A Progressive on the Prairie

As a follow-up to PP’s post about finding two South Dakotans who support the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (J.A.I.L.), I wanted to note two other South Dakotans who support J.A.I.L., or at least two who have more than an initial for a first name (see BS’s response to Question 3).

Last October, Ron Branson, the founder of J.A.I.L., gave credit to Gene V. Lodermeier for a letter to the editor Lodermeier wrote supporting J.A.I.L. Branson said he intended to “look him up and give him our thanks and find out his knowledge and experiences with the courts.” And although the local J.A.I.L.ers cleaned their original web site after claiming to break with Branson, Lodermeier’s letter is still cited and linked there.

For those who may not know, Lodermeier has plenty of experience with the federal and state court system. He received a lengthy sentence in the South Dakota State Penitentiary, including time for being a “habitual offender.” In addition to appealing his conviction, Lodermeier filed a state habeas corpus action in which he raised 107 issues. At the time he was sentenced, Lodermeier had a 20-year criminal history and there was information that, among other things, he had been involved in his wife’s disappearance, was a suspect in the pipe-bombing of a police officer’s car and his history included “tampering with evidence, perjury, federal conviction, nascent plot to kill witnesses and past destruction of private property.”

More recently, Jail4Judges modified the front page of its web site to note, “Citizens of South Dakota have expressed outrage at the corruption they see in their state.” Clicking on the hyperlink for “expressed outrage” we find a letter to Branson expressing “Personal Support for J.A.I.L. Amendment.” The letter writer informs Branson he has had “several correspondences [sic] with Bill Stegmeier of tea, SD, regarding J.A.I.L. and the quest to complete a most successful win this November, (Amendment E)” and says he “will have made a big difference in the number of votes for Amendment E.” How is he making this difference?

I tell everyone every day to inform their friends and family to vote YES on the Amendment E. I have on my bulletin board every article published in the local newspapers referencing J.A.I.L. and the opposition to the same. I spend all my free time writing to the JUDGES and prosecutors about the movement and its necessity.

(Emphasis in original).

Who is this South Dakota supporter? Jim Lawrence, another inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. And what does Lawrence see as his greatest selling point? “Imagine the publicity your organization could promulgate through the utilization of an inmate protesting his judicial misconduct while incarcerated.”

Yes, a couple of excellent poster children for J.A.I.L.: convicted felons who shouldn’t be on the street but think they should be.

Aristotle

I’ve previously talked about how hurt I was that PP got the nod from the South Dakota J.A.I.L.ers as their “most critical” blogger. I’m evidently moving up in the J.A.I.L. world — I think.

The comment about PP is gone. And while there’s still various references to us and bloggers, I get a whole paragraph on the J.A.I.L.ers new website to myself. Here’s what it says:

Of these, perhaps Tim Gebhart’s blog is the most boring. Granted, although boring isn’t illegal just yet; when we called Gebhart to complain about a profound lack of accuracy, he claimed he wasn’t a “journalist” and that his blogs were his opinion. Readers can expect to find opinions reflecting the wishes of his big business clients.

Ouch! Boring? But then, I know the truth can be boring. J.A.I.L. demonstrates that lies and misstatements make for far more interesting reading.

At first I was going ask J.A.I.L.’s “publicist,” Bonnie Russell, to retract three false statements about me on the site. (And I’m not even counting calling me or my blog “boring.” My wife and kids would probably agree with that.) But then I recalled a saying of one of my law partners that’s long been a favorite of mine: “I’ve been called worse by better.”

To see the J.A.I.L.ers devote so much time and resources to attacking bloggers like PP and me is actually rather gratifying. It shows they don’t dare or can’t risk talking about the real issues. It also reveals they can’t stand having people shine a light on the initiative and what it really says and means.

The quoted paragraph does at least accurately report at least one part of Russell’s phone call to me. I did say I wasn’t a journalist and that what appears on my blog is solely my opinion. Her fresh and creative response when I said I wasn’t a journalist? “Denial is more than a river in Egypt.” I guess that proved her point.

Speaking of that call, Russell has yet to respond to probably close to a dozen invitations from me (including several during that phone conversation) to point out specific factual inaccuracies in any of my J.A.I.L.-related posts. The lack of response isn’t surprising. When she called, I also asked her to identify specific instances in South Dakota that justified J.A.I.L. She couldn’t. That was more than a month ago and despite additional requests and even PP’s specific question (# 10) to Bill Stegmeier, we’re all still waiting.

No, I’m not offended by getting more play on J.A.I.L’s enemies list. To the contrary, I view the attack with such pride that for the first time ever I am allowing my last name to appear on this blog. (Not using it was simply to perhaps reduce the chances my partners and our associates and staff would be called to task for my personal opinions). It also tells me that the “boring” truth has those promoting the J.A.I.L. pestilence scurrying.

Paul Tillich