Trying to decide where to start on Governor Kristi Noem is like deciding what to bring to the church potluck. You have so many hot dish recipes that it’s hard to decide what to bake. And then there’s the problem of “what if you double up” and bring the less-popular cheesy potato casserole? And once you get there, you have to take a scoop from each dish. You even take a little of that lettuce spring mix that you know no one actually wants to eat but they take it and drizzle on the ranch anyways. The next problem is deciding what to do after you get home from the church potluck. Do you sit and try to digest what you just consumed, or do you take a nap and hope the feeling goes away after you wake up?
In hopes of keeping this short, sweet and to the point, let’s just dive in starting from the beginning:
It’s important that we remember who Governor Kristi Noem was before she became Governor. She served in the legislature and then climbed the ladder to run against Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. It was a bitter and nasty race that was difficult for Noem to win, but ultimately, win she did. Before she became a US House Representative, Noem had received 20 speeding tickets, six failures to show in court and TWO bench warrants for her arrest. She spent almost ten years in D.C. (she often likes to dismiss anyone that criticizes her that has also spent time in DC as ‘DC politics and there’s no place for it here in this state’… yet Noem spent a decade in the swamp) until she decided to come back to South Dakota to run as Governor. She was hated in this state so much so that I remember going to visit our extremely conservative, rancher Grandma and listening to her tell us that she might vote for Democrat Billy Sutton instead of Kristi Noem because she was literally hated that much. Kristi was a no-name on the national level until the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she took the opportunity to rebrand her image. Her team did an amazing job with this rebrand… even I shed tears of joy as I watched the surprise parade in Pierre celebrating Noem keeping us open.
Did or didn’t Governor Noem shut down our state? This has been the base of Noem’s rebrand; keeping the great state of South Dakota open and trusting ‘her people.’ Governor Kristi Noem requested Representative Lee Qualm to introduce House Bill 1297 (introduced on March 30, 2020). This bill would essentially give the secretary of health (under Noem) authority to declare a state of emergency and shut our state down. Why would Governor Noem request this bill to be introduced if she didn’t have the intent to declare a state of emergency? Ian Fury (Noem’s spokesman who also spent time in DC) has said it was just to see what her powers were. Well, the bill was shut down in our VERY conservative House (50 nays compared to 17 Yays) and never made it to Senate (where it would have passed, no doubt). So, we actually have the House to thank for keeping our freedoms and state open. Now to be fair, no one knew what to expect. After all, we all saw the videos from China where people were falling over and dying. What I don’t appreciate is Kristi Noem telling a half-truth and campaigning that “she never shut down our state” when in fact, she did try and it was luck, at best, that our House said the State of South Dakota didn’t have the authority to shut down businesses and enact health mandates. She was forced into trusting ‘her people’ because of the House (thank you house members!). There’s a difference between admitting “you tried and are thankful the house shut it down, keeping the state open” versus “never trying to shut down the state and further enact mandates.” But, if you’ve watched South Dakota politics long enough, you know that Noem has a history of pouncing and taking credit for something she never had any part in.
The next troubling matter (which could make for its own drama TV series I’m sure) is the issue of Matt McCaulley. Who, you ask? Matt is arguably one of the most powerful men in South Dakota aside from Marty Jackley and Denny T. Sanford. He’s never talked about, yet he receives hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars while lobbying for Sanford Health (and multiple other wealthy liberal organizations) WHILE also being one of the main legal advisors to Governor Kristi Noem. Essentially, he TRIPLE dips and profits off both sides. Matt was at Kristi’s acceptance speech for Governor, they’ve done family vacations together and when this conflict of interest has been brought up, it’s quickly brushed off and swept under the rug. Is what’s going on illegal? Maybe. Maybe not. We would need to FOIA their emails, but that request would most likely be denied. This point could literally be its own post with multiple threads but what’s important here, for the sake of saving time, is that Matt lobbies and represents liberal companies while influencing Governor Kristi Noem (he is, after all, hired to be a legal advisor when it comes to policy). So, when it comes to health freedom or protecting women’s sports in our state, you can thank Matt for our lack in setting our red state apart from blue states. The conflict of interest this scandal holds is without a doubt one of South Dakota’s best kept open secrets. And the only way you would know about it is by being inside the Pierre capital circle (until now).
