Twin Cities lawyer looks at Minnesota’s links to the Watergate scandal – and they’ll run deep, #Twin #Cities #protector OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
The Watergate Hotel may be more than a thousand miles from Minnesota, but Twin Cities attorney Marshall Tanick traversed the subway area this summer and made presentations about the state’s connections to the infamous episodes in U.S. political history that have helped to oust a sitting U.S. president.
The successor to Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before being indicted by Congress, was Gerald Ford, whose presidency was followed by that of Jimmy Carter, whose vice president was Minnesota’s own Walter Mondale. Some might draw a line from Nixon’s weaknesses to Mondale’s ascension to the White House, but Tanick, who was in both St. Paul and Minneapolis based, researched even more historical ties with the Watergate affair.
Marshall Tanick (licensed)
The scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when five men broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. Metro police alerted by a security guard and arrested the burglars, who were carrying high-surveillance and surveillance. electronic equipment, but it will require the stubborn reporting of two Washington Post journalists – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – and a congressional inquiry to link them to Nixon.
Tanick said in some ways Minnesota was “ground zero” for the Watergate scandal.
Kenneth Dahlberg, founder of Dahlberg Electronics, a subsidiary of what is now the hearing aid manufacturer Miracle-Ear, served in the Minnesota Air National Guard and was based in St. Louis. Paul was born. A check made to Dahlberg was an important part of linking the Watergate scandal to Nixon’s re-election campaign, although Dahlberg himself was not accused of any wrongdoing. Dahlberg was the Midwest finance chair for the Committee to Re-elect the President – known as CREEP – during Nixon’s 1972 campaign. Finding Dahlberg’s check was a turning point in the investigation because it led to the discovery of Watergate’s money laundering scheme.
“This is the check that broke Watergate,” Tanick said. “Woodward and Bernstein found out about it and it was the opening wedge of Watergate. Before that, it was seen as a third-rate burglary, a nothing-less citizen. “
It was later learned that Dahlberg’s check came from Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. CEO Dwayne Andreas. Andreas was born in Worthington, Minn.
Another connection can be found with former Minnesota Congressman Clark MacGregor, who died about a decade ago. After serving as a Republican representative in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District from 1961 to 1971, MacGregor worked as a senior assistant to Nixon and was national chairman of CREEP during the 1972 election.
The financial chair of CREEP was Maurice Stans, a Shakopee native.
Charles Colson, a top Nixon assistant, would later head the nonprofit Prison Fellowship, which has done a lot of work in Minnesota around prison reform. On March 1, 1974, he was charged with conspiracy to cover up the Watergate burglaries.
Tanick said even 50 years after the fact, Watergate still resonates in the political consciousness. In a recent issue of Minnesota Lawyer, I noted that some of the reforms stemming from the Watergate burglary include changes in Minnesota laws that regulate political campaigns, privacy, employment, government accountability, and the behavior of attorneys.
“The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, also known as the state’s Freedom of Information Act, was enacted a year later,” he said. “The State Whistleblower Act – Minnesota jumped on the bandwagon quite late, it was only in 1987 – but it came about as a result of a stream of state whistleblower laws introduced in the wake of Watergate.”
Tanick will give a public presentation on his research on the afternoon of Sept. 13 at the Minnesota State Law Library at the Minnesota Judicial Center in St. Louis. Paul.
Other presentations are scheduled for Monday afternoon in front of an alumni club of Brandeis University; 10:00 5 July in front of a St Louis Park seniors group; 08:00 24 August in front of the Edina Ham and Egg Club; and 10 a.m. August 24 in front of a Golden Valley seniors group.
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