The Kranz Standard

Word has it that the front page of the Argus Leader today has a story about Scalia refusing to admit a conflict of interest when hearing the Cheney case. The conflict of interest issue was discussed here yesterday, and South Dakota Politics has now weighed in. So has Sibby Online, who started the whole discussion about Kranz and Daschle because he was, well, unimpressed with Kranz's reporting in 2002. SDP is advocating a civil reasonableness standard, i.e. would an ordinarily prudent person believe that Kranz could not be impartial given his past associations with Daschle, as opposed to a criminal-like standard of bias beyond a reasonable doubt. The reasonableness/Sierra Club/Cheney standard seems best. The editor of the Mitchell Daily Republic in South Dakota thinks that activities in the 1960s with Daschle may not be enough, but that Kranz should fully disclose such activities. So does former Senate candidate Neil Tapio.