Herseth Sandlin’s Secret Schedule?
Boo! H.S.S.S.!
No, that’s not “hiss” like a snake sound. We’re booing H.S.S.S – Herseth Sandlin’s Secret Schedule while she’s taking a rare moment to return to the State of South Dakota.
Ever since recess, her schedule has been sketchy. Here and there you can find hints on short notice on where she’s going to be. And those are – true to style – very closed, tightly controlled and scripted events. Anything else? You can’t find out.
It’s not on her website. In fact, I hear it might not be available through her office!
Tonight I heard the tale of someone who just today called Herseth Sandlin’s office in Sioux Falls to find out where she’s going to be. And what did they find out? I’m told that some Herseth staffer actually told this person that they didn’t know and they could call the Argus Leader to find out. Seriously. (From what I hear, the Argus apparently doesn’t have her schedule either.)
Below, I posted on an event in Rapid City on August 26th – about 2 weeks from now. Besides Dakotafest, has anyone hear of anything else between now and then? Me neither.
The speculation is that because the heat is on congressional types, and because unscripted events are anathema to the congresswoman, Herseth Sandlin is purposefully being a bit “evasive” about any town hall events.
What do I know for those of you wanting to listen to one of those rare occurrences where she’ll possibly take questions about Health Care Reform and other economic topics? As noted here from the Codington County GOP:
I wanted to give you all a heads up about the upcoming town hall meeting Representative Herseth-Sandlin is hosting on a farm near Mitchell. It is to be held at 10 a.m. August 19th (a Wednesday). I haven’t seen much of this in the news and wonder at the curious time (10 a.m.) on a weekday? Nevertheless, I think that we as citizens of this fair state ought to turn out in force to hear what our Congresswoman has to say during this important time of American history. I recommend all who go have two or three thought out questions that are appropriate and meaningful to ask.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and assume she’s going to do 3 events. This IS her Dakotafest event appearance, as the Schlaffman Farm near Mitchell is where they hold it. So, we’re up to 2 events between now and when the congressional recess ends. (Not that you’ll see it on the Congresswoman’s website:)
A federal update on biofuels and other agricultural issues starts at 10 a.m. on Aug. 19 in the First National Bank South Dakota Pavilion. The forum will feature Thune and Herseth Sandlin. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, also has been invited to participate as a forum panelist.
One more event East River, and one event West River as far as we can tell.
Compare this to Senator John Thune, and between his Senate website, and his campaign website, it’s pretty simepl
I mean, if she wants to sit in her house up the street from me during recess, that’s fine. But she and her staff should have the courage to be open about her schedule, especially the appearances and town halls she’s going to be doing. Or avoiding.
Unless we should consider H.S.S.S. our congresswoman’s new permanent status quo.
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Comments
Thanks for a post on this topic. I am so sick of it! I’ve been calling many times in the past couple of weeks, always the same thing, “we don’t know,” “not finalized yet,” our policy is not to tell,” “the scheduler is out,” “the scheduler will call you back,” (which didn’t happen of course),”you can leave a note and I will pass on your concerns,” “watch the papers and media” (I told them that in our rural area we don’t always get the newspapers on time and that we have schedules to plan around too).
When I asked about Dakotafest, they did admit she would be there one time. When I asked if she would be taking questions on other topics, all they would repeat over and over was that this is an ag event.
I think that as the person above said, people should pack the Dakotafest tent, politely listen to her half hour or so speech on biofuels, and then ask her questions of more concern to most of us. After all, if this is the only time we get to ask her questions, she should be open to answer them. You know what I think she will do? Just leave and later accuse us of being a mob. I hope I’m wrong on this, but doubt it. We plan on being there, and I hope all readers of this blog will too.
Was this Brookings chamber luncheon like the one in Rapid wehre anyone could have come if they paid their $20 or so. Actually, I would have gone. But apparently PP didn’t get an invite either; at least he didn’t mention it here. Just shows how much she actually wants to meet with the people who gave her the chance to continue living in DC.
This is best you can do? Speculate on where she may or may not be? What she may or may not do? Bwwaahahahaha! BTW, you probably missed her on KELO tonight, Angela Kennecke interviewed her today. Here in Sioux Falls. You most likely missed it because you’re too busy on your Sit-n-Spin making up stories.
(Did anyone know this beforehand? No. And where is she going to be the next few days? That’s right. Her office won’t say. -pp)
If those who would criticize would care to read the article, such as the part where I said…
“Below, I posted on an event in Rapid City on August 26th – about 2 weeks from now. Besides Dakotafest, has anyone hear of anything else between now and then? Me neither.”