What’s up with the state plane? When this started being discussed, I actually rolled my eyes and sided with Noem. It was obviously a “bunch of liberals trying to take down Noem” and my opinion on the issue changed only after Noem’s screwup with the Women’s Sports Bill (which I credit to one of Bongino’s podcasts and rants on her failings). The state plane use is really just another example of Noem’s overzealous spending and inability to come clean. The woman clearly loves nice things… she’s worn her Valentino studded heels multiple times and who can blame her? The heels run around $800-1,000 and that’s money most South Dakotans could only dream of spending on shoes. Getting records of the state plane flight logs has been difficult but from what we know, Noem has used the plane for personal reasons for political events not related to state government business. The state plane picked her up from her daughter’s wedding in Custer State Park and has even picked her up in Castlewood (Noem’s hometown) instead of Pierre, where the designated pickup point is. When these concerns were pushed by conservatives in the legislature, some were brought into Noem’s office and were rumored to have been verbally chastised for “putting Noem’s security at risk.” The state plane is owned by the people of South Dakota, and we quite literally deserve to know where it’s been flying and should have a say in the thousands of dollars it costs us. In case you weren’t aware, the misuse of the state plane is an impeachable offense (one of two (maybe even more) possible offenses she’s committed) and in April was given more time to respond to the allegations.
Speaking of overzealous spending… Did you know Governor Noem had a new Governor’s desk built for her through the state prison program that cost around $9,000. The desk was modified to 100” and could seat two people so both could work side by side. The gossip from capitol hill included jokes that Corey would be who was sitting next to her. After the report came out, Ian Fury said she would be paying for it herself. But the desk isn’t the half of it… the Governor’s Mansion got an overhaul resulting in $13,000 worth of new rugs and an $8,000+ sauna (while rumors float around that actually two $8k saunas were installed costing $16k total). Noem’s team said these were necessary updates, but I beg to differ… saunas aren’t a necessity and when most South Dakotans have never even used one, our taxpayer dollars have purchased one for our darling Governor. Noem also had an almost $500,000 security fence installed around the property. Trying to figure out exactly how much has been spent on “updates, travel, decor and security” will make your head spin and it’s been clouded with secrecy.
Being Governor comes with perks for the Noem family. When Noem first came to office, Noem appointed Kyle Peters (her son-in-law) and gave him a healthy $63,000 yearly salary. He has since left and is now working within well-connected political circles. Kennedy snagged a position (her first job out of college) in the admin at $57,000+. Both kids received multiple raises right before Kristi Noem announced a “no raises this year” for state employees for FY2021. There’s also the state appraisal issue, which I’ll get to later. And let’s not forget that the Noem family received $600,000 in virus grant funds. It’s interesting that Noem is paid $130,000 per year (as of just recently after requesting a pay raise for herself) yet somehow, her net worth is approximated at $5-10 million. Some have even speculated the real reason Noem hasn’t moved forward with the marijuana bill is because her husband’s insurance company wouldn’t make a profit off insuring cannabis crops. At the end of the day, Kristi Noem is still the DC career politician, climbing the political ladder and putting family finances first.
