Robin Chesmer will be Rep. Joe Courtney’s guest at the president’s State of the Union speech tonight. But the dairy farmer, who owns Graywall Farms in Lebanon with his son Lincoln, said he got so “wound up” about his trip to Washington that he barely had time to think about what he’d like to hear Obama say.
Indeed, Chesmer almost didn’t make it to D.C. at all. Tangled traffic on the state’s snowy highways made his normally 45 minute trip to Bradley Airport a grueling 2 ½ hour mess. He missed his flight, but managed to catch another one. He finally landed in the nation’s capital late this afternoon, after some of his earlier meetings-including an all-important session of the House Agriculture Committee-had lapsed.
“The roads were horrendous because of the snow. There were so many accidents,” Chesmer said of his eventful trip.
Still, Chesmer said he’s looking forward to a jam-packed evening, including a reception and dinner with Courtney, a 2nd District Democrat who just won an appointment to the Agriculture Committee. Chesmer said he still hopes to get some face time with other members of the ag panel and plans to make a pitch about protecting New England’s unique agriculture industry, particularly its dairy farms.
As for Obama’s speech, Chesmer said, “I’d love to hear how he’s going to fix it so that dairy farmers can make a living, but I doubt I’ll hear that.” He’ll be satisfied instead with a strong message about how the Administration will “get this economy going again.”
And if he happens to see Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is also attending tonight’s speech? “I’ll ask him what happened to the snow trucks.”