It looks like Senator Mike Rounds got six people to come sit and have coffee with him on Monday at his “coffee event” in Murdo:
Six people out of maybe 500 in Murdo—that 1.2% turnout actually beats John Thune’s turnout in Aberdeen Monday by a factor of three—about a hundred people out of about 28,000 here is just 0.36%. But if six people is all the South Dakotans our junior Senator entertains during his long Easter recess, that’s a pretty low interaction quotient.
My party notes that the other party’s Senator could work a little harder to visit with more South Dakotans:
A sitting Republican U.S. Senator drawing such a low number in John Thune’s hometown does not reflect very well on Sen. Rounds. Reflecting even worse on Sen. Rounds, though, is that by holding an event at a time when most working people and students could not attend, and giving hardly any notice of the event, he almost seemed to be discouraging turnout. Sen. Rounds might be hoping for low turnout at his public events so he is not held accountable for his support of the extreme and out-of-touch agenda of Washington Republicans. However, Sen. Rounds has a responsibility to the voters of South Dakota to meet with them and answer their questions – at times and places that encourage turnout, not discourage it [South Dakota Democratic Party, press release, 2017.04.11].
I’d be happy to report that the Dems are wrong, that Rounds has scheduled a whole string of public appearances and here they are… but I can’t find hide nor hair of a Rounds schedule online. The above Monday Tweet is the most recent post on Rounds’s account. Ditto Rounds’s Facebook: three business days in state, and the Murdo six-chat is all Team Rounds finds social media-worthy. His official Senate page offers no events schedule.
So it looks like input from six South Dakotans during a two-week break is all Senator Rounds can handle.
Rounds should have had the town hall in Okaton.
Clearly this short-notice town hall during working hours on a Monday in Murdo was planned to draw in the maximum number of engaged citizens. Sen. Rounds’ hard work meeting with the public is now done for another month.
Rounds looks a little gant, uh gaunt. Should have ordered himself a pork chop with taters and gravy. One of those nice folks probably would have picked up the check.
I imagine the security costs to protect Mike from this crowd were substantial for the Murdo law enforcement.
He looks like he does in D.C., working hard for his main constituency, making friends and influencing people. All in favor of ordering pie, say, “Aye.” Enuf work for today! Recess!
The Senator was too afraid to debate Weiland and Pressler for most of the 2014 election cycle, so why should we expect him to hold now a legitimate town hall meeting in Sioux Falls and or Rapid City?
Coffee and pie in Murdo, it sounds like a movie or book title, but after the discussion about Senator Thune having come from Murdo and a course the existence of the world famous Auto Museum being in Murdo, one can only wonder where the conversation went from there……
The new education secretary got additional security. The head of the EPA wants 24 hour security so there is probably a Navy Seal Team 6 set up outside dealing drugs waiting for the rescue call. An outstanding senator like Rounds deserves no less.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/navy-seal-drug-use-staggering-investigation-finds/
Please spare me the accusations of non-patriotism and other horse-puckey.
Seriously. people-what does Rounds or Marlboro Barbie have to talk to constituents about? How well repeal and replace Obamacare is doing? How fast they will cut Medicaid so they can take money earmarked for poor people’s healthcare and give it instead to the very wealthiest Americans?
I realize in wingnut dominated South Dakota those are probably yooge vote getters.
Mr. Claussen, that feller at the end of the table with the coffee cup, tells me you are on the right track. All this show and tell was coffee break for the museum. At the end of 15 minutes, Mr. Dave probably sent them back to selling souvenirs. I do wonder if the conversation came up about who is gonna be working in these tourist outfits this summer though? Do you imagine that came up?
Pie for everybody—hey! That was Rick Weiland’s thing!
Immigrants, Jerry. That’s who will work in thie museum for minimum wage: immigrants.
Jerry,
You are right, they probably did talk about getting bodies to fill the summer tourist jobs, too. But with only 15 minutes to chat, I suppose there wasn’t enough time for a second slice of pie, huh?