The second impeachable offense: intimidating a state employee to benefit her daughter. This is without a doubt one of the juicier scandals to have come to light. And what’s even more concerning is how long it’s been dragged on. So, what happened, you ask? Kassidy Noem, Kristi’s eldest daughter, went to get her state appraisal license and essentially got denied. Now, instead of doing the work and starting over like every other South Dakotan would have to do, Governor Noem called Sherry Bren to her office (with other officials) WITH Kassidy in the room for a meeting - a big no-no and major conflict of interest. What happens after is even more concerning… Sherry Bren, the head of the State Appraisal agency, gets forced into retirement and gets paid $200,000 as basically hush money to drop the “age discrimination complaint”. She’s forced to sign an agreement and can’t speak out about what all happened but does send an email to colleagues saying she’s worried about the program and did everything in her power to avoid being pushed out. Obviously, super shady stuff but in typical Noem fashion, the governor’s team starts spewing that Bren was resentful, was going to retire anyways and nothing happened at this closed-door meeting. Yet, magically, Kassidy gets her license approved and she opens up her own business. A five-page report came out May 17th saying Kassidy did in fact receive special treatment and Noem abused her power.
Corey Lewandowski. Of course, an affair and inappropriate behavior gets thrown into the mix. What good drama TV series wouldn’t have a spicy forbidden affair? Now, Pedro Gonzalez has received the credit for breaking this story yet, it was actually reported on weeks before his infamous article broke. Pedro, an extremely conservative and well-respected journalist, often seen on Tucker Carlson, made waves when publishing this juicy story. And while I know where some of the sources came from on exposing the affair, what’s even more disgusting is how Kristi Noem has handled her relationship with Corey. The two seemingly got really close… Kristi even took Corey to a vizsla dog breeder to go buy his children a puppy (where was Bryon? Who knows…). Corey got close to Kristi and many suspected the worst of it was because Kristi had her eyes set on a 2024 Presidential run while others suspected it was Corey that was using her to prop her up and secure his role as Noem Presidential Campaign Manager (as was his role for Trump). The rumors and gossip surrounding their relationship coming out of Pierre as well as from outsiders attending political galas and fundraisers across the country truly did feel like I was reading something out of a romance drama novel. But then I read this quote and realized there is a high chance that the rumors did have weight to them. Odom, the woman that Lewandowski assaulted while at a fundraiser that he and Noem attended in Las Vegas, stated to police that Kristi Noem came up to her while with her family and told her that she texted Corey to tell him to stop touching her. To me, this seems like a bizarre way to handle the situation unless Kristi knew and had dealt with Corey’s behavior before. All of this comes after rumors that Corey got caught by Noem sleeping with a Noem aid and when Noem found out, the aid was let go (fired) in an “ex-girlfriend” type rage. Of course, this is gossip but it does make me ponder what exactly is happening between Bryon, Kristi and Corey. What I do know is that while Noem has said she has cut ties with Corey, they were recently spotted together again at another fundraiser in a photo tweeted out by Greg Travis (again, where is Bryon?!).
Meth. We’re on it. Do I really even have to explain? Sadly yes, I do (because that’s why you’re here). The anti-meth campaign was one of those “so embarrassing” moments that South Dakotans couldn’t wait for it to go away. It was a national joke… T-shirts were being made with kids wearing it like a funny fashion statement in other states. Even with it being so embarrassing, the money spent is a major issue. Taxpayer dollars spent a whopping $500,000 on the campaign and the money wasn’t even spent in state. It was paid to an ad agency in Minnesota with which it’s rumored that one of Noem’s daughters had a friend employed there. To top it off, Governor Noem requested an additional $1,000,0000 for addiction recovery, support and a website: www.onmeth.com. There was never a report on how effective the campaign was, nor do we really know what resources were created using the additional million in funding.
