration had hired/appointed no fewer than 150 Regent U. graduates. This hiring spree was spear-headed by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director, Kay Cole James. Prior to becoming Bush’s director of the OPM, Kay Cole James was (surprise!) the Dean of Regent U. government school.

Yes, we Republicans have an 8 year history of placing negative values on competence. So Senator Tim Johnson owes a debt of gratitude if his under qualified son is selected as U.S. Attorney. We blazed the way in “incompetent” hiring and Senator Johnson is taking advantage of our accomplishments. He needs to give credit where credit is due! I would expect nothing less of Senator Johnson!

The position requires that one have a broad background of experiences in criminal and civil law. The US Attorney, similar to the SD AG, has to coordinate, lead and manage multiple cases, offices, entities, coordinate replies to the political masters, etc. If the leader is trying cases – then no one is allocating resources, managing case work, offices, personnel, etc. In a tiny office, one can do both try cases and manage; but when the office covers legal services for 800,000 the leader must transition to a broader, generalist, resource allocator leadership style. Brandon will do a fine job and is qualified as the incumbent or of any – given the handicap of a legal education.

Let’s get to single payer system and get rid of the needless insurance middlemen who have been milking the system and doing not much more than making it expensive and limiting access.

Look at the bright side of this. Maybe Tim will get his head out of the nether regions and start voting like a real Democrat instead of a puppet of the richest businesses in South Dakota.

Is it against the law to use political or ideological affiliations in selecting a U.S. Attorney or hiring someone for DOJ? Or is it OK because U.S. Attorneys and others are political appointees?.

We reserve the right to criticize and discourage the practice, regardless of who’s doing it.

Bush, Kennedy, Dodd, Rounds, Jackson, Daley etc., the list is long and is not IMHO an indicator of political health.

Why I am shocked, just shocked that anyone would even think that nepotism goes on in local, State or U.S. Government. Well, maybe with those liberal democrats….but we Republicans ARE the Party of High Moral Standards and those things just don’t happen in our Party!

At least Obama will be out in a couple of years and then so will this kid. The situation is really dirty – makes ya wanna just gag a little. ya know? icky.

Yes, it a joke, but it is not the first bad joke.

I’ve known Brendan since he was president of the student association at University of South Dakota. The buzz about Brendan back then had less to do about who his daddy was than how charismatic, bright, articulate and talented this college student was. Even back then, the political column whimsy (sorry, this was pre-blog South Dakota) compared the rising talent of new generation leaders like Brendan, Mark Mickelson, Russ Janklow and Stephanie Herseth.

Roll forward to 2009 and we see Brendan has found his niche in public service as a prosecutor in Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Dave Nelson’s office, and then making a mark in private practice working with Steve Johnson, Scott Heidepriem, Scott Abdullah and Russ Janklow. He pursued the nomination and got it based on his great talent, his experience and his undisputed commitment to public service.

People who get this job don’t do it for the money. Duh. If an attorney as good as Brendan wanted to be wealthy, he’d stay right where he is or go to one of the other high-powered, highly political, wealthy firms (Dave Knudson’s firm comes to mind). He views his niche in life as an effective public servant in representing the government in court, and this is a natural selection.

Enough time wasted here explaining the obvious to some contributors who just want to whine, carp and assassinate the character of good people. Brendan is a great selection for this post and the public is well served here.

Nobody can say he’s not qualified, nobody can give the name of somebody he leapfrogged over to get the job, nobody can name one thing Senator Johnson did to get his son the job…

In short, nobody can say nothin’ against Brandon Johnson & his ability to serve as a US Attorney, just whining cuz his last name starts with a ‘J’ & ends with ‘ohnson’.

Nepotism? You betcha!!

Before the patronizing democratic brownnosers start, I want to set the record straight. First, I am a former democratic elected official (still a democrat) and a rabid defender of all things Daschle, Johnson and Herseth-Sandlin. Yet this is bald patr(iarchal)onage play changes that.

First, Brendan’s a good attorney. That doesn’t make him a prosecutor worthy of respect of career prosecutors who will serve under him.

Second, Brendan’s short stint in the Minnehaha County Prosecutor’s office isn’t qualification no matter what Nellie says. To those who say it did, provide the case in which Brendan optained a conviction by jury trial and the class (felony A,B,C,1,2,3,etc or misdemeanor 1 or 2) of the most severe convicted crime. (The actual sentence is irrelevant because it is up to the judge).

Third, and most important, are there no other attorneys who have done their time, served the parties interest, and have an interest in attempting to advance by carrying the parties’ flag? Are there no other prosecutors in the party who have done the real hard work and look to move forward for the benefit of the party?

To both of the above questions, the answer is yes, and they have served Senator Johnson’s interest. And they applied for the position. This appointment is a farce and good loyal servants got the shaft, a payoff, or were intimidated into silence. Shame on you Senator Johnson. If my father told me I really shouldn’t do something because of fairness and appearance, I took it to heart. Either Brendan doesn’t, or you didn’t.

Now I know some of you may call me out and ask for names, etc. I won’t because I remain loyal to the principles of the democratic party and those 60 seats are really neat; I just lost all respect for Team Johnson. But any investigative individual should be able to find out what a farce this appointment is.

For shame.

I have a question how does it ad up if he plans to run for a political office in the future against these guys?

Dusty Johnson
Jarrod Johnson
Brendan Johnson
Tim Johnson

We need a broader name range in SD. This could end up being annoying!