Cory,
Exactly, Rick wanted pie for everybody, while Rounds apparently wants to keep it for himself and his selected few…..
A townhall fed with one pie, and ome pot of coffee. Where was Jesus? More people, more wime, and bread, lots of bread.
The Blindman
I remember when this blog and the SDDP defended Senator Johnson not having listening meetings for six years.
You folks are hilarious.
Troy,
I remember when your mentor, Senator Abdnor, refused to debate Senator George McGovern. Then former President Gerald Ford came to Sioux Falls, during the 1980 Abdnor/McGovern race, to campaign for Abdnor, and was asked by a reporter if he (Ford) thought debate was an essential part of our political process, which the former President agreed was as Abdnor stood next to Ford with a horrified look on his face. Now, that was a very “hilarious” moment.
Speed forward to the 21st century and apparently Republicans are still afraid to debate or discuss the issues of our time…. Well, accept for Jankow, who was never afraid to debate whoever, or hold a town hall meeting like in Springfield just after he had announced the closing of USD/S. Johnson might be the Democrat’s exception to the rule, with obvious understanding, but with Janklow, its the only Republican example I can think of involving someone who was really not afraid to debate his opponent or discuss the issues of our time with others….
It’s been a long, loooong time but there once was a time when Troy was mildly relevant.
I’m surprised Marion didn’t have the entire Murdo police department and the county sheriff’s deputies there to protect him. From six constituents.
Murdo is Thune’s hometown? I thought Sioux Falls and about twenty other SD towns were his hometown. It seems that every other town I drive into in the state has a “home of SenToator John Thune” sign in front of it.
Sorry, long day, needed to get some snark out. Although that is a running joke between the hubby and I when we drive around the state.
Lucky for Mikey I wasn’t there, ’cause there were several hard-hitting questions I would have asked, and he would have gotten the same deer-in-the-headlights look that the NOem gets whenever she actually has to use some brain cells and think for herself. And it amazes me that he can sit there and smile among people that he’s gleefully stabbing in the back with his agreement with his party’s plans to screw Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, among a host of other things that will screw those people and all of us over. The Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well in my state, I see.
Troy, Senator Johnson had a serious health issue for several years. The only kind of illness that the three strikes have is fear. The three of them should fear the questions that may come from the not so well heeled party of 6 at the table with Rounds. Those would be the destruction of Social Security, you are on board with that, the privatization of Medicare, again a mark for you in that column. Oh, and the three strikes go to favorite, Medicaid Block Grants, smiley faces abound on that one for Troy. Yep, fear is the name of the game with these frauds, at the police stations? I would be ashamed of myself, but there I go, I am not a trumper.
Any number of the changes wingnuts pushed through are supposed to be permanent and can never be changed. Why aren’t you people up in arms about having lifetime decisions made by the party that does not represent any of your interests?
Troy arguing for a race to the bottom – just when his side is winning that race – imagine that.
Speaking of winning a race to the bottom, I can remember a few years when Sen. Karl Mundt (R-SD) wasn’t holding any listening meetings. (Look that up if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Does Mundt set the standard of constituent interaction that Troy and our current crop of GOP Party Washingtonians feel should insulate them from criticism?
Hypocrisy and bad public policy are hard to defend in a non-controlled setting. No wonder Rounds chooses a Murdo photo op over a real town hall. No wonder Noem and Thune insist on being surrounded by police when taking public questions.
Troy, I make no defense of Johnson’s failure to hold town halls. I accept your ridicule with shame for my party.
Critique stands. Every elected official should hold more town halls.
Laurisa, I hope you can get to the next town hall. I hope there are more than six other people to hear and document your questions and Rounds’s responses.
“Coffee event?” You stop in Murdo to get a cup of coffee and suddenly it is an event? Maybe the next one will be a “bathroom event” at Al’s Oasis. I can see the headlines now: “It Was Standing Room Only at Rounds’ Sit-down Event.”