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June 15, 2009

Daschle's connection to the Myers' Spy Case

By Clarice Feldman

Friday,  I noticed that Tom Daschle was handling foreign affairs for then-Senator Abourezk when Gwendolyn Myers, accused of spying for Cuba along with her husband,  was also on the Abourezk payroll and when in 1977 Abourezk took two South Dakota basketball teams to Cuba.

I thought the trip, if she worked on it, would have given her an opportunity to make contact with Cuban intelligence agents, for it occurs to me that she must have  had such contact before an agent made his way to Pierre, South Dakota to formally enlist Gwen and her husband in the service of Cuba intelligence.
I sent him the following email and received no response:
Dear Mr. Daschle,

I have been writing about the Myers case for The American Thinker and it appears to me that you were handling foreign affairs for Congressman Abourezk when he took the South Dakota basketball players to Cuba and when Gwen Steingarber/Trebilcock/Myers , now charged with spying for Cuba worked there.

Do you recall her?

What did her job entail? What did yours?

Did either or both of you work on the trip to Cuba? If so, please describe the breakdown of job responsibilities/ In particular, I am concerned about which of you handled the contacts with the Cuban government.
In the meantiume the Sioux Falls Argus Leader contacted him and reports back about Mrs. Myers:
Chuck Trebilcock said his ex-wife attended high school in Yankton with Tom Brokaw, the former anchor for NBC Nightly News. Brokaw did not respond to a request to talk about his acquaintance with Gwen Steingraber.

As the 1970s dawned, she apparently was swept up in George McGovern's presidential campaign and started to become active as a volunteer in Democratic politics.

Sen. Jim Abourezk, now a Sioux Falls lawyer, told the Washington Post last week that he liked the Myerses.

"She is a very good woman," he said of Gwen Myers, who worked in his 1972 senatorial campaign and as a legislative aide. Abourezk would not talk about Gwen Myers for this story.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, who would have known Myers more than 35 years ago in their mutual work for Abourezk before Daschle's own rise through the U.S. House and Senate, also turned down interview requests. And, Daschle's ex-wife, Laurie Fulton, who also would have known and worked with Gwen Myers while in Abourezk's office could not be reached for comment. Fulton has been nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to Denmark.
The paper also confirms that Gwen was working for Abourezk in Washington from 1976-1979 when she returned to South Dakota.

Update: An interesting psychological portrait of W. Kendall Myersby Sam Schulman.
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