...Unless Chad Haber Spoils the Party
A comment on Dakota War College prompts me to contact political activist and consultant Emmett Reistroffer. The Sioux Falls Libertarian confirms that he is "99% certain" that he will seek the South Dakota Libertarian Party's nomination for secretary of state at the struggling party's unexpectedly announced convention on August 9.
Reistroffer says that of the statewide offices, he feels most qualified for secretary of state, thanks to his past political work. One of his projects included researching election practices in all fifty states, exposing him to the diversity of ways that secretaries of state may run their offices. Reistroffer also says that the secretary of state's office is in the greatest need of an outsider, someone who can bring accountability for fair elections.
Reistroffer hedged his hat-ring-toss with one caveat: he said that if announced (yet, so far, publicly unseen and unheard) attorney general candidate Chad Haber attempts to co-opt the Libertarian convention to win their nomination, Reistroffer will withdraw. The Libertarian nomination is the only definite statutory route to the ballot for any new AG candidate at this point, so if Haber's candidacy is real, he seems bound to seek the Libertarian nod.
Reistroffer said that he doubts Haber's Libertarian credentials. Haber is currently a registered Republican. He has seen no evidence that Haber has ever been involved in any Libertarian Party activities or publicly advocated for any Libertarian cuases. Reistroffer says that at a campaign event for Haber's wife, now-defeated GOP U.S. Senate candidate Annette Bosworth, he asked Bosworth and Haber about their support for medical marijuana, an important issue for Libertarians. He says he received no encouraging response. Based on Haber's apparent lack of Libertarian credibility, Reistroffer does not want himself or his party to be associated with Haber.
Reistroffer, a registered Libertarian, takes the integrity and welfare of the South Dakota Libertarian Party very seriously. He participated in the petition drive that won the SDLP official party recognition in South Dakota in 2012. Recognizing that the SDLP will lose its official status this year due to not fielding a gubernatorial candidate, Reistroffer plans to lead another petition drive to regain that status next year. Reistroffer worries that if Haber co-opts the convention and the Libertarian ballot line, Haber will hurt the good work that Reistroffer and the SDLP have done.
Dedicated to protecting and promoting his party, Reistroffer has contacted the SDLP leadership and offered his services to help organize the Libertarian convention. He urged SDLP leaders to be wary of a Haber candidacy. He also is actively recruiting candidates for other Libertarian nominations. Reistroffer says he would like to see the Libertarian convention nominate candidates with a proven record of Libertarian activism and philosophy. Toward that end, Reistroffer is in talks with a Sioux Falls professor with a history of Libertarian activism to run for attorney general.
I am pleased to see this potential surge in real Libertarian activity. As I said earlier, I hope the Libertarian convention draws a crowd and produces a slate of viable candidates who will lead important conversations about the welfare and direction of the great state of South Dakota.
I'll admit some of the things Reistroffer said during his failed run for Sioux Falls City Council had turned me off, but what he is saying here makes him worth a second look in my view. I like the fact he is putting his integrity ahead of his ego - that is a rarity in politics, and should be admired.
What if Mr. Haber is really out to hamstring the Libertarians all along?
Grudz, what are you doing up at this hour?
Sounds like more rumor and hearsay, kind of like Haber's candidacy. Proof? Testimony from the principals themselves?
Ah, I see the text you claim to have gotten from Bosworth that she claims to have received from Reistroffer. I see no factual discrepancy between that statements ascribed to Reistroffer there and the statements I report above. I do note with interest the date and location Reistroffer gives for the convention, Rapid City on the 11th.
Of course, it's hard to take the story of Emmett's text seriously, since it comes from Haber's spokesman, who has received thousands of dollars from Haber's wife's Senate campaign. Let's see what David Montgomery has to say....
I like Chad and Annette personally, and I was very optimistic about her Senate campaign in the beginning. If you remember Cory, I actually posted positively about her on Facebook. I knew her personality and ambition would light fires in the Senate and challenge the establishment. Whether she deserved the media-twisted sensitization of her campaign or not, they're in a negative spotlight at this point and probably will be for quite a while... Neither of them are in a good position to run for another office this year. Jumping on board as a Libertarian at the last minute because there's no other option is political gamesmanship. If he truly were interested in running as a Libertarian he would have made it known long ago or reached out to the party. Chad doesn't have a law degree, is not admitted to the state bar, and his wife is currently under investigation for violating election law, so there's no way he can mount a credible campaign this year. A few years down the road, maybe... but we're not letting him bring a third party down with him as they battle the AG. I will add however, I applaud Chad's interest in exposing problems in the current AG's office, but running against him considering his personal circumstances is not going to successfully expose the AG, in fact, it will further give the media fuel to the fire for distracting voters from real issues (which is also what happened to Bosworth's campaign)..
Heck with it all! Go for it, Emmett - you got my vote!
