Convicted Ex-Congressman Speaks Vs. GOP (Former GOP Rep. Janklow)

[Khephra]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Former GOP Rep. Bill Janklow, who has been out of the spotlight since serving time for a manslaughter conviction this year, lashed out Tuesday at a Republican get-out-the-vote operation that he accused of breaking election rules.

"These people are cheating," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "When you tamper with it, you cheat the system. And cheating in elections is the worst form of cancer because it's uncontrollable."

Janklow, a former four-term governor, said he is speaking out now because of the resignation of six people connected with the Victory operation. The workers are accused of not following the proper procedure in notarizing absentee ballot applications filled out on college campuses.

Jason Glodt, state GOP executive director, said the problem was an isolated, honest procedural error that has been corrected and "blown out of proportion."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-gop-vote-janklow,0,1081280.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Philostopher]

1. Hey, did Janklow have a conscience installed?

It's little and late, but I guess once in a while even a nut like Janklow has a little firing of conscience in his brainpan.

[AlCzervik]

5. well he's free now, out of real prison-self-imposed

and the self-imposed one of the gop. Maybe he'll start singing.

[Philostopher]

10. He probably knows plenty.

And I guess it's possible he figures there's nothing left that they can hold over his head now. He's broken the cardinal rule of the GOP -- he got caught. He knows they'll discard him like a dirty sock, he can afford his principles now.

I know nothing about the guy personally, but it sounds like his GOP buddies bought him and his family out of a lot of shit over the years -- it's entirely possible he figures he owes 'the system' something for all he got at other people's expense, and if he's had an eleventh hour conversion to human being, well, good for him.

[henslee]

15. Prison will change you. You can't help it. You are in it. Especially

when you are older and looking at your life.

[sofa king]

17. Probably just an impacted colon installed by his cell-mate.

[ibegurpard]

2. This should be framed on the wall of every politician's office.

Regardless of political persuasion:

"And cheating in elections is the worst form of cancer because it's uncontrollable."

He gets it, unlike the stupid freepers who would blissfully slit their own throats in their devotion to all things GOP. Why is it that Republicans only come to their senses when they are out of office?

[Grillymom]

3. Didn't you know that we can't perform the exorcism until

they leave office in disgrace?

[quaoar]

4. Jail does that to people

I once interviewed a murderer on Death Row in Louisiana. He told me he never took anything seriously until he faced execution.

[Kenneth ken]

6. good for him

maybe this is the first public step toward rehabilitating himself. Maybe he is finally starting to think about what the phrase public service should truly be about. It should continue for the rest of his life.

However, he should not be allowed to seek elective office (or political appointment)of any sort until the man he killed is also able to seek elective office (never, since he's dead.)

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

7. Sioux Falls CBS affiliate...

... mentioned Janklow's quote on the 6 O'Clock news. I guess Bill Janklow is discovering the problems with fairweathered friends.

BTW, those six people connected with the "Victory" operation were lead by Jeff Thune, John Thune's nephew. As if you didn't already know, John Thune is running against Tom Daschle for the US Senate here in South Dakota. Daschle's office first asked for lists of absentee ballots from the county auditor's offices statewide last Tuesday, I take it that was a shot across the bow.

[Fovea]

8. I am envisioning a scene from the movie

a fish called Wanda, where Ken screams "Rewenge!"
Thune is stuck in concrete, and Janklow is behind the wheel again.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

13. ROFLMAO...

...Wanda is one of my favorite movies. Thune is my least favorite wanna be politician (one of the local Amoco/BP distributors has been a big proponent of Thune's for 8 years). And it does appear that Janklow is trying to flex his atrophied political muscles. This is the first political peep I have seen from Janklow since before the birdcage gig.

[Eloriel]

9. And so it begins

We knew there would be cheating, and here we are.

Thanks, Janklow. I hope Daschle seizes on this and RUNS with it, but I don't have a lot of faith in the amount of spine or chutzpah he has. Sigh.

Edited to add: And btw, electronic voting machines aren't our only worry. There's a REASON the Repugs like to promote absentee voting, and this should give you a clue as to one of them. (Jeb sent an absentee ballot to all registered REpugs in FL in 2000, strongly encouraging them to USE IT.)

Also, we need better election laws and much stiffer penalties for violating them across these United States. Again and again I see judges not do all that much about voting problems that reach them because the laws don't support much. I think we also need a Constitutional Right to Vote amendment, because judges have found that there IS no right to vote, which means that being denied the vote is no big deal.

[hatrack]

11. No, no! Tom wouldn't want to be PARTISAN, now would he?

Heaven forbid!!!

[jdj]

14. I don't care about Janklow, I care about them not notarizing the ballots.

I don't know enough about it to understand the process, but this scares the hell out of me.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. Could he be pissed because he feels his "Buds" let him serve time?

Color me cynical.

[dolstein]

16. No surprise -- Janklow and Daschle are friends

Daschle was a character witness as Janklow's trial. And there's no love lost between Janklow and Thune.

[c0lin]

18. truuuuue

I'm from SD and this man speaks the truth about Daschle and Janklow being friends.

On a somewhat related story, I live(d) in Lawrence County (a west-river repub stronghold) and I had a hell of a time trying to absentee vote this year. For the past two senatorial campaigns, I volunteered (Johnson in 02', Daschle this summer) and have also participated in what passed as a war protest--basically 30 people in a parking lot with a bullhorn.

Oh, not to mention I am a registered dem ;o!

So, I'm volunteering at the Daschle office and the guy who is incharge of Lawrence for Daschle and I are talking about how I need to absentee. He's a cool dude, so he calls up to the Auditors office and asks what I need to do, oh I forgot to mention I go to school in MN. Regardless, she tells him that all I need to do is write a letter (don't even need an official app.) and send it in saying I need a ballot and just sign it, and get a copy of my drivers license.

Long story short, I get a call about a week later saying that I didn't sign this first ballot. I argue with her for a minute, saying I'm pretty sure that I did indeed sign it, and eventually just accept the fact that I'll have to do it again. This time I sign it in several places, even make sure I put a line with an X in front of it for posterity. About a week later MY MOTHER (whom lives at the place I claim residence when I am home from school) gets a call from the auditors office saying that I once AGAIN did not sign it. So I give the guy at the Daschle office a ring, and let him know what's up. I tell him that story and he says that they're probably just dicking me around because of my being a registered dem and sends me a real absentee application.

I eventually get it in the mail, fill it out, blah blah blah.

story not over:

I find out about a week after I did it that the lady who called me and my mother was one formerly an aide for my HS and knew that I was a quote-unquote "stoner," which I wasn't, nor am. Apparently she collected our volunteer sheets for our gov class, for which I volunteered for Johnson, and somehow remembered that and held it against me.

At least that is my theory. Thought I would share it. ;s

Anyway, SD is messed up - that's for sure.