The point is, her office considers her schedule largely a closed book when it comes to her constituents.
She goes on TV. Is that meeting with her constituents? NO! That’s a photo op to say look at me, I care, I know my constituents would never act like those “mobs” on TV. Baloney. How does she know? She refuses to have any meetings. Claire McCaskell, who I disagree with on most issues, at least has the class to hold a meeting, a long meeting, and answer questions from people who mostly disagreed with her but were behaved for the most part. Come on, Stephanie, meet with us, please. You said it yourself, we would be respectful, which we would, but we deserve to meet with you. We employ you, you work for us, we pay your salary, we have a right to meet you, and you have a responsibility to talk to us face to face in well publicized meetings in various places across the state.
Her office in RC left a message after I called twice that they don’t give out her schedule. If she does hold a public mtg , I should look for it in the media.
Hope the Blue Dog hasn’t left the pack.
Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce
Inside Washington with U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
Monday, August 31, 2009
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Best Western Ramkota Hotel
Washington Room, 3200 W. Maple St.
Sponsored by the Chamber’s Issues Management Council
Call 373.2006 or email sweber@siouxfalls.com to register
Cost: $20
Maybe her office is still finalizing her schedule? Do you always have to assume the negative? Oh, I forgot, you’re Republicans and she’s a Democrat so of course you do.
Finalizing her schedule? Her recess is almost half done. Give me a break! She doesn’t want any public meetings, period. Why should we vote for her if she doesn’t think she needs to talk to us in person? I didn’t vote for her, but she is still my representative and she has a responsibility to meet with me.
It is really pathetic that I have to pay $20 for a chance to see her. Will she take any and all questions from the attendees at the SF chamber meeting? Or is that scripted and simply to inform us what goes on “inside Washington?” We know what goes on in DC, and it ain’t good!
This is mind-boggling… it reminds me of the lack of transparency during the Wall Street fall-out.
Is her reasoning for avoiding truly public appearances fear of being put on the spot? That is what being a public official is all about!
Dear writer calling him/herself Republican,
Before you dive into the rant about bailing out Wall Street, remember that Thune voted for the $700 billion bailout without a safety net for taxpayers. Johnson voted against it. Oh, yep, Thune’s talking about accountability now, but back in October when the deal got made he was jumping up and down to toss the money down the Fat Rat hole.
This hoo-hah over Steph’s meeting is silly. You’re manufacturing the smoke and calling it a fire. Say what you will about teh princess, she’s smart and doesn’t make sloppy mistakes. You’re going to have to be a lot smarter than this post … in fact, you’re just not going to catch her because the princess doesn’t screw up. And for voters she’s a lot better known and has a lot more respect than this blog. Sorry, but it is the truth.
Find something that works, like a candidate who isn’t a prop to stick it through another failed campaign against Princess Steph. Democrats don’t even have a candidate for Thune but they’ll come up with something. Get a candidate for the House with a lot more credibility than another Koolaid gulping teabagger with NO HAIR. Curd is a freak!!!
As Munsterman’s campaign manager, whom I think of as a potential surprise winner in the primary, I had better hopes for you than a silly rhubarb like this.
(Rick, while I appreciate the comment on Scott, if Stephanie isn’t hiding it, then why are there so many reports to that effect, and why can’t she tell us what her town hall schedule will be? And if you weren’t concerned about Dr. Curd, then why insult him? -pp)
Wow aHammy. Take a chill pill.
You have a whole bowl full of wrong in your post but I want to address just a couple things.
You stated:
“Say what you will about teh princess, she’s smart and doesn’t make sloppy mistakes. You’re going to have to be a lot smarter than this post … in fact, you’re just not going to catch her because the princess doesn’t screw up.”
Either you are saying Stephanie is a perfect human being or that she is an expert at gamesmanship. I agree, she is great at playing both sides and fooling the majority of voters in SD that she truly cares about our issues.
As far as Curd is concerned, he is actually a good legislator and there is no reason to drag him into the issue of SHS’s lack of FREE public appearances.
And last, I bet dollars to doughnuts that the chamber event will be no more than a pre-scripted recital to provide sound bites before Steph jumps on the gulfstream jet with Pelosi back to DC to vote for a healthcare bill we don’t want or need.
Don’t expect any questions from the audience unless of course they have a “D” behind their name or a softball for a question.