The Women’s Sports Bill. Now, I’m going to dive into this deeper with a timeline and Noem’s connections to Sanford in a different post, but what happened was nothing short of Governor Kristi Noem caving to the liberal trans agenda. Essentially, to keep this short, a Women’s Sports Bill was introduced and passed through the House and Senate, going to Noem’s desk for signature, putting the bill into law. However, Noem issued a “style and form” veto where her office made such drastic changes to the bill that it was basically equivalent to Noem legislating from her office, producing an entirely new bill. Noem was quoted saying “her legal advisors” aka Matt McCaulley, told her it was the right move (of course it would be the right move for Matt, representing Sanford Health). Noem’s office said leaving the bill in the state she received it would have left South Dakota a target for lawsuits. However, when you look more closely, you’ll realize that McCaulley’s influence along with questionable donations from Sanford to the new stadium that was being built to host NCAA tournaments in our state was more likely the culprit as to why Noem vetoed the bill and shut it down. Later, Noem released a video campaign on how she “never backed down” and Caroline Woods broke down the gaslighting perfectly.
Let’s not forget about the marijuana bill that citizens voted to pass, yet it’s been stalled out for two years. Now, whether you support or hate marijuana isn’t the point… It’s the fact that the people voted in majority for passing it yet it’s been stalled out. We have major issues with our liberal public school system where we now have teachers requiring books on sex grooming, CRT and rumor has it… we now even have a school in Watertown that allows a person that identifies as a “furry” to be walked on a leash down the halls. Noem signed a “1776 Pledge to Save our Schools” yet it seems, it was an empty promise on her part. Lastly, Noem’s blunder on setting apart our red state from blue state rhetoric when it comes to Health Freedom has been laughable, something that will get discussed in a later post. And of course, Governor Noem was successfully sued and lost due to her infringing on protestor’s First Amendment Rights (I thought she loved the constitution?). I’d love to dive deeper into these subjects, and perhaps I will later, but for now, they get to share a paragraph together.
Noem’s “Townhall” in California. At a time when Dakotans have arguably rightful concerns with the women’s sports bill, nurse shortages, health mandates via private businesses, liberal public-school issues, questions on the state plane use, etc, etc etc… Kristi Noem decided to go to California for a Town Hall with Newsmax. She took easy hitting questions from Californians that adore her, because well, they see a freedom loving, red state governor while they live in one of the worst blue states in the country. They aren’t aware of the local politics and only see Noem’s social media posts and bits of national news coverage. The Noem camp made a big deal about this Town Hall but what I keep asking myself is, “Why hasn’t she done a Town Hall in her own state, taking hard hitting questions (unfiltered and not pre-approved) from citizens living here in South Dakota? Governor Noem has spent a lot of time out of our state; again, how much of this is actually state business versus positioning herself for a national campaign run?
Kristi Noem is attacking well-respected conservatives. Just when I thought I was done with all my bullet points on her failings, I remember this article from The Blaze. Governor Kristi Noem is now forcefully trying to remove good, conservative representatives from the legislature because they’ve disagreed with her less conservative viewpoints. She’s called representatives like Odenbach (rated the #1 conservative rep in our state currently) and Hansen “wolves in sheep's clothing” while now also publicly trying to remove Deutsch, one of our most fair and conservative representatives. Why would Noem be supporting RINOS like Schoenbeck and bringing in new RINOS if she truly is a freedom loving, solid conservative? Maybe it’s because she’s just another career politician doing the bidding of wealthy liberal companies while disguising herself as the freedom-loving, gun-toting, pro-life governor we’ve all come to love and know.
Now, I know this is a lot to digest. I told you in the beginning that it would be like the aftermath of a church potluck. You’ll either want to ignore it, take a nap and hope that feeling of what you just digested goes away. Or you’ll sit through it, trying to not vomit up what you just digested. And yes, I appreciate Noem fulfilling her campaign promise on instituting the constitutional carry gun law. And I know it may seem like I’m “picking on her” but, she is, after all, the leader of our state and holding her accountable is just as important as singing her praises. However, I don’t believe we “owe” her anything for keeping us open when it was in fact, her job is to keep us open and thriving (even when she initially tried to enact a declaration of emergency). South Dakotans shouldn’t be brushing all this dirt under the rug simply because she says she’s a freedom lover or because we’re fearful that by criticizing her, we may end up with a Democrat for governor this next term.
Until next time,
Jane Doe