Daschle's 527

Remember all Daschle's whining about 527 groups? Well, the 527 run by his close friends is running ads now in the Argus Leader. Again, the 527 is run by three of Daschle's close associates. One is Jeff Masten, former Chairman of the Democratic Party in South Dakota, ACLU lobbyist, and major Daschle donor. Interestingly, in 1990, when Roll Call exposed Argus reporter Dave Kranz for his "hysterical bashing" of a Republican Senator, it was Masten who rose to his defense and wrote to Roll Call criticizing the paper for criticizing Kranz! A second organizer is Jim Robinson, who is a former executive director of the SD Democratic Party, a consultant to Senator Tim Johnson, the DNC, NARAL, and the Sierra Club, and a major Daschle donor. Another organizer is Jody Severson, a consultant to Daschle who also worked with him in the 1970s on Senator Abourezk's staff. Again, none of these connections have been reported by the Argus Leader.