Kristi Noem has famously declared that she "didn't go to Washington to talk." She went to Washington "to get stuff done."
Talking is about all she is doing. She hasn't gotten stuff done on the production tax credit to keep 92 workers in Aberdeen from losing their jobs:
Molded Fiber Glass is laying off one-fourth of its workforce in Aberdeen.
Plant manager Dave Giovannini says that 92 people are losing their jobs. About 370 people worked at the plant.
Giovannini cites a drop in orders for wind turbine blades related to the uncertainty about the future of a federal wind energy production tax credit ["Aberdeen Plant Laying off Nearly 100 Workers," AP via KELOLand.com, September 12, 2012].
Rep. Noem's response: more talk:
I have been calling for months for an extension of the PTC so that unfortunate news like this could potentially be avoided.
The wind industry has not been provided the certainty it needs from the federal government. I believe it is unacceptable that people are losing their jobs because of uncertainty from Washington, and I will continue fighting to get this important tax credit extended [Rep. Kristi Noem, quoted by Jeff Natalie-Lees, "Congressional Members Say Wind Credit in Process," Aberdeen American News, September 12, 2012].
Notice how Kristi Noem keeps talking about Washington as if she's not part of it, as if she's not supposed to be working there and taking responsibilty for what gets done, what doesn't get done, and who gets hurt when she fails to get things done. That's a serious case of denial, Kristi.
South Dakota Democratic Party chief Ben Nesselhuf points out that Noem's D.C. impotence puts a thousand South Dakota jobs at risk. Her inability to end the uncertainty about the production tax credit already contributed to the loss of the Maroney Commons jobs in Howard. If she keeps talking and not doing, the loss of the production tax credit could cost the nation 37,000 jobs by next spring.
Matt Varilek will make good speeches, but he won't make excuses. He'll bring enough smarts and skill to Washington to start getting things like the PTC extension done on day one.
By the way, President Barack Obama supports extending the production tax credit. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan both oppose extending the production tax credit.
For whom are you voting, Aberdeen?
Update 19:03 MDT: Holy cow! While Kristi rides horse on top of some RNC video-boilerpate, Matt rides herd on her do-nothingness:
"A lot of noise, but not much forward progress"—that's Kristi! Well done, Matt!
So if it's Green Energy subsidies which Rep. Noem does not get final approval on and passed in the US House she is a bad politician. But if she tries to extend farm subsidies for farmers who feed you and me and the world, she somehow is taking advantage of the system and using it to enrich the Noem dynasty?
Facts are stubborn things.
Run a spread sheet here on how much a kilowatt of power from a wind turbine cost the consumer compared to the kilowatt cost of electricty produced from coal and we will talk more on this Cory. The only way Wind Energy works is with a Large Scale Coal or Nuclear Power source providing 24/7 power along with a Diesel or Natural Gas backup generator used to power up when the wind dies.
Charlie - The term is clean energy, not green, and nuclear energy is clean energy because it does not make the carbon pollution crisis worse. In fact, the smaller sized nuke plants perform well and are much more manageable and offer far less risk. Coal is the dumb fuel. Your and my grandchildren will wonder why our generation was so stupid to believe cooking the planet with coal emissions could be tolerated.
And for the record, I have no problem with the ag subsidies. Just Noem's stupid choice to rip on food and assistance programs for women and children. It makes her millions in ag "welfare" receipts appear ridiculously hypocritical.
The problem with Noem is she is lazy. Misdirected. Incapable. We have no farm bill from the House because it's a hostage in Boehner's political grandstanding game and Kristi lacks the spine and integrity to call him out. And when she's shopping for bipartisan support for the farm bill and wind energy credits, she marginalized herself to play partisan hardball against the White House. That was stupid. She is in Washington to work for South Dakota, not the RNC and the goofy Tea Party Taliban wing of the GOP.
She is a freshman member seeking re-election in a year where there is no Tea Party movement. She has only made dumb moves in the last 10 months.
Charlie: Your comment totally misses the point. We're not talking about where I stand. We're talking about what Kristi wants. She says extending PTC is good. She's failed to do it. Aberdeen has lost jobs because of her failure. Boom. She's got to answer for that.
Young Ms. Noem will win.
I think Varilek should hold a meeting in Aberdeen to talk about the importance of the extension.
He could probably get the media to cover something like that.
The tax credit has absolutely NOTHING to do with this decison. The plant manager is simply making excuses for something they planned from the start.
The Aberdeen development company made a poor decision on these guys in the first place. Why give a company like this three years free rent? Molded Fiberglass knew damn well that their gravy train in this part of the country would be over in about three years, so take Aberdeen's dumb offer, skim the business that's out there, and disappear just before the lease is up.
This has nothing to do with politics, it was the plan from the start.
