From today's mailbag:
Sioux Falls, SD - Two Washington, D.C. publications today are reporting that South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson would be bypassed for chairman of the Senate Banking Committee in a post-election committee chair shake-up.
According to the Hill newspaper and Politico.com, Democratic leaders are discussing a major reshuffling of Senate committee chairmanships. Of particular interest to South Dakotans, Senate insiders are suggesting that Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, currently chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, may move over to take the gavel from Senator Edward Kennedy, who currently chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
In his article in the Hill reporter J. Taylor Rushing wrote:"If Dodd does give up the Banking Committee, the responsibility is likely to fall to Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) instead of the next-most senior Democrat, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who suffered a stroke in December 2006 and returned to the Senate in September 2007."
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joel Dykstra (R-SD), calls the reports further evidence that the Democratic party will have very little regard for Johnson in the next Senate.
"This shows what we suspected was behind the curtain all along - that Tim Johnson will not have any clout or influence in the new Senate. They will count on his vote for their liberal agenda but they won't let him chair a committee. Fortunately his colleagues couldn't stick to the script and keep South Dakota voters in the dark for another week - they're too busy taking a premature victory lap and jostling for new committee chairmanships."
"His party bosses gave him some pork projects to bring home to make him appear effective and help his reelection - but the truth is they're using him. Even Democrat leaders recognize Tim Johnson is not part of the future in the US Senate and he's not part of what South Dakota's future requires either. South Dakota needs a Senator who will fight for our values and push our issues not just be an automatic vote for the Majority agenda."
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