10:17 pm: I find that hard to believe since the Argus Leader, KDLT and KELO all have stories about her this a.m. on their websites. It’s easy to state her office won’t tell you where she is but that doesn’t mean it’s true.
John Thune doesn’t have his schedule posted on his Senate or re-election websites. This is outrageous! I demand to know what he’s doing all the time 24/7. We all should know what he’s doing. Whoopsie, I forgot he’s a Republican so that’s okay he doesn’t have it posted.
We could play this further: what’s Munsterman’s schedule 24/7 for the next month and where is that posted? Rounds? etc. The fact is that recess or not – these folks are working their tails off: Johnson, Thune, and SHS. They are preparing for the session reconvening in Sep., they are holding field hearings (Thune, recently), they are fact finding and investigating, they are seeing to constituents’ issues which never have a recess. Frustrated with a schedule – where were your faux “concerns” over the past five recesses? Your ulterior motive is transparent.
Get your message to any and all of them via phone, fax, or letter (to a state office so it doesn’t get tied up for weeks in DC post-anthrax searches). Robo calling, Springer, has little effect – think about it, how about if your neighbor called you six times to complain about your not properly shoveling after the last snowfall – you’d report him as a harassing phone caller. Yes, these are our elected servants and we have 1st Amendment rights to express ourselves about issues to them – but we don’t have any right to harass their staff or commit crimes under the guise of expressing ourselves.
AHam,
Do you think I was born yesterday??? No (crap) that Thune voted for it. I’m just saying that the swirl around all of this healthcare/cap-n-trade legislation is so similar to the extremely time-sensitive Wall Street reaction of last fall. The 11th hour decision was in fact very time sensitive. This is not, yet the Congresswoman and others are trying to avoid scrutiny before the votes are eventually cast (after conference if the Senate passes a cap-n-trade bill and on the inital healthcare bill). It implicity appears that the Congresswoman does not know whether she will vote by her internal compass or the compass of the majority of SD’ans. She got away with voting as a “South Dakotan” on the House C & T bill thanks to a surplus of votes, but her vague comments on the issue and extreme avoidance of truly denouncing the bill shows that her Pelosi-ish viewpoints are alligned with the bill.
As far as the 1000+ page healthcare bill, our Congresswoman likely isn’t sure whether the House has the votes to pass the bill, and so she probably does not know which way she will vote–hence, her avoidance of responding to truly pointed up/down questions on the bill. I would love to see someone ask her at Dakotafest, “Ms. Herseth-Sandlin, in a ONE WORD answer, will you please say which way you plan to vote on the Healthcare bill currently being discussed in Congress?” I honestly don’t know what she’d say. But I’d like to know. I think a lot of others would, too.
August Recess has been a traditional time in which Tom Daschle drove around the state. Jim Abdnor came back and went to about every county fair he could. If I remember right, Daschle gave a sketchy schedule (sketchy is not meant to be an insult) because he didn’t know how long he might be in a particular town. Abdnor made sure each day he had at least one publicly announced place where he was ending with the Labor Day parade in Wagner.
In both cases, these schedules were known well in advance of the recess as they often depended on weekly papers to communicate the schedule. At least in the case of Abdnor’s schedule, every staff person had this in front of him and were told to encourage the person to meet Abdnor at his closest place. Abdnor tried to have flexibilty in his schedule so he could be way-layed by people wanting to talk to him.
I specifically remember one August recess where we were to be in Watertown in the evening, driving to Sioux Falls to stay overnight where he had a breakfast meeting and then on to Platte for noon. I was on the phone in D.C. with someone “mad” and opposed to Abdnor’s position. I didn’t know him from a bale of hay. I told him “If you are in the lobby of the Ramkota between 10 and 11 p.m. or at 6:30 a.m. the next day and promised to take no more than 10 minutes” (as he had to be up early at it had been and was to be a fifteen hour day), he could see Abdnor. The guy was there that night, said his peace, and afterward, Abdnor said to me “He has a point. Look into it.” When I got back to D.C., I discovered that while we couldn’t accommodate his view and called him to explain why. He thanked me and the Senator for listening.”
Herseth is making a big mistake in not facing the people. In the end, people might respect differences but they will not respect hiding.
“Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was able to convey the notion Tuesday she does not support health care reform where a public insurance option overwhelms private industry competition or where a public option is based on Medicare reimbursement rates.
Herseth Sandlin told participants of the Midwest Rural Assembly at the Sioux Falls Convention Center that her assessment of public opinion on health care is that while enthusiasm for a publicly funded insurance option is mixed, there is wide support for Congress to improve access to primary care and preventive care, to cap expenses from catastrophic illness and injury and to make insurance universally available to control costs.”