As the space shuttle Challenger vividly displayed, the largest explosions usually happen at throttle-up. People driving engines that have already cracked a ring are ill-advised to keep the pedal to the metal. Worse things can, and often do happen. Eschewing any pretense of secrecy or subterfuge, as someone who skews politically right of every person referenced in this piece, I've listened to many conservatives and libertarians in South Dakota who are angry with the way Annette Bosworth ran her campaign, or even that she ran one at all, given the teeming flock of poultry-poltergeist that were waiting to roost. Call it, "The Night of the Clucking Dead." Understanding that there are times when campaigns are run purely for idealistic advancement of principle and public conversation, even participating in a political race sheerly to drive awareness on key issues becomes impossible when the methods, technical knowledge, personal baggage and sundry accoutrement in a candidate's overnight bag outweigh the cargo limits for the bandwagon they're trying to construct, sans passengers. Operation Hindenburg. It is the height of hubris to be so convinced of one's messianic indispensability on, or calling to, the public stage, as to ignore the obvious damage inflicted on personal and party credibility when such glaring and shameful disqualifications and deficiencies are revealed. This seems to happen a lot in South Dakota. Just saying. No matter the candidate, nor the perceived authenticity of their divinely-appointed directive from above, the wreckage produced becomes predictable disservice to both process and ideology espoused. "Just another whack-a-doodle, 'conservative' (who hired Steve Hildebrand, instead of...B,C, D, or E, or F, or....." But then, perhaps that was the point all along? South Dakota didn't need a Sarah Palin, or Christine O'Donnell (I'm not a witch) and it certainly didn't need a struggling physician's stumbling, stammering confidence routine and persecution complex when voters and the attorney general decided they'd seen enough. And about the latter, and the supposed cloak-and-dagger intrigue surrounding her current legal mess. To believe that Marty Jackley's inquiry into alleged petition malfeasance was some grand political scheme, as is being claimed, you'd have to be gullible enough to believe that Bosworth's candidacy presented a viable threat to Mike Rounds. It never did. Never could. Much as Cory knows that I enjoy the bioelectric tingle of tinfoil atop my hyper-coiffed head from time to time, this is one conspiracy theory that will never require a haberdasher. Incompetence, inability to articulate a consistent and inspiring message and a shaky set of scruples are a much simpler explanation for why the Bosworth campaign never reached escape velocity, or even rattled menacingly on the launchpad. Mr. Ockham agrees. South Dakota didn't need a Christine O'Donnell, or a Sarah Palin. Now, some would say we have one. Perhaps reality television awaits. Maybe it must. These days, 'not ready for political prime time,' might accurately translate, "Ready ONLY for primetime...only on Lifetime...." or, "Tonight, on a very special, Bosworth." If the Bosworth-Haber family gets such an offer, they should take it and run. After carefully signing and notarizing the contract, that is. My guess is the speaking royalties aren't going to be comparable. Even with Hutterite audiences.
Emmett's response is remarkably civil, even generous, considering that Team Haber-Bosworth has violated his confidence and called him a "lying snake". But that's a standard Haber-Bosworth tactic: take information gained in private trust and scream it up into wild, damaging accusations against anyone who questions their schemes. They have done it to me, trying to brand me as a liar, a cyberstalker, and a thief. Substantiating those accusations doesn't matter; Haber and Bosworth just throw those accusations out there to harm reputations via bad Google juice, hoping to intimidate their perceived enemies into silence.
Shad's response is hilariously accurate. (Do they let you use language and imagery like that on TV, Shad? They should!)
A reality-TV gig may be exactly what Chad and Annette have been angling for all along. Live life like a screenplay, write your own unbelievable narrative, and hope some lazy producer picks it up and guarantees your family fame and royalties.
But I don't think the Hutterites will watch. I would think that, if I were a Hutterite leader, I'd be rather upset with Haber and Bosworth for bringing law enforcement agents into the colonies and dragging my people into a courtroom controversy and bad publicity.
Cory, re: television strictures. I plead the 5th, which I hear will soon be shortened and renamed, 'Lernering.' Or maybe, 'Holdering.' As I've told you privately, I'm both embarrassed for my industry and frustrated by limitations that prevented a quicker outlay of the goods on this particular topic. You are to be sincerely commended for your work on this story. As the competitive guy that I am, I'll indulge in a little self-defense. Let not my silence be confused with ignorance. I'd also point out that while I didn't post this from my phone, I didn't need spellcheck, even once. Wink. From a purely observational standpoint, I'm also keen to deduce that legal blindness doesn't seem to preclude color differentiation or distinction, ie, colorblindness. Certain selected herring are the reddest I've seen and picked with obvious care and attention. I'm glad for that.
"implies"? Rubbish. With Team Haber-Bosworth, anything is possible. Let me say explicitly: given their past lies, I would not put it past Chad and Annette to make up evidence.
But Emmett acknowledges the text is real, and offers a respectful and honest response, considering the crass violation of his confidentiality.
"Haber hate"? Ha! Try "disgust for dishonesty and exploitation." No one here is using Emmett; I don't think he'd stand for such exploitation.
I am being perfectly objective when I report what Reistroffer said to me with full knowledge that his comments would be on the record. I am also perfectly objective when I say, based on bountiful evidence, that Chad Haber is a scam artist unworthy of public office.
Shad, I admire both your spelling and vocabulary.
In a quick Facebook conversation with Bob Newland, he tells me that Chad will be at the convention to ask for "a supplication of support".
Given the dire state of political for Lee, Chad, and Annette, it will take all the prayer and begging available for the Libertarians to nominate Chad for any position short of state dog catcher, but why would you do that to dogs?
On another note, Newland would run for state chaplain it such a position was able. Now, that would give Sibson a coronary!
nothing could be finer
than to see into shad's
three ring binder
in the morning.
http://docs.lakotalaw.org/Abandoned-and-Forgotten.pdf
This is a REAL issue, and it relates to the topic.
Yes, it is a real issue, Bob. That's why I opened the topic in January, citing exactly the resources you are repeating here:
https://madvilletimes.com/2014/01/taliaferro-schwab-case-shows-the-ugly-politics-of-south-dakota-foster-care/