Dykstra blasts Johnson for missing TV forum

Johnson staffer says country’s financial needs top campaign event.

By Kevin Woster, Journal staff | Wednesday, October 22, 2008

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Sen. Tim Johnson’s decision to skip a scheduled appearance on KELO-TV in Sioux Falls this week is another sign that the incumbent Democrat is afraid to defend his record in public, Republican challenger Joel Dykstra said Wednesday.

Johnson and Dykstra wouldn’t have appeared faced to face Tuesday night in the scheduled one-hour news special. But they would have answered the same questions from KELO anchorwoman Angela Kenecke in separate half-hour segments.

Dykstra said even that was too risky for Democratic incumbent, who has refused to appear in any debates or forums with Dykstra during this campaign.

“They obviously don’t think that his re-election would survive any kind of proximity, comparison or joint appearance with me,” Dykstra said, referring to Johnson and his staff. “It’s yet another example of their arrogance toward the South Dakota voters that they don’t feel people will hold him responsible for keeping them in the dark.”

Johnson announced last summer that he wouldn’t participate in debates or joint forums with Dykstra. He said his lingering speech problems from a December, 2006 brain hemorrhage might give voters the wrong impression of his cognitive skills and ability to serve. Johnson didn’t respond to an interview request by the Journal Wednesday.

Johnson campaign manager Steve Jarding said the senator wasn’t trying to avoid the issues but needed to return to Washington, D.C. Tuesday to prepare for a hearing today (Thursday)  in the Senate Banking, Commerce and Urban Affairs Committee. The committee hearing deals with procedures in the $700-billion financial bailout recently approved by Congress.

“Sen. Johnson had meetings Tuesday afternoon and throughout the day Wednesday in Washington with committee staffers, witnesses, including FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, and others to discuss the hugely important negotiations regarding what hugely important oversight would be proposed and discussed at the hearings,” Jarding said.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the banking committee, did respond to an interview request Wednesday. Dodd said he wanted Johnson, a senior member of the committee, to be at the meeting on Thursday. Dodd called it a “very, very important” meeting that will help the committee look ahead at specifics of implementing the bailout and assuring accountability from those who benefit.

“This is the epicenter of where we are and what we’ll be wrestling with in the coming months,” he said.

Dykstra points out that Johnson missed a recent meeting of the same committee and that a number of other senators weren’t going to attend the meeting this Thursday. Asked about that, Dodd said this week’s meeting is even more important than the previous one, which was “basically a look back” at how the financial crisis developed.

“This week is far more significant and important,” and will help determine if the bailout is going to work, he said.

Dykstra argues that Johnson could have done the KELO event Tuesday and flown to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. A check of airline options showed more than a dozen flights coming into the D.C. area on Wednesday, Dykstra said.

“I don’t buy the part about him having to leave on Tuesday,” Dykstra said.

KELO news director Beth Jensen said Wednesday that a Johnson staffer informed the station last Friday that the senator would not be able to attend the forum. Johnson staffers also declined KELO offers to tape the interview in their studio in Sioux Falls at any time between Friday and Tuesday when Johnson flew out.

Johnson and his wife, Barbara, have an apartment in Sioux Falls.

“We could have taped it anytime Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, right up to the time he got on the plane Tuesday afternoon,” Jensen said. “They said that because he was going back to D.C., that his schedule had become very busy, so he didn’t have half an hour to tape a segment with us.”

Jarding said the senator had previous commitments during those days that he couldn’t break on short notice.

KELO had planned to have Johnson and Dykstra on live following the 6 p.m. news Tuesday. They would separately face the same questions in the same studio setting with Kenecke, with the winner of a coin toss deciding who went first.

When Johnson backed out, KELO officials decided to hold the forum without him. Kenecke questioned Dykstra for a half hour. The second 30 minutes had other clips, including two or three minutes shot with Johnson earlier.

Jensen said calls by KELO to the Senate banking committee staff indicated that the Thursday meeting today would be similar to a recent hearing that Johnson didn’t attend.

“Obviously, we think the banking committee was very important,” she said. “But we felt like because Sen. Johnson hasn’t done very many of these kinds of interviews it would be a chance for voters to see him on the issues.”

Johnson has done a number of public appearances, interviews with reporters and meetings – posted online – with editorial boards of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and the Rapid City Journal. But he has avoided the debates and forums, making it difficult for Dykstra to challenge him directly.

Ron Schmidt, a Rapid City lawyer who lost a 1998 challenge of then-Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, said incumbents increase their already substantial advantage when they avoid debates. Schmidt had one debate with Daschle, who appeared by satellite from Washington, D.C.

“A debate obviously draws broad public attention. It just gives the challenger the opportunity to confront the incumbent and really develop the differences in philosophy and opinions on key issues,” Schmidt said. “By not debating, it keeps the challengers in the shadows. It’s not fair.”

Polling earlier in the campaign indicated that Johnson’s refusal to debate Dykstra had little impact on the race. And the second-term senator continues to hold a demanding lead in the polls. But Dykstra believes he has gained ground lately and will benefit from Johnson’s failure to show up for the KELO program.

“I think the smoke-and-mirrors act is starting to wear thing,” he said. “A lot of people are becoming more conscious of the fact that this is really a strategy of hiding the senator from the voters and hoping they don’t catch on.”

Jarding said it’s more about a sitting senator doing his job and placing the financial future of the nation above a campaign event. It’s crucial that Congress impose oversight provisions on the bailout plan, something the banking committee must work on, he said.

“Tim voted against the bailout in no small part because he thought it lacked oversight,” Jarding said. “How does a senior member of the banking committee not attend a meeting on oversight of the financial markets, when the issue is arguably the biggest one facing the country right now, other than the war?”

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com