Dan Lederman

Dan Lederman
Chair of the South Dakota Republican Party
Assumed office
February 11, 2017
Preceded by Pam Roberts
Personal details
Born (1972-11-25) November 25, 1972
Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.
Political party Republican
Education University of Iowa (BA)

Dan Lederman[1] (born November 25, 1972 in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the South Dakota Senate representing District 16 from January 11, 2011 until he resigned on March 30, 2015.[2] Lederman served consecutively in the South Dakota Legislature from January 2009 until January 11, 2011 in the South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 seat.

In February 2017, Lederman was elected State Chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party in the first contested party election in decades.[3]

Education

Lederman received his combat medic training at United States Army Medical Department Center and studied fine arts and religion at the University of Iowa.

Elections

  • 2006 To challenge House District 16 incumbent Democratic Representative Margaret V. Gillespie, Lederman and incumbent Republican Representative Joel Dykstra were unopposed for the June 6, 2006 Republican Primary,[4] but in the four-way November 7, 2006 General election Republican Representative Dykstra took the first seat and Democratic Representative Gillespie took the second seat ahead of Lederman and Democratic nominee Ron Jenkins.[5]
  • 2008 When District 16 incumbent Democratic Representative Gillespie ran for South Dakota Senate and Republican Representative Dykstra left the Legislature leaving both District 16 seats open, Lederman ran in the three-way June 3, 2008 Republican Primary and placed first with 2,546 votes (53.69%);[6] in the four-way November 4, 2008 General election Lederman took the first seat with 6,594 votes (33.86%) and fellow Republican nominee Jim Bolin took the second seat ahead of Democratic nominees Janelle O'Connor and Brian Wells.[7]
  • 2010 When Senate District 16 incumbent Democratic Senator Gillespie left the Legislature and left the seat open, Lederman was unopposed for the June 8, 2010 Republican Primary[8] and won the November 2, 2010 General election with 6,082 votes (62.71%) against Democratic nominee Kathy Hill.[9]
  • 2012 Lederman was unopposed for the June 5, 2012 Republican Primary[10] and won the November 6, 2012 General election with 6,604 votes (60.04%) against Democratic nominee Michael O'Connor.[11]
  • 2014 In the race for District 16 State Senate, Lederman defeated Democrat Ann Tornberg on a vote of 56% to 44%.[12] With Lederman's election to State Chair of the South Dakota Republican Party, he again found himself at opposite political positions with Tornberg, who herself had been elected to be chairwoman of the South Dakota Democratic Party.[13] Lederman resigned on March 30, 2015.[14]

Registration as an Agent of Saudi Arabia

On October 12, 2016, Lederman registered with the Department of Justice's Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) office as an agent of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia[15] for purposes of lobbying for changes to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). Projecting a fee of $8,500 for his services, Lederman registered in his capacity as a senior advisor at LS2group,[16] a lobbying firm headquartered in Des Moines. LS2group received $76,500 in compensation for its work on the Saudi campaign against JASTA.[17]

Enacted on September 28, 2016 via an override of President Barack Obama's veto,[18] JASTA modified the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in a way that allowed 9/11 survivors, family members and insurers to pursue a civil judgment against the kingdom. The plaintiffs allege that a variety of Saudi government officials provided financial and logistical support to the 9/11 plotters.[19]

The Saudi campaign against JASTA, which was overseen by Qorvis MSLGROUP, was marked by claims of widespread misconduct, including allegations of the extensive use of unregistered agents and the failure to disclose Saudi sponsorship of the effort.[20] A central thrust of the campaign focused on the recruitment of U.S. military veterans to travel to Washington to lobby for changes to the law; many of the participating veterans said they were never informed that Saudi Arabia was orchestrating the campaign.[21][22][23] Critics also charged that the recruitment of veterans and appeals to legislators were based on a dishonest premise---specifically, that, if other countries adopted similar laws, U.S. service members would face lawsuits in foreign countries.[24] This premise was also advanced by President Obama[25] and other officials, including Senator John McCain and General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[26]

