Last updated on 2014.01.31
Brookings residents looking for a warm cup of coffee on a cold South Dakota morning already know to stop by Cottonwood Bistro, but this particular snowy Thursday brought something extra to Brookings' morning routine with a visit from Corinna Robinson.
Robinson is the Democrat running to claim the seat that our current U.S. Representative, Republican Kristi Noem, all too often leaves vacant of both her physical presence and of any sort of accomplishment or influence on behalf of South Dakotans. Robinson, a retired Army veteran and lifelong public servant, used the public event to explain how her experience would translate to governing in Washington and to build momentum for a campaign against a well-known incumbent who's better at getting her face on Fox News than at getting legislation on the docket.
![Brookings residents enjoying their morning cup of joe [no, not THAT Morning Joe] also get to enjoy interacting with Corinna Robinson, Democratic candidate for U.S. Representative from South Dakota. Photo courtesy of Brookings County Democrats Chairperson [and my former journalism professor] Mary Perpich, whose camera phone is at least one notch better than mine!](https://madvilletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Corinna-e1391136637901.jpg)
Over the weekend, this very blog called on Robinson to make that case by "opening fire on Noem's fecklessness," and Robinson's campaigning this week shows the beginnings of exactly that kind of fire. Take this from her Monday press release:
"It is time to bring Kristi Noem home. For almost four years now, South Dakota has effectively not had a voice in the U.S. House. Instead, Kristi Noem regularly and almost exclusively puts her own political interests ahead of the interests of all South Dakotans," the Rapid City native Robinson said [Corinna for SD, press release, 2014.01.27]
Or take her brief presentation to this morning's political kaffeeklatsch. Robinson works to preempt the crowing we all know we'll be hearing out of the Noem camp if the Farm Bill really, truly, finally does pass:
"[The Farm Bill is] nowhere near as comprehensive as when Dole. and McGovern got it passed. ... I know Kristi is going to try to take a lot of credit for getting that [Farm Bill] passed. The question still remains: why did it expire in the first place?" [Corinna Robinson, campaign speech, Brookings, SD, 2014.01.30]
In addition to criticizing the partisanship that seems the most obvious point of blame for Congressional inaction (she cites the government shutdown last fall as the "pivot point" for deciding to leave the military and seek election to public office), Robinson implies that a possible answer to why the Farm Bill expired is the failure of House committees and committee members to show up and do their job (hmm ... that criticism sounds familiar).
Robinson also did the stuff of good nuts-and-bolts campaigning, shaking hands, taking questions, circulating her nominating petition (as well as those of fellow Democrats Rick Weiland and Joe Lowe ... how's that for party unity?), and collecting donations by literally passing the hat** (what looked to me like a military-style boonie hat as one more reminder of Robinson's service). She talked about getting out on the road to towns all over the state (how does 311 towns sound, Corinna? You and Rick could be a carpooling, barnstorming dynamic duo!). She also mentioned an impending announcement about a new campaign adviser who's likely to rev up some more interest her run.
Robinson may have some catching up to do, but she seems ready and able to run the race at full speed.
Bonus blog shout-out: Corinna says she reads the Madville Times every morning, including at 6:30 a.m. today before her snowy drive through Brookings. Good to know we've got a candidate who recognizes the importance of the blogosphere (even if we offer a little campaign kibbitzing here and there)!
**Clarification 2014.01.30, 23:37 CST DWC gets bent out of joint at my mention of "passing the hat." Rest assured that all the contributions I saw collected in Robinson's military-style chapeau were first placed in a properly attributed "Corinna for SD" envelope. I apologize for not properly documenting each step of the donation process. No need to waste your time investigating campaign finance laws, PP. I'm sure you can put your resources to better use crafting more unnecessarily long and inflammatory-bordering-on-libelous blog post headlines.
We'll done Toby. You caught the spirit of the event and Corinna's passion.
No voice from Noem, farm bill failure... this is the Corinna we've been waiting for!
Finally! This is welcome news!!
Corrina,
I hope you are prepared for a full onslaught by the anti-Affordable Care Crowd. They will make this a big time campaign issue.
Best of luck
and she has the good graces of being named after a popular song from the 60s. Noem-not so much.
Mentioned over at South Da Cola but also linked to Crooks and Liars http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/provision-requiring-lawmakers-disclose
Kristi Noem and others slipped into the Farm Bill where now lawmakers are not required to disclose the Farm Subsidies they receive? Absolutely incredible! I didn't realize Michelle Bachman had a small family farm that received a substantial amount of subsidies either but it seems to be their God given right to cut SNAP and other programs yet it's none of our business as taxpayers and we as their employers how much they receive in government subsidies.
They claim to want small government and cut spending except when it suits them. So ideally and initially our Founding Fathers intended for our elected representatives to represent those who elect them but instead they are available to the highest bidder and themselves.
Bachmann was grilled about farm subsidies when she ran for Potus. She claimed she never received any at all when the record clearly showed she got them. Then she also claimed that her husband's clinic doesn't claim they can pray away Gay,and then someone did some undercover video work and proved she lied about that as well. Even better,she claimed she and John Wayne shared the same hometown,Waterloo,iowa. Except she forgot the last name of John Wayne. It was Gacy,the serial killer that was born in Waterloo.
and don't forget Corinna how many times (40 and counting) Noem has wasted the people's time and voted against the ACA
Alexa blog rankings show Madville way ahead of the war toilet.
I'm no fan of Noem (I'm one of the presumably few Republicans who voted for Matt Varilek in 2012), but I frankly read this article in the hope it would give me some reason to support Ms. Robinson's candidacy (you know, beyond the fact she's running against Noem, that is), and I didn't really come across anything. I'd like to hear what she plans to do, and what her stands on various issues of the day might be. The mere fact she's running against Noem might be good enough for habitual Democrats, but for a voter like myself (arguably one of the ones she'll need to carry a statewide race here in South Dakota), I need a little more.
Kevin, give her at least a week or two. Noem has had a couple years to prove she is a complete idiot.
Well, in fairness, after having given the matter a little more thought, I really don't think there's any way I can support Noem...and yet at the same time, I don't wish to give my vote away too freely. Matt Varilek, for example, opposed gun control. I'd like it a lot if Ms. Robinson would also toss an ideological bone or two my way, thus giving me some comfort that she's at least a, you know, South Dakota-style Democrat, rather than a Washington D.C. Democrat who just happens to have a dim childhood recollection of attending elementary school in Rapid City, or whatever (and is just back in "fly-over country" in order to advance her own career ambitions). I'm not suggesting that's what she's doing, but I'd feel a lot better about supporting her candidacy if she'd take a few positions demonstrating any such speculation to be misguided.