SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — As then-Gov. Kristi Noem crisscrossed the nation — stumping for President Donald Trump and boosting her political profile past her dwelling state — she refused to disclose what her intensive journey was costing taxpayers.
Within the weeks since Noem became Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, that thriller has been solved: South Dakota repeatedly picked up the tab for bills associated to her jet-setting campaigning.
An Related Press evaluation of lately launched journey information discovered greater than $150,000 in bills tied to Noem’s political and private exercise and never South Dakota enterprise. That included numerous trips to Palm Seaside, Florida, the place Trump resided earlier than retaking workplace.
Most of these prices coated the state-provided safety that accompanied Noem, no matter the rationale for her journey. Over her six years as governor, AP’s evaluation reveals, South Dakota coated greater than $640,000 in travel-related prices incurred by the governor’s workplace.
The expenditures embrace $7,555 in airfare for a six-day journey to Paris, the place she gave a speech at a right-wing gathering, prices related to a bear hunt in Canada along with her niece and a ebook tour that included a cease in New York. A further $2,200 stemmed from a controversial trip final yr to Houston for dental work she showcased on Instagram.
Bills spark uproar
The bills, launched final month following a lawsuit by The Dakota Scout, have incensed Republicans within the deep-red state, with a number of GOP lawmakers accusing Noem of tapping state funds to gasoline her personal political ascendancy.
The uproar comes because the Trump administration seeks to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse in authorities and as Noem has taken over DHS, the third-largest federal company, with a funds and workforce many instances the dimensions of South Dakota’s.
The spending “offends lots of people,” mentioned Dennis Daugaard, a former Republican South Dakota governor, who added that prices generated by Noem’s ambition for increased workplace may’ve been paid with marketing campaign funds.
Taffy Howard, a GOP state senator who clashed with Noem over her refusal to reveal her journey bills, expressed shock on the price ticket. “It looks like an unbelievable amount of cash,” Howard informed AP.
A spokesman for Noem, Tim Murtaugh, declined to reply detailed questions in regards to the bills however didn’t dispute that a few of the journey lacked an obvious connection to state enterprise. There’s no indication the previous governor broke any legal guidelines having the state foot the invoice for safety bills — even on journeys that critics mentioned benefited her greater than South Dakota taxpayers.
“Sadly, unhealthy guys are likely to make threats towards high-profile public officers,” Murtaugh mentioned. “When it was a political or private journey, she paid for her personal journey out of her political or private funds.”
Josie Harms, a spokesperson for Noem’s gubernatorial successor, mentioned safety necessities have been “a matter of state enterprise regardless of the place the governor could also be.”
“The scope of that safety is less than the governor,” Harms added.
Throughout her years in workplace, Noem continuously mentioned that releasing the journey bills would jeopardize her security.
Lax disclosure necessities
South Dakota has comparatively lax disclosure necessities for such journey bills. Governors from each events have used state funds to finance the journey bills of their safety particulars and staffers.
Critics known as on Washington’s Jay Inslee, a Democrat, to reimburse the state for comparable prices ensuing from his unsuccessful 2019 presidential run. And Ron DeSantis, Florida’s GOP governor, additionally came under fire for racking up hefty journey tabs for his safety element throughout his bid for increased workplace.
Murtaugh, a spokesman for Noem in her private capability, questioned why Democratic governors weren’t being scrutinized for his or her journey on behalf of former Vice President Kamala Harris, their occasion’s 2024 presidential nominee.
“They maintained aggressive political schedules on behalf of Kamala Harris however by some means escape media consideration for prices related to that, whereas Kristi Noem is being held to a special commonplace?” Murtaugh wrote in an e-mail.
The greater than 3,000 pages of information launched to the Scout by the state auditor included resort receipts, restaurant payments and bank card statements.
Some bills haven’t any hyperlink to state enterprise
The AP obtained the identical information, in addition to dozens of extra paperwork that present state officers acknowledged that “campaigning for Trump shouldn’t be an official obligation” of the governor in denying considered one of a number of requests to launch her journey bills.
The receipts are closely redacted, so it’s not all the time clear who incurred the expense. Solely 30 objects totaling $2,056.72 have been charged on the governor’s state-issued Mastercard, based on her lawyer.
Some bills seemingly had no hyperlink to state enterprise, comparable to $21 hotel-room film purchases. It’s additionally unclear who attended meals that included unnamed “federal officers.”
The state auditor questioned a few of the costs, together with the governor’s workplace’s use of a luxurious airline journey company for a flight to Paris and a $2,000 change payment.
The state additionally ran up greater than $3,300 in late charges and curiosity. The report doesn’t point out how a lot was paid in time beyond regulation for workers and safety accompanying Noem on her political excursions.
“Spending for safety element, in addition to the place and when they’re deemed crucial, falls underneath the discretion of the governor,” Jenna Latham, a supervisor within the state auditor’s workplace, wrote to AP in an e-mail.
Many of the bills have been incurred as Noem grew to become a rising star in Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” universe and a contender to be his 2024 operating mate. Her fortunes appeared to have suffered a blow after she revealed in a memoir that she shot and killed her farm canine, Cricket, after it scared away some recreation throughout a pheasant hunt.
This isn’t the primary time Noem’s journey has come underneath the microscope. A state authorities accountability board in 2022 had requested an investigation into her use of the state plane to attend political occasions, however a prosecutor discovered no grounds for costs.
State identified for frugality
The information elevate questions in regards to the necessity of the journey and the secrecy surrounding the bills.
Noem’s workplace refused to launch information associated to a 2020 talking engagement at AmpFest, a gathering of Trump supporters close to Miami, telling a public-records requester the journey was “not for the aim of the governor’s official duties” and no receipts existed.
However the newly launched information embrace a number of transactions in South Florida on these days, together with a rental automotive and a keep on the posh Trump Nationwide Doral Miami. Days later, South Dakota picked up the tab for gasoline and resort rooms for Noem’s safety so she may communicate at a Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire.
“Noem’s journey doesn’t move the odor take a look at,” mentioned Viki Harrison, program director for Widespread Trigger, a nonpartisan group that seeks to restrict huge cash in politics. “There needs to be an enormous firewall between campaigning and official enterprise.”
Noem’s predecessors traveled much less continuously in a low-tax state that values frugality, each on the farm and from elected officers. Daugaard, whose official statue options him pinching a penny, mentioned he reimbursed workers for purchases like ice cream.
Former Gov. Mike Rounds, now South Dakota’s junior U.S. senator, mentioned he tried to maintain partisan exercise at “arm’s size” from state sources and was cautious about what he placed on the federal government’s dime.
Such thriftiness was required, he mentioned, as a result of his state is “so tight on all the things to start with, simply by way of having sufficient cash to pay the payments.”
___ Goodman reported from Miami and Mustian from New York. Related Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
