Among the remembrances offered on the passing of South Dakota political journalist Dave Kranz is Tony Venhuizen’s farewell. The Republican politico and chief of staff to Governor Dennis Daugaard recalls his first meeting with Kranz as a momentary high school journalist:
I first met Dave in 2000. I was a senior at Armour High School, and George Bush (41) was visiting Sioux Falls to campaign for his son for President. I wanted to attend, and the owner of the Armour Chronicle was kind enough to allow me to “cover” the event – in exchange for writing a story I got to sit in the press section. I got there early, and spent probably an hour sitting next to Dave Kranz as we waited for the event to start. (Three newspapers covered the event – the Argus Leader, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and the Armour Chronicle!) [Tony Venhuizen, “Farewell to Dave Kranz,” SoDak Governors, 2018.06.24]
In an alternate universe, that meeting with Kranz pulled the budding political junkie from Armour into the ranks of journalism. In this universe, Venhuizen’s trajectory into politics did not waver, but that trajectory kept him in contact with Kranz:
Dave and I continued to visit over the years – I know I’m one of many, many people who enjoyed chatting with him. I’ll always remember a call from him in early 2005. Kranz was working on a column about gubernatorial contenders for 2010 – more than 5 years in the future – and he wanted to know if Lt. Gov. Daugaard, by then by father-in-law, would like to be on the list. I told him that Dennis hadn’t made up his mind about running, but he wanted to discourage that kind of talk until the Rounds/Daugaard ticket was reelected in 2006. Kranz very kindly omitted Daugaard from his list of “Those who admit interest” [Venhuizen, 2018.06.24].
Interestingly, respectfully, committed Republican Venhuizen makes no mention of his party’s effort to destroy Kranz’s career in the bitter 2004 Thune/Daschle Senate battle. Read Venhuizen’s full remembrance of Kranz here.
Historically peaking, Raygun was a senile fraud and war criminal, traitor and general all-around bad guy.
Former Senator Larry Pressler sends this statement:
Cory, I remember the SDGOP’s tawdry attacks on Kranz in 2004. I was still in SD then. They were cheap, trashy liars about it, attacking Kranz’s honesty, integrity, decency, etc. It was another shameful GOP campaign. They seem to do a lot of that.