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 residence state — she refused to disclose what her in depth journey was costing taxpayers.
Within the weeks since Noem grew to become Trump’s Homeland Safety 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 quite a few journeys 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 explanation for her journey. Over her six years as governor, AP’s evaluation exhibits, South Dakota coated greater than $640,000 in travel-related prices incurred by the governor’s workplace.
The expenditures embody $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 guide tour that included a cease in New York. An extra $2,200 stemmed from a controversial journey final 12 months to Houston for dental work she showcased on Instagram.
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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 gas her personal political ascendancy.
The uproar comes because the Trump administration seeks to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse in authorities and as Noem has taken over DHS, the third-largest federal company, with a funds and workforce many occasions the dimensions of South Dakota’s.
The spending “offends a lot of people,” mentioned Dennis Daugaard, a former Republican South Dakota governor, who added that prices generated by Noem’s ambition for larger workplace might’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 seems like an incredible amount of money,” Howard instructed AP.
A spokesman for Noem, Tim Murtaugh, declined to reply detailed questions in regards to the bills however didn’t dispute that among 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.
“Unfortunately, bad guys tend to make threats against high-profile public officials,” Murtaugh mentioned. “When it was a political or personal trip, she paid for her own travel out of her political or personal funds.”
Josie Harms, a spokesperson for Noem’s gubernatorial successor, mentioned safety necessities have been “a matter of state business no matter where the governor may be.”
“The scope of that security is not up to the governor,” Harms added.
Throughout her years in workplace, Noem steadily 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 got here underneath hearth for racking up hefty journey tabs for his safety element throughout his bid for larger 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 but somehow escape media attention for costs associated with that, while Kristi Noem is being held to a different standard?” Murtaugh wrote in an e mail.
The greater than 3,000 pages of information launched to the Scout by the state auditor included lodge receipts, restaurant payments and bank card statements.
Some bills don’t have any hyperlink to state enterprise
The AP obtained the identical information, in addition to dozens of further paperwork that present state officers acknowledged that “campaigning for Trump is not an official duty” of the governor in denying one in all a number of requests to launch her journey bills.
The receipts are closely redacted, so it’s not at all times clear who incurred the expense. Solely 30 objects totaling $2,056.72 have been charged on the governor’s state-issued Mastercard, in line with her lawyer.
Some bills seemingly had no hyperlink to state enterprise, resembling $21 hotel-room film purchases. It’s additionally unclear who attended meals that included unnamed “federal officials.”
The state auditor questioned among the fees, 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 security detail, as well as where and when they are deemed necessary, falls under the discretion of the governor,” Jenna Latham, a supervisor within the state auditor’s workplace, wrote to AP in an e mail.
A lot of the bills have been incurred as Noem grew to become a rising star in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” 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 airplane to attend political occasions, however a prosecutor discovered no grounds for fees.
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 purpose of the governor’s official duties” and no receipts existed.
However the newly launched information embody 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 lodge rooms for Noem’s safety so she might communicate at a Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire.
“Noem’s travel doesn’t pass the smell test,” mentioned Viki Harrison, program director for Widespread Trigger, a nonpartisan group that seeks to restrict large cash in politics. “There should be a huge firewall between campaigning and official business.”
Noem’s predecessors traveled much less steadily 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 length” 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 everything to begin with, just in terms of having enough money to pay the bills.”
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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.
