From Saturday, another Stephen Groves article for the Associated Press about Noem's ethical breaches includes another vignette about the governor skirting the will of the people.
Groves reports in South Dakota investigation weighs Noem’s use of state plane:
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was returning from an official appearance in Rapid City in 2019 when she faced a decision: Overnight in the capital of Pierre, where another trip would start the next day, or head home and see her son attend his high school prom?
The Republican governor chose the latter, a decision that eventually cost taxpayers some $3,700 when the state airplane dropped her off near her home and then returned the next day to pick her up.
It’s one of several trips that year where Noem, a potential 2024 White House contender, blurred the lines between official travel and attending either family or political events. The trips sparked a complaint to the state ethics board, which has referred the matter to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. A county prosecutor overseeing the investigation will decide whether the governor broke an untested law enacted by voters in 2006 to rein in questionable use of the state airplane. . . .
in the first year of her term in 2019, Noem used the state plane six times to fly to out-of-state events hosted by political organizations including the Republican Governors Association, Republican Jewish Coalition, Turning Point USA and the National Rifle Association. Raw Story, an online news site, first reported the trips, which the governor’s office defended as part of her work as the state’s “ambassador” to bolster the state’s economy and intergovernmental relationships.
State plane logs also show that Noem had family members join her on in-state flights in 2019.
The 2006 ballot measure was a response to scrutiny of plane travel by then-Gov. Mike Rounds, who attended events such as his son’s away basketball games while on trips for other official business. At the time, Rounds, now a U.S. senator, used political funds to reimburse the state for those trips, as well as travel to political events. . . .
On another trip, Noem’s itinerary allowed her to return home for her son’s prom. On April 5, 2019, she rode the state plane from Watertown, near her home in Castlewood, to Rapid City for an announcement on Ellsworth Air Force Base. On the return flight, the plane stopped in the capital city of Pierre to drop off Rounds, who had joined her for the trip, and several aides. But even though she had another trip from Pierre to Las Vegas for a Republican Jewish Coalition event planned the next day, Noem didn’t stay in the governor’s mansion there.
She flew to Watertown, near her home, in time to watch her son take the stage at his prom, according to Noem’s social media posts. The state plane, meanwhile, returned to Pierre, only to make the trip back to Watertown for the governor the next day. .
Fury defended the trips because her travel started in Watertown, near where she had spoken at an event for her son’s school district the day before.
Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in government ethics, said Noem’s travel to political events seemed to fall into a legal gray area. While a trip to fundraise or campaign would clearly break the law, he said, traveling to meet with political groups was “pushing the limit.” . . .
Neil Fulton, the dean of the University of South Dakota Law School who also served as Rounds’ chief of staff after the 2006 law was enacted, said it’s not perfectly clear what exactly the law means by “state business.” He said other jurisdictions usually define state business as “actions to advance programs or initiatives of the state.”
The law imposes steep fines: $1,000 plus 10 times the cost of the travel. Violators also face a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of a 30-day jail sentence, but that is usually only reserved for repeat or violent offenders.
“We weren’t hoping to convict anyone of anything,” Nesiba, the state lawmaker, said. “We were hoping to make a deterrent.”
We'll continue to post updates about the investigations.
Related posts
- Noem faces lawsuit by American Oversight for refusal to release travel expense records
- Transparent Positive Pants Governor Noem tried to avoid ethics hearing, seal records
- Noem silent about ethics probe response. Flight to daughter’s wedding part of official business
- AP: Ethics; or, Government Accountability Board keeps ‘action’ secret on complaint against Noem
- Half-cancelled: Noem video to be played at MD Republican Party "Red, White and Blue" dinner
Photo: One of the South Dakota state planes.
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