Kristi Noem is getting senioritis in her sophomore term. As promised, South Dakota's lone Congresswoman is cutting her workload in Washington... which, after achieving nothing in her first term, arguably means she may be planning to achieve negative work in the 113th Congress.
In her latest shirk, Rep. Noem has finagled her way off of two committees: Education & Labor and Natural Resources. We saw how engaged she was on Natural Resources last summer, when in a rare instance of actually showing up for committee, she was too engrossed in her phone to pay attention to the chairman or the South Dakotan giving testimony. Education must be similarly boring for Rep. Noem, since she hasn't enunciated a single original policy position or initiative on the topic since... well, ever.
Rep. Noem is staying on the House Agriculture committee, where she has prioritized fake issues over producing a workable Farm Bill. And as a plum from her bosses, she gets to sit on the House Armed Services Committee. Foreign policy and the military are about as far from her experience as teaching French. Noem says she will "fight to ensure our men and women have the resources they need at home and abroad"... which is code for "I'll keep using the military-industrial complex as a tool to prop up South Dakota's economy.
The reassignment is a clever move by the House leadership. The Ellsworth AFB pork Noem will fight for from Armed Services will look much more macho in her campaign flyers in 2014 than anything she could bring to South Dakota under those darned liberal education, labor, and natural resources programs.
This committee reduction comes on top her first major action after the election, abdicating her leadership position. It appears the only place Noem is really interested in making South Dakota's voice heard is at fundraising events... which of course is less about Noem telling folks what South Dakota wants and more about the rich and powerful telling Noem what they want.
Oh neat. Now Noem and Vicky Hartzler are on the same committees and Vicky can teach Kristi how to sit in the back of the HASC meetings and snipe at gays in the military.
Because our military deserves not one, but two incompetent, mouth breathing, non-producing members who will fight for not only no cuts to the military - and all cuts to Med/Med/SS - but rather an increase to military spending for obsolescent equipment, more wars, and a stronger military industrial complex.
Ain't no money in peace.
Ummmmm. I think you're missing the bigger picture. Each committee has X dollars that it gets to play with. The armed services committee is a much bigger X than any other committee.
If we want to be idealistic, we can whine about our elected officials changing committees. However, from a practical standpoint, being on the armed services committee is vastly better than others. She will now actually be able to much more meaningfully impact South Dakota. Also, don't mistake what being on the armed services committee means. It isn't just pork for Ellsworth. It means vastly more money for a huge array of SD entities. This is gamesmanship, but it's definitely the right move for SD. SD is a small player. By being on the armed services committee she will be able to disproportionately push things in our favor.
But I thought she always bragged about how important it was that she was the first South Dakotan in decades to sit on that committee? Now it's not important?
Why don't you attack her children while you're at it Taunia? That'll make you feel better.
How is Noem pimping her children for $3300 a day good for South Dakota, BS?
I don't know what you're talking about Larry although I am sure "pimping" is too strong of a word.
Your new buddy, Pat Powers railed against Representative Herseth Sandlin for featuring her son: Noem collects at least $3300/day in campaign funding from the worst of the worst aided by Troy Jones.
The opposition despises Noem and that's good enough reason for me to support her even if I wasn't conservative. I can only follow my nose Larry. Politics isn't really my forte. I'm sure you know more about the details than I do. I step blindly and trust my feet will find rock.
Well, if you can't impress them with your intellect and hard word, might as well charm them with your looks and fake patriotism.
The fiscal point is well taken, Tony, but it only enhances my complaint. We shouldn't even be talking about how South Dakota benefits from placement on the Armed Services Committee. If decisions are being made based on bringing an array of pork beyond Ellsworth to South Dakota, then to some extent they are not being made on the basis of military need. If we agree that we must make certain military expenditures and that some of those expenditures can be made in any number of communities with equal military efficacy, then we can happily arm-wrestle to see which state gets the benefits of the jobs and spending necessary to carry out that portion of our military readiness. Maybe we can even argue that South Dakota provides unique advantages for certain military activities (like drone pilot bunkers as far from enemy attack as possible). But at some point, that quest for local gain is going to overshadow sensible military considerations, and we will be shoring up our local economy with spending on instruments of violence that we don't really need.
Remember how Kristi at first was passed over for a seat on House Ag, then added during summer 2011 after another freshman member bailed... even though she never got around to putting a farm policy statement on her website until July 2012?
Check out her websites: she has no issues statements about military policy on either her campaign website or her official House website. She spouts some boilerplate on veterans, but the House has a separate Veterans Affairs committee for those issues.
Once again, we're throwing Noem onto a committee for which she is woefully unprepared.
Just can't resist. Maybe it's the excess of green fizz I've had this evening, or the impending influenza that promises to make my Christmas merry ... but that photo makes me want to pull on those earrings.
You know, index finger through the hoop, then tweak. Not real hard, but just a little tug.
Or some powerful electromagnetic field generator to cause circulating currents, just enough to get her attention, you know. Zap.
Sort of like pulling on the braids on the girl in front of you in grammar school. Or better yet, dipping them in the little jar of tempera paint in that little recessed circle in front of the desk ...
Shame on me. Some old coots just never grow up in between the ears, thank God.
On topic, I think Noem is doing okay in her job. Not great, but okay. Of course on this blog the poor gal can't win.
The fizz! The slime!
Stan, you know I think that even "okay" is overly generous. The only job she's doing is raising money and holding the seat for the party bosses.
Don't look for deep meanings. Noem is cunning and cute, but not an intellect. She's running for the Senate and I think she views the armed services committee superficially as giving her "credibility" on military and foreign affairs. No other agenda.
Her next election is a bout with smily Mikey Rounds, the Pierre homecoming king. It's kind of like if I bought a Chicago Cubs cap and wore it, I must be a member of the Cubs' starting lineup.
Good point on positioning for Senate, Dougal... although given that all she's going to do is shout for Ellsworth dollars and other pork, that really doesn't give her an advantage over Rounds. I wonder... can we find a Democrat veteran to run against her?
I wonder if she can see Ellsworth AFB from her house?
You guys should run Bernie or Varileck. Kloucheck. Volesky maybe?
Thune sez Ellsworth likely to face another BRAC round just now on Bill Janklow's idea of public radio.