What happened at the event Herseth Sandlin excluded the public from?
Got a hot tip from someone on the Rapid City “not so public” forum with Herseth Sandlin as to what went on outside at the event:
About 50 Young Professionals attended the private Herseth meeting in Rapid City yesterday. Outside the Holiday Inn, there were about 35 Anti-ObamaCare protestors. Even though the public was excluded from the event by Herseth because the meeting became private all of a sudden, KOTA and KNBN were both there to cover the event.
Anyone get Pictures?
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Rep. Herseth Sandlin was the guest speaker a Rapid City Chamber Young Professionals Group (YPG) meeting. Attendees for this meeting – and all YPG meetings – must be paying members of the group to attend.
(SF – then they probably shouldn’t send out flyers inviting the public -PP)
I didn’t get any pictures, but here is a basic breakdown of the meeting:
Herseth Sandlin gave brief remarks on hot legislative issues, including:
- Cap and Trade (Didn’t vote for it, but thinks carbon emissions is an issue that will need to be addressed in the future. Will need to include more comprehensive energy plan).
- Health Care (Didn’t vote for it. Supports the Daschle-Dole solution to include co-ops with trigger in place to provide a public option if it isn’t working).
She then opened it up for questions, focused mainly on healthcare. One great question came from a young insurance agent who asked how he, who has to live with the decisions his agency makes, can compete with a government run program with the power to tax to meet the bottom line. Herseth Sandlin responded that he had a great point, and it was something she would keep in mind.
All in all, it was a pretty tame event. No cheers or boos from the crowd. And, coming from an evangelical-gun toting-west river republican, she did a great job. She’s just so gosh darn likable, and clearly very intelligent. Now, if we could only get her to be as moderate in D.C. as she tells us she is when she’s back home.
She wasn’t so gosh darn likable when I asked her about the disinviting done by the YPG sponsored event. She accused me of being disrespectful for asking her why she cancelled the public meeting; I was simply going by what was reported. But she cleary didn’t like it very well and did show a temper that surprised me. When I told her the evasive asnwers I kept getting from her office about lack of public meetings, she said she would talk to her staff. Yeah, right, just like she will keep that insurance guy’s point in mind. I predict that unless her vote is not needed and she has Pelosi’s permission to vote no, she will cave and vote for this monstrosity. With little or no public exposure back home, she won’t misspeak and say something that can be held against her for the upcoming election or say something that the DC libs won’t appreciate.
So, clearly, Spinner, you went to Dakotafest with the intent to harass SHS. You wanted to bring the raucousness to SD that happens at townhall meetings across the country. Guess that didn’t work out too well for you.
Where is Sandlin and Johnson? Why won’t they visit with South Dakota citizens? If they believe that the government can run healthcare they should be able to visit about it?
Social Security is going broke, the post office is almost broke, now they want to takeover healthcare! You liberals wonder why I question the governments ability to run healthcare??? The track record speaks for itself!
Anon, I don’t wonder why you would question a lot of things based on your post here, what with three (count ‘em 1, 2, 3) question marks and all. Maybe if you make a nice long list and send it in to your representatives, you’ll get a nice long answer. Hey, it couldn’t hurt. And it’ll give you a chance to type ever MORE question marks. That should cheer you up a little, huh?
Actually there are six (count ‘em, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!) in your post now that I read it again.
Three spaced out… and then three in a row!
Boy, you sure are tricky. You put one question mark behind questions, (like “Where is Sandlin and Johnson [sic]?”) and three of them behind things that aren’t really questions but rather foolish assumptions (like “You liberals wonder why I question the governments ability to run healthcare???”) What a clever writing style you have???!
I got a response from Johnson on Cap and Trade two weeks ago. It was the same one my mother-in-law got – both with that electric blue signature stamp he puts on everything.
I’m sorry, but I have to see some movement, before I know someone is alive. Also, I need to see original thought before I consider the thought ones own.
It doesn’t matter if Johnson or Herseth-Sandlin are good at standing up for what South Dakota needs, they have to DO it. If they don’t listen to their South Dakotan constituents, they can’t represent OUR views. So, how then, are they NOT pawns of Democrat Party Leaders!
‘My job is TOO hard, WHAAAA!’ ‘My payscale doesn’t include helping South Dakotans, whaaaaaa!’ ‘Listening and discussion is TOO hard, WHAAAA!’
That’s all were saying about Johnson and Herseth-Sandlin – they’re worthless.
Anon 8:27 I don’t know that Stephanie or Tim don’t want to speak to you, but I can understand why many people wouldn’t. It’s because you think you know things, but don’t.
Social Security is no where near broke. It may soon begin drawing from the trust fund which is trillions in IOU’s established from years of Soc. Sec. contributing more to the treasury’s general fund than was drawn out. It will be decades before that trust fund is depleted and even if that happens, funds coming in would sustain benefits at a somewhat reduced level. Or, the general fund could be used to bolster Soc. Sec. until it once again takes in more than it pays out–post baby-boom recipients.
If the treasury is unable to pay those IOU’s, it is in no small part because the Bush Administration inherited a surplus but then managed to double the national debt in a span of 8 years and set the nation on a course of spiraling deficits for years to come. It is likely the treasury will have to borrow money to cover the Soc. Sec. IOU’s and that has been made all the more difficult thanks to Bush’s fiscal ineptitude.
It’s predictable for the know-it-all Fleming to nitpick somebody’s writing style or choice of graphics when the discussion can’t go his way. Keep it up. It’s amusing.
Leftfoot, I am glad you clarified the SS thing. Man, I was nervous. I am 51, and I was afraid SS would be broke by the time I got there. The problem is there will not be any money there to pay the IOU’s. I can hardly wait to hear what your mom has to say when her SS is reduced to make it so everyone can have a little. Now we know where the word “social” comes from in Social Security. It really is too bad the proposal by Bush to allow people to keep some of their money from SS in their own accounts where the government could not touch them.
