Bluestem last posted about South Dakota's Freedom Works Here worker recruitment plan in late November's 66-year-old guy touted in September press release from SD governor’s office might not be best Freedom Works Here recruitment example and Work, We're On It: Freedom Works Here ads scrutinized, Ohio vendor swiped local idea.
Judging by Patrick Lally's reporting at Sioux Falls Live, Governor Noem's
are even more on fire than South Dakotans suspected.
Lally reports in State discussed Freedom Works Here plan with winning firms before opening for bids:
SIOUX FALLS – Discussions with two out-of-state political firms that were awarded contracts related to Gov. Kristi Noem’s workforce marketing campaign began weeks before the official requests for proposals were published, according to documents obtained by Sioux Falls Live.
The early conversations raise questions about the integrity of the State of South Dakota’s contract process and deepen the skepticism over Noem’s political allies doing taxpayer-funded work.
The Freedom Works Here campaign, which has come under the scrutiny of legislative leaders, features Noem in several high-demand jobs including welder, electrician and, most recently, accountant. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development supervised the effort and touts it as the most-successful workforce development initiative in state history.
It’s the political connections between the players and the inability to provide firm numbers on people who have moved to the state that has drawn the attention of lawmakers, however. The documents obtained by Sioux Falls Live indicate the governor’s office developed the plan in consultation with The Strategy Group, an Ohio-based consultant that worked on Noem’s 2022 re-election campaign, and eventually was awarded the $5 million contract.
The documents show that Ben Yoho, the CEO of The Strategy Group, and officials from the political polling firm WPA Intelligence pitched the GOED after the 2022 election on a plan to do market research to guide Freedom Works Here. The language of that proposal is nearly identical to the RFP that was published on Jan. 10, which was awarded to WPA for $100,000.
That’s troubling for Rep. Chris Karr, a Sioux Falls Republican who sits on the Appropriations Committee and the Legislature’s Executive Board.
“If a state agency is complicit in allowing a company to write the criteria for an RFP specific to that company for the purpose of that state agency to choose that company for that RFP, then the Legislature needs to look at our state's RFP process and modify it so that the Executive Branch avoids 'sweetheart deals' and allows for transparent government that results in a fair process and equitable use of taxpayer dollars,” Karr said in a statement to Sioux Falls Live.
Three days after the research RFP was published – Jan. 13 – a separate request was posted by the state for the production and placement of the advertising.
That $5 million deal was awarded to Go West Media, a company “doing business as” in South Dakota for a subsidiary of Yoho’s firm, The Strategy Group.
Six other firms also submitted proposals but Go West was selected.
The governor’s office and the GOED have denied there was any previous communication before the RFPs were public.
Read the rest at here--more of Sioux Falls Live's coverage in Freedom Works Here: All the coverage about Gov. Kristi Noem's workforce campaign.
Something works in South Dakota, but Bluestem suspects it's not integrity or fairness.
Photo: Is this considered drag? Gov. Kristi Noem appears as an accountant as part of the Freedom Works Here marketing campaign. From Sioux Falls Live.
Related posts
- 66-year-old guy touted in September press release from SD governor’s office might not be best Freedom Works Here recruitment example
- Work, We're On It: Freedom Works Here ads scrutinized, Ohio vendor swiped local idea
- Transparent Positive Pants Governor Noem tried to avoid ethics hearing, seal records
- Positive pants on fire: Democratic opponent Jamie Smith corrects Noem's really bad math
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