New charges fuel Senate race Jennifer Sanderson
Daschle campaign files criminal charges claiming mail fraud over 'sodomy' sticker
A window sticker scarcely larger than a standard photo print has the nation's top elected Democrat and the state's Republican Party pressing separately for a criminal investigation.
The white-on-blue sticker reads, "Vote for Daschle & Vote for SODOMY." A disclaimer alerts readers that fees were "Paid for by someone who loves Jesus and friends of swlJ. This ad is not authorized by any candidate of (sic) candidate committee."
The mass mailing went out earlier this month to churches statewide. A select few homeowners with yard signs supporting Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle also received copies in their mailboxes.
The anonymous disclaimer offers no real identity, and the return address is that of Daschle's re-election headquarters.
Dan Pfeiffer, Daschle's deputy campaign manager, said that amounts to mail fraud, one of the charges leveled against the South Dakota Republican Party in a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Pfeiffer said the party is the only group in the state that could support such an effort.
The Republican Party denies the allegation. That group's leaders appealed to the FEC to sort out the matter, mailing their request to the commission and to the South Dakota U.S. attorney's office.
Those who opened the envelopes saw the Web address of the Marriage Amendment Project. The coalition's executive director, Shannon Royce, said her nonprofit had nothing to do with the message and did not authorize the use of its site name.
The phone numbers of the Daschle campaign and the senator's toll-free constituent line in Washington, D.C., are provided, as well.
Daschle's complaint adds phone harassment and misrepresentation of campaign authority to the mail-fraud accusation.
An enclosed flier urges recipients to vote against Daschle if he doesn't support a marriage amendment, an act to keep "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and legislation that would allow pastors to preach on political issues without fear of losing their church's nonprofit status.
Possible link to students
Daschle's campaign links the state Republican Party to Augustana College students who printed and sold T-shirts with the slogan "Get Rid of Your STD." The acronym S.T.D.HQ., for "Senator Tom Daschle Headquarters," appears in the first line of the return address.
One of those students, Andrew Hodney, is a leader in Augustana's chapter of the College Republican Federation and an employee of his party's state organization.
Two other Augustana Republicans, Jennifer Giannonatti and Nathan Mertz, resigned from their leadership roles in the state Federation of College Republicans less than two weeks ago. They stepped down after questions were raised about possible irregularities in absentee ballot requests. Previously, both were contract workers for the state GOP's Victory get-out-the-vote effort.
Broad in scope
"We believe well over 1,000 churches have received this mailing, so the idea that a couple of college kids in their dorm rooms did this is incredibly absurd," Pfeiffer said. The complaint charges that students used the state Republican Party's resources to get out the message.
The scope of the mailings "suggests they have a huge database of information, the type of thing you would find at the South Dakota Republican Party," Pfeiffer said. "I think it's an incredible stretch to say that two groups, both using the same slogan to attack Tom Daschle, are operating independently of each other."
Dick Wadhams, campaign manager for Daschle's opponent, Republican John Thune, said his candidate and staff members had no part in the mailing.
Hodney said he and a friend printed the "STD" shirts on their own and paid costs out of their own pockets. The first he'd heard of the stickers, he said, was during a meeting with Bruce Halverson, Augustana president.
"When your school's president asks to meet with you, you hope it's to talk about scholarships or accolades, not to defend your College Republicans chapter," said Hodney, a junior from Aberdeen.
In his opinion, the complaint itself "seems to be based on speculations."
"It sounds like a trend," he said. "They're using our slogan, the campaign's address and another group's Web site. I don't know who did it, and I don't know who would waste a few thousand dollars upsetting people."
In that respect, at least, he, Pfeiffer and state Republican Party leadership all agree.
"It makes no sense. Why would we send something that would cause more harm than good?" asked Jason Glodt, the state GOP's executive director. "Anyone who thinks that's getting votes doesn't know anything about politics. It's repulsive and unacceptable. For Daschle to try to attach our name is equally repulsive."
Glodt calls the complaint against his group "completely baseless," not to mention a few days late. He mailed the Republican Party's investigation requests Monday, the day Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrandt confronted him personally.
"It is truly remarkable that they're trying to stretch the link between the initials of 'Senator Tom Daschle' to this," Glodt said. "It's also 'Stop Tom Daschle' or any number of things."
The envelopes carry a Sioux Falls postmark, with Oct. 5 as a common date. Many had bad addresses and bounced back to the post office, which forwarded them to Daschle campaign headquarters with a yellow "Return to Sender" label.
Representatives for MACtac, the worldwide firm whose name appears on the backing of the self-adhesive sticker, did not return messages Wednesday. MACtac is owned by the Bemis Co., touted on MACtac's Web page as "the largest flexible packaging supplier in North America."