Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Two elections were held Tuesday – New Jersey and Virginia – and both resulted in wins for two Democratic incoming governors in what political observers say may be the beginning of their hopes to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in the mid-term elections next year due to anti-President Donald Trump fever.

However, behind the scenes both political parties in the U.S. are suffering from low approval ratings from voters. Two women made political waves in the past few weeks – Donna Brazile and Kristi Noem. For political watchers Brazile is a household name as a former interim-head and vice-chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was forced to resign in disgrace last year. Noem is an unknown U.S. Representative from South Dakota. She may be about to win her long fight for full repeal of the hated ‘death tax’ in America as part of President Trump’s proposed tax cuts and overhaul of the Internal Revenue Service that Congress is attempting to pass before Christmas.

Brazile released bombshell revelations last week — about how Hillary Clinton did in fact rig last year’s Democratic presidential nomination  – in her new kiss-and-tell-all book “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that put Donald Trump in the White House.”

Few Democrats are praising Brazile, who has been promoting her book for the past two weeks repeatedly on mainstream media news programs, which definitely gives the Democrats and the current DNC a black eye that will be difficult to overcome in the eyes of voters. Current DNC chief Tom Perez agrees the DNC is suffering from what he calls “trust gaps.”

Meanwhile, Noem appeared in a nationally televised press conference held recently along with two dozen other Republicans to roll out the details of President Trump’s proposed tax cuts for the American people and the media. She was among several speakers that took to the podium to praise the tax cuts, but when she spoke she rolled back time to when her father was killed at 49 in an accident on the family farm leaving the family alone to face the IRS and its imposed ‘death tax.’ The tax was so high the family had to take out a substantial 10-year bank loan or lose the farm. As a long-time member of the U.S. House committee on taxes, she had made it a personal goal to finally bring an end to that dreaded IRS ‘death tax.’

But something else happened that day, Noem, 45, outshined all the other speakers including popular Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) who was critically shot by a domestic terrorist earlier this year during a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria. Noem spoke with conviction and courage, not your typical politician spewing lip service. During her few minutes in the national spotlight she glowed with an aura of real political leadership. Her words came easy — without pretense or grandstanding.

After four terms, Noem has announced her intention not to seek re-election to the U.S. House, but instead for the governorship of South Dakota in 2018. Looking across the political landscape of future presidential contenders, Noem may well be the first woman president of the United States – she’s that good– as long as this driven woman is not behind the wheel of a car. Although it’s really not funny, it’s comical that Noem has racked up more than 20 speeding tickets over the years. “I’m not proud of my driving record,” she says in her bio in Wikipedia. Perhaps one day the U.S. Secret Service will be carting her around.

Back to the Clinton-campaign soap opera, Brazile has released jaw-dropping excerpts from her new book. Chances are Brazile’s book will sell more copies than Clinton’s latest book, ‘What Happened.’

According to Brazile, here’s what happened. Under the leadership of Wasserman-Schultz the DNC had serious financial debt that led to Clinton seizing control of the DNC by paying off its $20-million debt and in exchange the DNC executed a hidden written agreement transferring to Clinton the DNC’s finances, strategy and money raised all to the benefit of Clinton and against her primary opponent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Brazile claims she found the hidden written agreement and was shocked at the level of deception that led to Clinton being in control of the DNC’s staffing, budgeting, data analytics, mailings and money. During this time $82-million was raised through contributions. This alleged scheme effectively neutered the entire DNC which by tradition remains neutral during the primary election season and then gets behind the candidate that wins the Democratic nomination for president. Sanders really never had a chance. The deck had been stacked against Sanders from the start.

If Brazile’s account of Clinton’s alleged scheme is true, it is likely that campaign finance reporting laws were broken. Hiding campaign money through false or misleading campaign reports is illegal … it is a crime. Of course opposition Republicans are calling for Brazile’s allegations to be fully investigated.

It took a lot of courage for Brazile to come forward with her very public account of what transpired behind closed doors during the 2016 Democratic campaign for president. Calls from leading Democrats for her to back off resulted in Brazile telling her critics to “go to hell” in a recent TV news interview that went viral on social media.

Brazile, too, was caught up in a scandal when hacked DNC emails released by Wikileaks showed that while Brazille was a CNN contributor and employed with the DNC she secretly fed Clinton questions that would be asked in upcoming nationally televised debates with Republican candidate Trump. When this became known CNN fired Brazile and she, too, resigned from the DNC in disgrace a few months after Wasserman-Schultz resigned.

Of all political goings on in the past couple weeks, Noem is the bright light showing the way. It would be a mistake to underestimate the political abilities, ambitions and grassroots savvy of this woman who is destined to be South Dakota’s next governor signaling her entrance upon the national political stage. She is a breath of fresh air compared to the smoked-filled dreary back rooms of the DNC.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.