Did the FBI Say No to Good in This Political Whispers

Was retired FBI agent John Good’s disappearance from independent U.S. Senate candidate Larry Pressler’s news conferences Friday in Watertown, Aberdeen and Rapid City because of illness or “the blue flu?”

Good was the agent in charge during the FBI's Abscam sting in the late 1970s. Pressler was approached for a bribe but refused. That story is a big part of Pressler's campaign and allure — an honest politician in a sea of corruption.

A well-placed source with a history of accuracy told me that the FBI requested that Good abstain from any more activity in the Pressler campaign because the Bureau didn’t want its name dragged into the U.S. Senate race.

So, no Good. Or was it?

At Thursday’s news conference in Sioux Falls, both Good and Pressler said Good wasn’t feeling well after his long trip from New York to South Dakota. And Agent Good did sit in a chair behind Pressler during most of Pressler’s remarks.

I wouldn’t say he was frail but God knows that getting old isn’t easy. My own father is 81 and in great health but he doesn’t move as fast as he did at even 71, let alone 31.

When he did speak, Good’s voice was clear and robust. But he did retire to his room at the Hilton Garden Inn immediately after the news conference and didn’t join Pressler, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank and me at Josiah’s for some lunch.

Good is in his 80s. I can believe the FBI not wanting to be in the middle of a U.S. Senate race, even with an agent on pension. But I also think an octogenarian gets the benefit of the doubt. Particularly when they are a retired FBI agent.