Yes, part of the reason would be the deficits run up by the Bush Administration. Part of the reason might be from the deficits run up by the Obama administration. And since the Congress would not do a full year of funding until Obama became President, I would have to say those are his deficits. Also, remember a President cannot allocate money for anything. The Congress is where the budget comes from. Considering Bush’s budgets were DOA the last two years and the budgets put together by Congress, I would have to lay much of the fiscal ineptitude at the feet of the Democrats in Congress. And since President Obama is getting pretty much what he wants from a Democrat controlled Congress, and the deficit is skyrocketing, whose feet would you lay that on?
anon 7:04. I went to the meeting with the intent to ask her why she will hold no more public meetings, that is correct. If I wanted to be raucous, I could have stood up during the meeting and disrupted it and asked my question. However, I had no intent of doing any such thing, and no one else there did so either. You are intent on making those of us who ask questions seem to be the bad guys; we aren’t, we simply want our elected reps and senators to be willing to listen to us. I politely waited until the meeting was over and politely asked my question. And if you have a problem with that, then it is you who has the problem.
Where did I state I had a problem with that, Spinner? You couldn’t care less if your elected officials meet with you or not. You’re simply trying to make a big deal out of nothing. SHS and Johnson met with their constituents to talk about health care back in June and July. Thune is just now holding meetings. Where was your phony outrage a few months ago when Thune was doing … nothing?
Anon, it’s now that people have come to understand the full ramifications of this horrendous 1000+ page bill and what it can mean to their futures. And it’s therefore now that our voices in DC should be willing to listen to our concerns. To blame their unwillingness to do so on us, their constituents who hire them and pay them, shows their actual contempt for us. There is no ethical reason for their actions. Johnson doesn’t care, and Herseth wants to walk the fence. And for that they deserve all the criticism being heaped upon them.
Actually, it’s not too late for either of them. Thune has an open meeting scheduled for Thursday, 11:30 AM, at the state fair Dakotaland stage. I can’t speak for him, but I would be willing to bet that he would welcome both of them to this discussion. The ball’s in their court!
it’ s not a popularity contest. I could care less if Herseth Sandlin is likeable.
She is trying to play both sides and we know where that will end up eventually. she will side with Obamacare. She didn’t even bother to send a staffer to the Citizens for Liberty rally in RC last Sat. Even Tim Johnson sent someone.
I think the blue dog is going to vote against what most South Dakotans want and that is to get rid of this horrific Obamacare bill. I don’t think her nice personality and charm will help her in 2010. I don’t think I am alone in saying that many of us will campaign door to door to make sure she doesn’t win re-election. She apparently can’t be trusted with our vote. Hope she had a nice lunch
Anonymous: What makes asking a politician at a public event one question about her actions harassment?
Hope you caught this, Spinner. http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/55494602.html
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/08/26/news/local/doc4a9582785b081968564025.txt
Where was Thune? SHS and Johnson care far more for ALL their constituents than you care to admit. BTW, SHS and Johnson were also at the Fort Meade forum on 8/26. Thune? Not so much.
“She didn’t even bother to send a staffer to the Citizens for Liberty rally in RC last Sat.” Yes, she did actually. Watch the video here:
His name is Rick Hansen and he is SHS’s field director.
These are the kinds of lies it seems a lot of you folks just can’t help yourself from spreading shamelessly. It’s getting old, people. Real old.
anon 7:46. OK, I went to both links. What part of OPEN PUBLIC meeting don’t you understand? This was not. Anyone here had to have been invited as a veteran or specific group, not a meeting open to public questions. Big difference. Was Thune even aware of this meeting or invited; I doubt it? At least he is having scheduled, PUBLIC meetings.
Bill, a staffer taking notes is not the same as personally appearing at public meetings.
You are right, Bill, it is getting old, the dodging of public meetings. you can spin it “any which way but loose” but the fact is Johnson and Herseth do NOT have any scheduled public open meetings. Period. Personally, I don’t care anymore; we know what they are, how they are behaving, what they think of us, and how they are likely to vote, so I guess at this point it would be moot to actually have any anyway. The point is they should have, they didn’t, and that’s that. They have a few invitation only forums with media present to look like they are doing something, but they are not meeting with the general populace to hear their questions.
Springer, you know what? let’s drop it. You’ve become feverish, delusional, and critically in need of emergency medical attention. Please don’t let me delay you even one moment longer. Go. Quickly. Now.
Springer, I invite you to compare the quality of discussion that has occurred on this blog with that happening on the Forum. I have been watching carefully, and the ONLY thing I hear over here is complaints about how nobody will discuss health care solutions with them. Your team (and especially you personally), is not only devoid of ideas, you are also devoid of any intellectual integrity. It is for this reason, and not the one you suggest that I am convinced further discussion with you on this issue would indeed be fruitless.
Because in a debate, if you really don’t have anything to say except no, no, no, you lose. Have a splendid day, loser. Better luck next round.
Wow, Bill, if I were thin-skinned, I’d be offended by your attacks. But since I’m not, and I’m not the one using personal attacks, I WIN!!! I’m having a splendid day too but thanks for the wish anyway.
So BF, if you are into “qualty” discussion, then when are you going to tell us when Steffi and Timmy are going to hold forums where everybody and anybody can be there? Like Thune did today?
They are reading the blogs. Everyone truly interested is. The real discussion is happening on a lot of them, just not on this one. Tim and Steph don’t report to me directly, nor I them, so I don’t know the answer to your question beyond that.
Don’t tell me people in Sandlin’s own district were not allowed in! What is she hiding?