Was anyone else left scratching their head this morning after reading the latest story from the Dakota Scout? In case you missed it, here’s the headline:
The headline blares GOP chair seeks to block challenge to Rep. Dusty Johnson. with the subheading Republican insiders worry rogue candidacy could give race to Democrats.
The problem? The main headline is a bit of a leap. And there’s absolutely nothing in the story providing substance to the subheading. Really, they could have added, “Republicans watching out for UFO’s,” and it would have been given the same number of column inches. I asked a couple of party and campaign officials if they’d read it. One pointed out “they buried the lede a bit,” referring to the actually important thing in the story – the felony investigation of Justin McNeal that’s being conducted by the Division of Criminal Investigation mentioned deeper in the story:
..in a letter to the Division of Criminal Investigation obtained by The Dakota Scout, Wiik asked that an investigation be opened into McNeal for allegedly violating state law when he circulated petitions as a Republican candidate. State law required McNeal to be a registered Republican, but Wiik accused McNeal of not registering as a Republican until Jan. 23. Petitions gathered before that violated an oath that candidate verify information they provided is correct. Falsified petitions could be punishable as a class-6 felony.
In a statement to The Dakota Scout, Tony Mangan, a spokesman for Attorney General Marty Jackley, verified his office received the complaint.
Again, read that here.
So, an investigation for a felony-level violation of South Dakota petition laws by a candidate is buried in the middle of a story?
I asked SDGOP Chairman John Wiik about it this morning, who pointed out that the SDGOP is just doing it’s part to maintain election integrity, and that “I’m not the insider worried about McNeal. I’m worried about election integrity.” Having gone through this nonsense a number of years back with Annette Bosworth, making sure candidates get petitions right is a big deal to the SDGOP. I even taught a class for the party in 2021 for new candidates pointing out the importance of not screwing your petitions up, and making sure candidates do things by the book. Not screwing your petitions up is a big deal.
What about these supposed insiders worrying about “a rogue candidacy giving the race to candidates” referred to in the headline? The story does claim:
But the move has alarmed GOP officials, who fear that if McNeal, 40, made the General Election ballot, he could siphon off enough voters to throw the race to Democratic challenger Sheryl Johnson.
Same reference to read it.
Who exactly is saying this? Who are these “GOP officials?” The thing is, I can find no party or campaign officials who have expressed any concern or worry about Justin McNeal. Any grumbling about him has been in reference to state party officials putting their foot down on rogue county party officials not doing the job they signed up for, supporting Republicans, or in reference to McNeal’s alleged criminal violations in reference to his petitions. They’re not worried about a third party candidacy of someone who couldn’t make the ballot once, outside of the usual blocking and tackling they would do for any opposition candidate.
It’s like the author just pulled the headline out of thin air, while burying the felony investigation. No one is worrying about a rogue candidacy. And as a party official noted to me, “Investigation and prosecution wouldn’t keep Justin off the ballot,” causing more head scratching over the headline of “GOP Chair seeks to block challenge” when one pauses to give it deeper thought.
It’s certainly their newspaper, and they can write what they care to. But this story seems to be focusing on palace intrigue that isn’t there, as opposed to a criminal investigation that’s very real.