Voter Registration Controversy

On October 11, 2017, Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Lora Hubbel sent out a press release claiming Lederman's Iowa voter registration was still in force.[27][28] In reporting the story, the media noted that Hubbel had changed parties herself a few months earlier.[29] In an interview with KELO radio, South Dakota Secretary of State Shantel Krebs indicated that since Lederman used "Dan Lederman" when he originally registered in Iowa and "Daniel Isaac Lederman" when registering in South Dakota, the name was not removed from the Iowa voter roll at the time, because it " would not be an exact match and wouldn't have been caught in the de-duplicating process that Secretary of States use." [30]

References

  1. ↑ "Dan Lederman's Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ http://kscj.com/2015/03/31/lederman-retires-from-south-dakota-senate/
  3. ↑ "Challenger unseats governor's pick for GOP chair". Argus Leader. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  4. ↑ "2006 Republican Legislative Primary Official Returns". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  5. ↑ "2006 Legislature Official Returns". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  6. ↑ "2008 South Dakota Official Primary Election Results June 3, 2008". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ "2008 South Dakota Official General Election Results Legislature November 4, 2008". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Official Results Primary Election June 8, 2010". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  9. ↑ "2010 South Dakota Official General Election Results Legislature November 2, 2010". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Official Results Primary Election - June 5, 2012". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Official Results General Election November 6, 2012". Pierre, South Dakota: Secretary of State of South Dakota. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  12. ↑ "South Dakota 2014 election results". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  13. ↑ "South Dakota Democratic Party". Wikipedia. 2017-06-12.
  14. ↑ https://www.jta.org/2015/04/01/news-opinion/politics/dan-lederman-popular-s-dakota-state-senator-resigns-mid-term
  15. ↑ "Foreign Agents Registration Act registration statement of Daniel Lederman dated October 12, 2016" (PDF).
  16. ↑ "Profile page, Dan Lederman, Senior Advisor, South Dakota, LS2group". LS2group. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  17. ↑ "Supplemental Statement filed by Qorvis MSLGroup with the U.S. Department of Justice on May 31, 2017" (PDF).
  18. ↑ John, Cornyn, (2016-09-28). "Actions - S.2040 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  19. ↑ "Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint Adding Defendant Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, filed March 16, 2017" (PDF).
  20. ↑ "9/11 families seek Justice Department probe of Saudi lobbying that enlisted U.S. veterans". Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  21. ↑ "Saudis paid for US veteran trips against 9/11 lawsuit law". AP News. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  22. ↑ "How Saudi Arabia Tricked American Veterans". The American Conservative. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  23. ↑ Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson (2017-05-22), FULL MEASURE: May 21, 2017 - Saudi Lobbying, retrieved 2018-06-01
  24. ↑ "Veterans Being Misled On JASTA, Says International Law Expert". 28Pages.org. 2017-02-19. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  25. ↑ "Veto Message from the President -- S.2040". whitehouse.gov. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  26. ↑ "McCain will vote to override veto of 9/11 bill". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  27. ↑ "Hubbel aims to out GOP chair as former Iowa Democrat". Argus Leader. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  28. ↑ http://dakotafreepress.com/2017/10/12/lederman-maintained-voter-registration-in-two-states/
  29. ↑ Inc., Midwest Communications. "UPDATE: Party changing Hubbel accuses SDGOP chair of party changing". Sports Radio KWSN. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  30. ↑ http://kelo.com/news/articles/2017/oct/13/lederman-answers-questions-about-former-iowa-voter-registration/
Party political offices
Preceded by
Pam Roberts		 Chair of the South Dakota Republican Party
2017–present		 Incumbent
  1. ↑ "GOP Leadership | About the Party | South Dakota GOP". southdakotagop.com. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
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