This quote in the Argus of what Stephanie said yesterday at a very unpublished, unpublic meeting in Sioux Falls is very revealing. Read between the lines. You don’t even have to stress your mind reading between the lines. She will support this bill in DC. This is the same type of rhetoric she used to get elected.
Note to Herseth Sandlin: Give me a simple sentence such as “I will vote for this health care bill,” or “I will not vote for this bill.” You don’t dare do this, do you, as you couldn’t lawyer-speak your way out of a decision.
Frankly, I do not blame our Congresswoman for wanting to be careful because you and your cronies are probably planning to send some kooks to scream and yell at her without really learing anything. You just want to create another one of those town hall fiascos for the cameras. So, she is doing the right thing and keeping this close to the vest. Speaking of town halls, saw that Senator Specter handled himself quite professionally the other day as that ranting lunatic had to be escorted out. That man looked like he was going to physically attack Arlen. He then shouted something out like he was “going to leave,” and the Senator calmly responded: “You have a right to voice your opinion and you have right to leave…” I would like to add something that Arlen could not say: “Don’t let the door hit you in the you know what on the way out!” he,he,he
If she isn’t going to vote for health care and cap and trade and card check than what does she have to worry about.
Get out there and show us stephanie!
Were Pat Powers and Troy Jones planning on showing up to the Herseth Event…screaming and yelling like banshees? he,he,he….
Mac,
You are so dismissive, but don’t you get it? This is OUR vote. She is keeping OUR vote close to HER vest (as you stated this morning). If Congress was a private company owned by her and she was the CEO, she would have a right to keep decisions of precedential nature (or any other) to herself. However, the votes she casts in Congress are the only votes our state gets in the House. That’s why this is a very big deal and why those of us that oppose (or maybe not if she’d tell us on healthcare) her viewpoints want to make sure she makes her vote with our input recognized.
Also, the last “kooks” I saw “screaming and yelling” were Billion supporters in ‘06, but thanks for putting that visual back in my head. Just make sure you throw the label at the right, or in this case, left side when you use Busch League name-calling.
“Herseth Sandlin’s Secret Schedule?”
Really?
I JUST called all 3 Congresspeople from South Dakota to see what their schedule was. ALL of their offices gave the same “Sen/Rep _________’s schedule is still be finalized, and any scheduled events will be published as soon”
The ONLY event that any of Sen Johnson, Sen Thune, and Rep Herseth Sandlin would confirm was that Thune & Herseth Sandlin would appear at Dakota Fest, which everybody has known for a month.
So PP, while you’re complaining about Herseth Sandlin’s “Secret Schedule’, maybe you should ask John Thune to publish his schedule too? I mean, it’s not like his money isn’t buying ad space here @ the SDWC….
There’s really no point for SHS to hold a town hall meeting to hear your opinions – everybody already KNOWS what you want to say:
Obamacare supports euthanasia for seniors (no it doesn’t)
A public option will destroy private insurance companies (no it won’t – UPS, private schools, bottled water, etc.)
Single-payer is socialism (Yes! It is! – responsible socialism just like Social Security and Medicare)
WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK (you mean you want a do-over of the last election, maybe with different candidates on your side or something*)
WE WANT TO SEE OBAMA’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE (you mean you want to be able to deduct from your taxes the tin-foil you use to make your hats)
You’re going to raise taxes to pay for this mess (that’s right – on people that make more in a week than you’ll make in your entire life, like Rush and O’Reilly and Sean Penn and the Walton family. Eminem and Kobe Bryant, David Letterman, Al Franken. The Clintons.)
Does that about cover it?
*McCain might’ve wandered off by now and Sarah would only have about 11 months left in her term, thus, Nancy Pelosi would be president in late 2010.
Haha, Mac, that’s the point. You think that my and others’ opposition is a game, but it’s not. This isn’t some textbook strategy session on opposition… these are real life/business altering issues. Glad some of us take it at least a little more seriously than banter. I love to BS with the best of them on light-hearted issues, but these, sadly, are not…
Hey Mac…where was your outrage when conservative speakers got physically attacked and got stuff thrown at them, when ACORN sympathizers harrassed low-level employees of AIG, when spiky-haired freaks crashed a Mass. Why can’t you liberals quit with the double standard???
I’m guessing you caught her yesterday at the Brookings Chamber Luncheon.