GOP chairman: Web site misleading

By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, May 15, 2003

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South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Randy Frederick has asked the group behind "sdakotagop.com" to change the name of its Web site.

"We are ‘southdakotagop.com'. It is too close. They are not us, and we are not them. From the average person's point of view, it's an intentional graying of the lines," Frederick said. "They are doing that without our consent. I'm not going to put up with that."

The Minnehaha County Young Republicans launched the site earlier this year as a way to illustrate how Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., does not support the policies of President Bush, Neal Tapio, treasurer of the group and a potential Republican Senate candidate in 2004, said.

"On the Web site, we are working to just show there are differences in what Sen. Daschle says in Washington and what he says in South Dakota," Tapio, a self-employed Sioux Falls businessman, said. "We are just a group of people together to propel a singular message. We support President Bush 100 percent. He offers a moral clarity that this country really needs."

Tapio said Daschle does not support Bush on the issues of judicial nominations and tax cuts.

Tapio said he and Frederick spoke Wednesday, and the group will change its Web site name "in the next little while." He said a new name has not been chosen.

"I look at it as a small issue," he said of the Web site domain name. "What do you call a Web site? Minnehaha Young Republicans is a long Web site name."

The group has run anti-Daschle ads in eastern South Dakota, including a full-page newspaper ad calling President Bush "credible," the Iraqi information minister "less credible" and Daschle "incredible."

Frederick objects more to the group's domain name than to its message, but he said he wants the South Dakota GOP to run campaigns that are issues-oriented and "fair, honest and clean."

"I want to keep the South Dakota Republican Party as positive as possible. If we don't keep our own house clean, the voters will do it for us," Frederick said. "Issues like water development, the Missouri River, the neutrino lab, tax cuts and stimulating the economy, homeland security and national defense — I think that's plenty to talk about."

Frederick said he doesn't oppose the Minnehaha County Young Republicans' activities, but he said he wants to keep them at "arms length."

"Do I support them? No, I don't. Can I understand their exasperation and dissatisfaction with our senior senator? Yes, I can. But I'm not climbing in bed with them," he said. "I certainly hope they would play by a fair set of rules."

Tapio said he will talk to other members of the Minnehaha County Young Republicans about a possible Web site name change.

"Our intention is not to divide. It is to unite," Tapio said. "Randy and I share the principles of the Republican Party, the ideals of keeping as much control in our state as possible. The name of a Web site is inconsequential. The purpose of the Web site is to ... raise the question, ‘Do our elected leaders in Washington share our values?'"

The Minnehaha County Young Republicans is an auxiliary group under the Minnehaha County Republican Party, county party chairman R. Shawn Tornow said. The sdakotagop.com Web site lists the county party office as its address, and Tornow said that, too, is under review.

"That's something we're going to look at. We've got a meeting coming up next week," Tornow said. "We are always interested in reaching out to auxiliary groups, but they are responsible for their own initiatives and ideas. We hope they are consistent with the county party's. Sometimes, they are divergent."

Tapio said his group is "affiliated in name only" with the county party and said the group now has its own post office box.

Identities of the members of the Minnehaha County Young Republicans are a bit elusive. The Web site had listed 34 members by first name and last initial, but those names have been removed.

Tapio said that regardless of the name, the group will host a Web site about Daschle's work in the Senate.

"Whatever the name, there will be a forum to show the people of South Dakota that Sen. Daschle is — that will ask the question, ‘Is Sen. Daschle acting in our best interest?' There's got to be some forum out there."

The Daschle camp is game for the debate.

"Sen. Daschle makes his decisions based on what is best for South Dakota and is not a rubber stamp for anyone," spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said. "There are very clear examples, like the fight over drought relief, where the president's position is at odds with the best interests of South Dakota."

Bush and Daschle agree on a plan to boost the use of ethanol, Pfeiffer said.

Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com