Oh really? Is that the argument that Kristi Noem will make to defend herself from the charge that her ineffectiveness has cost Aberdeen jobs?
She doesn't need to argue any points...she's got the election won, I'm just telling the rest of the story.
Outside the political realm, here's reaction from laid-off employees, who were surprised by today's announcement and who were escorted off the property immediately afterward.
Oh, GOED, your overconfidence will be your downfall.
The line I liked best is that Matt will show up to work for South Dakota.
Given Kristi's record, or lack thereof, maybe she was thinking that being elected to Congress was like being named a county fair queen. You know, show up at parades, cut some ribbons, attend civic events and just try to look good in public. Nah, that's insulting to county fair queens ;^)
Kristi forgets that she is no longer the challenger in the race. Her ad looks like a challengers ad, not an incumbents ad. The debt has grown while she was there, the farm bill still hasn't even gotten a vote.
As far as this, I'm not going to say its 100% Noem's fault, but again its something that she supposedly supports, yet hasn't been accomplished and isn't her fault. I understand that there are certain things that you support that just won't happen. But at the same time its her response that is worse. It is always someone elses fault, there was nothing more she could do. Well I don't see it.
Add this to the list of things she hasn't accomplished. I'm struggling to find anything she has accomplished. Can you identify some successes for Noem, Charlie? If not I think she may suffer from electile disfunction in November.
Cory, you cannot assign blame to Kristi Noem any more than anyone else in Congress. The uncertainty is caused by Democrats and Republicans not working together and unwilling to compromise with each other.
Michael, you are not wrong so to say, but you aren't right either. The point is Kristi is our Congresswomen, yet she hasn't accomplished these type of things. Add in that she is a member of leadership and is part of the party that is in majority in the house, yet things haven't happened. Someone else is always at fault when it comes to her. Yes Congress needs to work better, but you can't let her get away with the its everyone else that is causing the problems but not me.
You are wrong Michael Black. Democrats have shown time and again a willingness to compromise. Republicans on the other hand have come right out and said their goal is to make President Obama fail. Democrats have been willing to cut spending as part of a plan to cut the deficit, along with holding the line on taxes for the bottom 95% of taxpayers while raising taxes on those making over $250,000 (i.e. those who can afford to pay a bit more for the good of the country). Republicans say nope. We'd rather take food from poor kids than raise taxes one penny on the rich. Democrats compromised on healthcare all the way to the Republican market-based plan of 1992. Republicans said nope. You're socialists for adopting our market-based approach from 1992. The problem in congress is one-sided entirely. Republicans alone are unwilling to compromise.
Nuclear energy is far from clean no matter how you spin it.
Keep spinning. Noem is going to win and your empty criticism will do nothing to stop it.
Have to laugh at the radical environmental left pushing crony capitalism.
You can laugh, ill shudder at Dennis Daugard picking winners by handing our taxpayer money over to TransCanada. No picking winners, indeed.
This opinion piece tells it best:
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/19401/compromise-between-parties-needed-to-make-decisions
"The extreme liberal position has become the standard among Democrats, and likewise, the extreme conservative position has become standard among Republicans.
The extremism has made both parties unwilling to compromise with each other, as they stick to their ideological extremes instead of finding common ground and practical solutions to the nation’s problems. The parties seem to consider the task of finding answers to the nation’s problems the Congress’ and Senate’s responsibility.
Because the parties aren’t willing to compromise, good ideas put forth are ignored. If the parties came together, they could develop excellent solutions to the nation’s issues, including that of public education."
I admire your tendency toward centrism, Michael, but I think you also need to be able to determine when compromise exists. You should be able to rattle off the statistics of the 2006-2008 government vs the 2010-2012 government to support your cause to support your statements.
You might not be so eager to label ACA, a former GOP plan plan backed by nominee Romney in Massachussets, as "far left" if you understood its history and who has historically supported it but changed their minds for partisan reasons.
Instead, you choose to continue denying reality by posting a plea for centrism I haven't seen on any of the right wing blogs on one of the very few opposition blogs in the state. Maybe you are getting moderated out or I'm not reading them closely enough.
As far as I'm concerned, this whole election cycle boils down to one question: Do tax cuts pay for themselves? It's odd to think that everybody that chooses to answer that question is an extremist. There is an answer that the data supports, and if using data to to answer the question is extreme, I guess I am extreme.
Michael, here's another take on your same subject by Mann & Ornstein who are members of the AEI and The Brookings Institute. They actually researched the subject and published a book on their findings.
They do offer up solutions and identify risks.
http://www.democracyjournal.org/26/the-election-and-the-future.php?page=3
DB, Noem wins only if a majority of the electorate ignore her ineffectiveness. Do we want a trophy Rep, or do we want someone who actually earns our pay by doing the job and producing concrete results?