53 Comments

Stay strong and continue to share what you have learned about Ms Noem's spending on those credit cards. Must be some questionable spending on those cards if our new Governor wants the information returned to him.

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Good for you! We need more transparency.

We all suspected she was using tax payer money to promote herself and for personal use.

Perhaps she needs to reimburse the state of SD for any of her personal charges that she could pay for with all the money she raised while promoting herself out of state.

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It is a catch 22, no she should not use the state credit card for personal expenses, but at the same time, her job as the State Governor is to also travel the country meeting with other Governors, the President to help manage the foreign affairs of the country in the best interest of the state itself. The Lt. Governor is tasked with staying inside the State, handling all of the day to day complaints of the citizens vs state departments, agencies, offices, whereas the Lt Governor also gets to meet with the very people that chose him such as the Legislative Delegates, County Precinct People, and County COmmissioners to help manage the affairs of the state. So, I agree, the SCOUT has the right to keep the records to share publically, but at the same time, Kristi Noem's job was to represent the state throughout the country.

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It's not a Catch 22--A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. You seriously think the Governor of South Dakota is elected to "help manage the foreign affairs of the country"? I know Noem lied in her book about staring down Kim Jong Un, but that just revealed how improbable it would be for her to be meeting with foreign leaders.

The constitutional and statutory duties of the Governor include:

Signing or vetoing bills passed by the Legislature.

Serving as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.

Convening special sessions of the Legislature for specific purposes.

Delivering a report on the condition of the state to the Legislature at the beginning of each regular session and a report on the condition of the budget on the first Tuesday of each December.

Recommending the General Bill to appropriate each year’s funding, which the Legislature then amends.

Granting reprieves and commutations of punishment and pardons upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and revoking conditional pardons.

Declaring special elections to fill vacancies in certain elected offices.

Of course there is value to meeting with other governors and no one is suggesting she shouldn't travel out of state. Once the records are published we can examine whether she was promoting the state or simply promoting herself.

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You completely missed the point I was making, yes those are all duties of the Governor inside the "State", however, the Governor also has the constitutional authority to travel the country working with other Governors, the President to carry out and effectively establish coalitions of states to help defend America. This has always been a job of the Governor dating back to the 1777 Articles. They form a "Board of Governors" to discuss national policies, in order to form a alliance of states to come to each others aid. Whereas again, the Lt Governor is tasked with working closely with our legislature, those legislative delegates of each district, the Precinct Committee People of each precinct to which vote for him at convention. The two effectively work within the governors office, albeit as two independent elected people. Where the voters choose the governor by popular vote, the "Counties" choose their Lt. Governor to represent them equally.

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I didn’t miss the point—I’m telling you your “point” is wrong. Governor Noem wasn’t traveling to “meet other governors to establish coalitions of states to defend America” we aren’t under attack from outside America. The single largest data breach in our country’s history has just occurred—and while it’s likely the data stolen in that breach is being shared with our enemies or sold to our enemies, all your blather about the governor’s role discussing national policies is just so much bullshit. The former governor can wear all the ridiculous outfits she wants to and parade around the country deporting people without due process, in a complete and total violation of the constitution she’s sworn an oath to protect, and none of it matters because she’s part of the coalition of grifters pillaging the country for their own benefit.

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With the technology available today there is no need to travel to meet with governors. They can do a zoom call. Save taxpayers some money. When she does travel there is no need to stay in fancy hotels.

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Her job ad governor wa to represent thr state on foreign affairs to create relationships

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But that’s not what she was doing. She was out promoting herself

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I don’t think having dental work done in Texas and taxpayers paying for the trip falls under the job title of governor.

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It's no wonder that Appropriations Committee members like Representatives Howard, Mulally and others were constantly in Noem's political crosshairs.

$650,000!!!!!

How mucha that coulda gone to social services, roads/bridges and/or school supplies?

And let's not forget the $13.5 MILLION gift she gave to Fish, Games and Parks for the unwanted gun range in Meade County....yet another "F Y!" to her constituents!

We elected people to represent us and act upon our direction to the best of their abilities and FOR THE MOST PART, they have done so.

Now she has a much larger ATM to deal with!

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Yes, and yet a 1 billion dollar prison is fiscally responsible??

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Or a 30 year lease to whoever built and owns those state office buildings in Sioux Falls and Rapid. I wonder what his connection is to her.

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650K is 100K/year. It's not really that much.

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I would love to have an annual allowance of $100K of OTHER PEOPLES' MONEY to spend on vacations, alcohol and armed security. I can deal with legitimate expenses as documented above by Heart of Everything

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Then there’s nothing to hide.

