Watch out at the intersections: former governor, congressman, and inmate William Janklow is coming to Madison today. He'll be speaking with DSU students and faculty about government, politics, management, business law, and technology policy.
Janklow's visit is part of a series of open fora being held on university campuses around the state thanks to a statewide grant from the Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc., but I'm told Janklow is not taking any pay for his appearances around the state. Janklow will also be the featured speaker at tonight's faculty awards banquet at DSU.
Hopefully someone reminded Bill that Madison has a 20mph residential speed limit.
ReplyDeletepoor taste friend, poor taste --- and expecially ironic poor taste given that Bill Janklow is the reason there is the classy institution available to employ you in your home town.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Gov Janklow out and about in the state that he has done so much good for.
--Lee Schoenbeck
Cory -
ReplyDeleteNot one of your finer moments.
Bill Janklow is the high mark by which every other South Dakota Governor is measured.
Yes, he is flawed and as human as the rest of us. But among his positive qualities are compassion, and a belief in human redemption. Qualities he turned into action as Governor.
The next time you call for those things in others, you should remember the man you're mocking here.
Not funny at all. Without his foresight DSU would probably not be the viable institution it is today. During the legislative session there are numerous Janklow comments daily relative to the leadership and ideas he promoted for SD as one of its best leaders. I’m proud to call him my friend and truly am disgusted with cheap shots such as this year’s after an incident that certainly all regret can’t be undone.
ReplyDeleteMitch Richter
In 1981, Bill Janklow rammed the bill through a GOP-glutted legislature that not only paved the way for predatory lenders to bilk billions, but to build the environment for the trade in the credit default swaps rampant in the heyday of the Bush regime's second looting of the US Treasury.
ReplyDeleteJanklow suffers from legacy lapse; he is a recovering crook, nothing more.
If Bill Janklow had his way DSC would be a low security prison. The town fought hard to retain the school or Madison would be a penal colony. If you like the guy fine, but don't rewrite history.
ReplyDeleteConservative vitriol is all over the web in SD spewing deception and despair. Cory jabs a former GOP governor and one would think a bit of humor is slander and libel of the kind the legislative blog hunters were after.
ReplyDeleteJanklow was mighty sanctimonious when it came to other people including mothers of children and highschool administrators, et al, but he should be given a free ride forever?
No doubt Janklow was smart and I now and then enjoyed his barbs, but he was also a consumate manipulator and political bully.
Considering his own political attacks on opponents, I think he has gotten pretty soft treatment in the SD press and blogosphere.
Whatever, I am sure he gave and will give some interesting speeches and if he gets anywhere close to our neighborhood, I would go listen to him...even if I might not take all of his blather seriously. His inventive mind now and then invented facts on the spur of the moment. Sure made his arguments seem better though.
It would seem to me that prime examples of poor taste involve defending politicians who happen to be on your side no matter what they have done or how they have done it.
John Edwards had me defending him for awhile. He had to be one of the worst candidates and people I have ever supported. Incidentally, my wife's intuition worked better than my "careful male analysis".
Wow: listen to the Republicans go PC.
ReplyDeleteConsider that sex offenders in this state are reminded daily of their past offenses by laws that restrict where they live and work and a public registry that posts their name and photo to warn the public of the threat the pose to their safety. We don't seem to find that life sentence of public shame and exclusion to be "in poor taste."
But I remind the public that Bill Janklow killed a man, and I'm a jerk.
I hope but in no way expect that, fate forbid, should I ever kill a man through my carelessness, the state of South Dakota will treat me with the same forgiveness it has shown the former governor.
Cory:
ReplyDeleteJanklow is a convicted felon; hero-worship in South Dakota extends to Timothy McVeigh, too.
Here is visual proof of BJ's collusion in global economic collapse:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/25/pm_sioux_falls_i/
Link to a cartoon I drew several years ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://dakotatoday.typepad.com/photos/political_issues/swerved.html
A little cheap shot is a part of all politics and Bill Janklow was involved in recklessness that cost someone their life. I wouldn't compare what he did to Edwards though. The consequences were worse, but Edward's premeditated evil done against the one he'd committed his life to makes his actions worse. Intent does matter.
ReplyDeleteLarry K: "BJ" had zero to do with economic collapse. Reading that article makes it clear that regulations capping interest rates is just bad law. The choice created isn't between a low rate versus a high rate. Its a choice having credit at all. No loans are offered at an interest lower than inflation. I believe in some regulation of credit, just not the typical laws preventing a lender and consumer from making a contract. Laws should be focused on mandating clear information for all involved and on enforcing those contracts. If Citibank lends money without any verification of realistic income to pay it back, I consider it a loan not made in good faith and did not need to be paid back. The responsibility for economic collapse lies with government interventions: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and Alan Greenspan's poor job at the Fed.
Cory, Bill did more time than any other person would have had to do. Remember the accident south of Gehl (approx. 8 miles) several years ago? Three small children were killed when a driver ran the stop sign. One of them (Jasmine) was my niece's best friend. I believe they were 8 years old at the time. The driver that killed the three kids did no jail time, did get a stop sign ticket though. HE KILLED THREE! So, for those who think Janklow got off easy, he got more than the "average" person would have.
ReplyDeleteDarwin Wollmann
From here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/etc/script.html
To here: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355
Cory notes South Dakota's lack of imagination in his previous post. Sucking the life from the weak seems like a crappy way to fund a state.
Cory: If the late Ted Kennedy had come to South Dakota to speak, how would local Democrats have received him? The same way that Janklow was received at DSU. And how would local Republicans have reacted to that? The same way you react in this post, I am guessing. It looks to me like fair is fair in both directions.
ReplyDeleteIs your point that Janklow should be shunned in perpetuity? Would you have made the same judgment about Ted?
As for my Republican friends, would you have been any more gentle to Kennedy tham Cory was to
Janklow?
Ken: I won't speak for other local Dems, but I do not fly the Saint Ted banner. You bring up the fact that Ted Kennedy killed a woman, and I really can't say anything but, "Yes, you're right." Claim a right to remind people of that fact in the press, and I'd say, "Yes, you're right." I would have said of Kennedy the same thing I say about Janklow: "He is a fact and force of our history. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience worth sharing. But watch out if he's behind the wheel."
ReplyDelete"shunned in perpetuity"? Actually, I would not make that argument. Had I been in town Friday, I'd have attended the forum and tried to ask good policy questions.
But our treatment of Janklow does raise important questions about forgiveness and whether we should shun any convict in perpetuity, as our state appears committed to doing to sex offenders. It is also worth noting that most criminals do not have the benefits of wealth, power, prestige, and connections that Janklow and Kennedy had when they faced the judgment of the courts and the ongoing judgment of their fellow citizens. How many men in the Pen right now will ever be invited to be featured speakers at public fora and banquets to demonstrate their continued value to society?
But Darwin, his habitual behavior puts it in a different light. After 16 stops how many other people would still be driving? Many people, regardless of party, while acknowledging the positive things he did for the state were disturbed by his overuse of power while Governor (in all areas). He's definitely not a role model. Besides that plane incident, you don't get that feeling with G. Rounds.
ReplyDelete(AP) Former Rep. Bill Janklow, who resigned from Congress after being convicted in a highway death, was stopped 16 times by state troopers during his last term as governor but was never ticketed, according to a South Dakota Highway Patrol report.
Troopers felt they should not ticket Janklow out of respect for his authority and, in some cases, fear of retribution, said the report, written by the patrol superintendent, Col. Dan Mosteller, for Gov. Mike Rounds.