Ask Yolanda

As you can see, Mark Robinson‘s campaign has decided to dispatch first-lady-in-waiting Yolanda Hill out among the electorate.   Here’s how the campaign describes the purpose of these Yolanda-centric house parties:

Join Mark’s wife, Yolanda, as she travels the state to gather with you in homes, coffee shops, and women-owned businesses to discuss the issues that plague our communities. Conversations will center around important topics such as fixing the education system, creating a culture of life, and tackling the crime epidemic to name a few. 

This has emerged at a time where we are all awaiting the results of a Department of Health and Human Services probe into Yolanda’s handling — via her now shuttered business Balanced Nutrition — of millions in taxpayer dollars.

It’s nice that the campaign has thrown out a few helpful hints on what to discuss with Yolanda once she arrives at the house parties.  We came up with a few extra topics of discussion that might add a little life to the party:

• Who paid the $30,000-per-week rent for that beachfront McMansion in Virginia Beach where Mark, Yolanda, and some friends stayed? 
• The official lieutenant governor’s office website claims that Mark & Yolanda started, ran, and sold a  successful business.  Can we get some clarification on exactly what business that was?  (We know it wasn’t that Greensboro daycare center.) 
• Why did Yolanda repeatedly over several years tell the IRS there were no family members working for her business (Balanced Nutrition) when everyone she listed as an employee during that period was, in fact, a family member?
• Does Yolanda believe her business Balanced Nutrition, which was a pass-through for government-funded social services checks, conflicted with Mark’s campaign rhetoric about self-sufficiency?  If the answer is no, then why? 
• Mark himself was listed at one time as an employee of Balanced Nutrition.  What did he do for the company, and did he draw a salary?  (How much?)
• Why did she provide two different stories on the same day as to why she was shuttering Balanced Nutrition?  (Time commitments related to Mark’s campaign kept her from doing her job and / or an alleged dispute with DHHS staff)
• Why has closing down Balanced Nutrition turned into such a melee?  (Lawyering up, lots of arguments about scheduling required financial reviews and an exit interview)

Oh, there are plenty more things to ask.  But asking any of these will likely get you tossed from these coffee klatsches.  Due diligence is an important task leading up to any major decision — like electing a governor.  It’s better to find out the truth as early as possible than to wait for the eruption of an embarrassing first-term scandal.