Amid reports in South Dakota's newspapers about COVID-19 in the state (the screenshot at the top of this post is from the digital edition of the Pierre Capital Journal, Casey Junkins' story For the last week, South Dakota saw more COVID deaths than New York City), there's another narrative.
Noem's importation of old Washington hands, a.k.a.: alligators.
Via Keloland, Bob Mercer reports in Noem administration hires a former Trump campaign staffer as state health spokesman:
The South Dakota Department of Health plans to bring aboard Daniel Bucheli next month as communications director.
Bucheli has spent the past decade working in communications roles, mostly in various federal political positions in Washington, D.C., and the neighboring area.
He will succeed Derrick Haskins, who recently departed as communications director. Haskins’ annual salary was $67,328.02.
Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said Bucheli last worked for U.S. Rep. Ross Spano, a Florida Republican.
Spano lost a re-election bid this year and has been under federal investigation.
According to his resume on LinkedIn, Bucheli was communications director for Spano starting in February. Bucheli previously was deputy press secretary at Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., from May 2019 to January.
“He indicated an interest in moving to South Dakota and shared his resume with Maggie Seidel who passed it on,” state Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said Monday. “I am very excited to have someone of Daniel’s caliber join DOH and support our communications and outreach strategies.”
Seidel is senior policy advisor to Governor Kristi Noem. Seidel moved to South Dakota last year from the Washington, D.C., area. During the past year the governor has filled a variety of senior staff positions with people from outside South Dakota. Noem traveled to other states to campaign for Trump’s re-election.
Since 2010, Bucheli served in roles for three other U.S. representatives, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. House Republican conference, the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, and a mayor of Annapolis, Maryland.
And there's more. A "Related Content" sidebar article from mid-October, Governor Noem is shuffling some of top staff again and adding more ‘D.C.’ into the S.D. mix, includes this:
South Dakota’s chief executive is making more changes among her top staff, a spokesman told KELOLAND News. All are from outside South Dakota.
Mark Miller starts Monday as general counsel to Governor Kristi Noem. He comes from Pacific Legal Foundation, where he was a senior attorney. He replaces Tom Hart, who left earlier this year for private practice. . . .
Allen Cambon began Tuesday in Simmons’ previous role as the governor’s agriculture adviser. Cambon was legislative director for U.S. Representative Ralph Abraham, R-Louisiana, and oversaw agriculture issues.
Another new face is Caroline Thorman. She is the governor’s new federal liaison, succeeding the governor’s daughter, Kennedy Noem. Thorman came from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and previously was on the staff of U.S. Representative Congressman French Hill, R-Arkansas.
Bluestem wonders if Noem's hiring patterns might explain the presence of an alligator in Minnesota, in mid-November. You'd think the invasive species could stay on route from DC to Pierre, but stranger things have happened.
Related posts:
- Noem's office remains in mask denial, despite pleas from doctors, indigenous lawmakers
- Positive Pants: South DaCOVID Governor Kristi Noem garners the best national headlines
- VIDEO: Stop the Spread SD's South Dakota COVID-19 Memorial Display
Screengrab: From the front page of the Pierre Capital Journal.
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