Meet the DNC delegates: Ann Robinson

Meet Ann Robinson from Casper, delegate to the Democratic National Convention (in her own words):

I have been involved in politics off and on since I was 11 years old when my father, Lefty Graham from Thermopolis, first ran for the Wyoming State House. He served 6 terms over a period of 20 years between 1958 and 1978.

I first ran for the House District 58 in 1994 after another candidate ran through the primary election and dropped out. That was the Newt Gingrich year of the Contract on America. Nearly every race went Republican, right down to the dog catcher, and I lost by a 5% margin.

In 1996 I ran successfuly against the majority whip in the House. She came back and ran against me several times, but I managed to prevail. I ran unopposed for my last two terms. I served 10 years, from 1997 through 2006. My greatest claim to fame is authoring and being the primary sponsor for the legislation exempting food from sales tax.

My parents grew up in Wyoming, but were in Washington state during the war. They stuck around there long enough that I can't claim to be a Wyoming native. We moved to Thermopolis when I was 13 months old.

This is my first national convention. I am very excited and honored that I was elected to be a delegate.

My goals for the convention are to have a great time and learn as much there about the process and issues as possible.

I hope to bring the excitement of the convention home to Wyoming to energize friends, family and the people of Wyoming to participate in the November election and to understand why it is so important to all of us to elect a president who will move this country forward and get us out of the hole the current adminstration has dug for us.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You may have caught Sen. John Barrasso's TV ads leading up to the primary. In it, he took credit (as a Republican state legislator) for the bill to remove the sales tax from food. I know, if it was on TV it must be true. But it's not. Ms. Robinson, along with Dem allies in the state legislature and the Gov's office, was the real author and mover-and-shaker behind the bill (bills, I should say, as it took several tries). And don't forget all those citizens (Dems, Repubs and Indies) who stood in front of grocery stores on windy winter days to collect signatures for Robinson's bill(s).