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The political clowns in Pierre will never learn the simple lesson- the starting point is they are lying self serving hacks . It is their challenge to prove they are capable of a sliver of honesty , transparency and integrity .

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A philosopher was asked if he knew something but telling someone the truth, shock would kill them. What would you do? He said “If the truth would kill them let them die.”

What are they so afraid of in Pierre?

The Truth

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Funny shit

Well stated

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Not ALL are 'political clowns'.

Some actually take their jobs seriously and do what THEIR constituents ask them to do. I may not agree with how some representatives/senators vote, but if they're not MY electeds, I have no standing.

ANYONE who is not satisfied with their representative/senator can run for those offices if they feel they can do a better job.

If you are eligible to do so.....then do so!

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Nice song and dance. No doubt there are a few honorable folks in Pierre. Could be the bunch who are gathered under the tables in silence while the crooks and corrupt have their way.

Maybe they should grow a pair and stand the fok up and demand transparency bot instead they remain silent

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The word “ all “ did not appear in my post

The filth I would feel while standing in a room of politicians would be unbearable. Magnified when they kiss the Trump ring

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This exemplifies a newspaper’s role in the community at its best. Thank you.

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Kristi ran her campaigns on being transparent! We the taxpayers have a right to see where every dollar is spent! Sick of being treated like the surfs.

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'serfs'

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I'm sure your edit is correct; however, it's ironic that "surfs" might also apply to the extent that elected officials often seem to think they can ride on the public like a wave in the water.

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Nice stretch of vocabulary!

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I'm wondering if General Jackley is also investigating her expenses?????

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South Dakota taxpayers are not dumb and deserve to know where their money is going. We are not a rich state full of rich people, but obviously our Governor Noem didn’t give a rip. Many struggle to pay taxes, but Noem didn’t care. Didn’t she run on transparency? We sure never saw any transparency. Thank you, Dakota Scout. Do not return anything. Her excuse of privacy to keep her safe are of no concern now because she is no longer governor.

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"not dumb"...? I disagree. South Dakotans keep electing republicans over and over and over! I am proud to be a life-long registered Independent. I look at both sides. And I am ashamed to be living in such a blushing red state. Republicans care about less spending money, unless THEY spend it! Go ahead and tell me..."Then move!" lol Deflect, deflect! Blame others for your own weaknesses! Now they have trump as their cult idol. Good riddance, Noem. Go kiss his ring!

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Release the records. Public information for sure--if you don't want the public to know how you're spending their tax dollars, you might consider how you're spending their tax dollars.

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Cory is a lucky guy

Wish I had a gf that covered my road trips

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Careful, you don't want to land on a no-fly list. 😉

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With the air traffic controller’s crisis, do you really want to fly right now? . Maybe they will put us on a mandatory fly list.

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Mandatory flights on the Boeing Supermax into the world's busiest airports. Yeah, that would be would actually be worse than a no-fly list.

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Roger That

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It is kind of stupid for the state government to ask for the records back, I mean, once published by the paper, and shown to the public, people already have made copies of the records. So I would urge the Dakota SCout to just let the State take them to court and let a judge decide, and if worst case, it ends up in the Supreme Court.

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WAY TO GO!! The Dakota Scout should NOT return any of the documents or feel any sense of apology. I look forward publication of all pertinent information on this topic.

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This story reminds me why I love the professions of journalism and trial law. While many try to erode our rights and convince us we're not entitled to them in the first place, journalists are willing to pull back the curtains and lawyers are willing to defend their right to do so. Hooray for Dakota Scout and Jon Arneson! A good bit of work!

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Thought Rhoden was resetting to establish positive relations with the media. He’s off to a great start. 😂

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It kind of undermines Jackley's whole anti-corruption in state government push too. Maybe he was too busy busting a social worker somewhere?

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was there a reason she was at the Venetian recently? One last vacay before the new job or what?

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Right? That and the $700+/night Naples Bay Resort in FL raise some questions that her stays at Holiday Inn Express do not.

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yeah.. Venetian was after the inauguration too.. just wonder why she was there at all?

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Absolutely. Let's see those records. The Gov must entertain, and is not staying at Motel 6. However, what about alcohol expenses? What about other stuff?

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5dEdited

Sure would be interesting to learn how much her security costs were for Highway Patrol and other law enforcement—Salaries, overtime, transportation, lodging, meals, etc. We should save hundreds of thousands now that she is gone.

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