South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem may be headed for trouble because flight logs have revealed that she used the state airplane for travel to conservative events, a potential violation of state law, Mediaite [1] reports.
In 2019, Noem attended a flurry of events, including an NRA conference in San Antonio, a Turning Point USA gathering in Dallas, a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas, Raw Story [2] reports. She also attended organizational meetings with other Republican governors in Aspen, Boca Raton, and Kentucky. Then there were all those events she attended to support former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
According to Noem’s office, however, her travel on behalf of Trump’s campaign was either done via commercial airlines or through planes provided by the campaign.
But the flight logs reveal other trips that appear to be a mix of business and pleasure. There was one trip, for instance, to New York City, where she and her family, allegedly to “cheer on the South Dakota float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade,” but they also made side trips to the restaurant made famous by “Seinfeld,” Radio City Music Hall, and took in the ice skating in Central Park. Noem’s birthday also figured in — at the trip’s conclusion.
Raw Story estimated that trip to NYC alone cost South Dakota taxpayers $17,200.
South Dakota law, however, prohibits [4] the use of state aircraft for anything other than state business. Violations are considered a Class 2 misdemeanor and violators are subject to “a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars plus ten times the cost incurred by the state.”
But Ian Fury, Noem’s spokesman, says everything fits in its proper category and was conducted as state business.
“One of Governor Noem’s primary roles as Governor is to be South Dakota’s top ambassador to the rest of the nation,” Fury noted in an email. “She has made this a big part of her governorship, advertising to attract businesses to our state, to drive tourism to our state, and to appeal to particular industries.”
But right now, South Dakota’s legislature is focusing on the state budget, meaning a spotlight has been cast on this, especially because Noem has requested $5 million to purchase a new state plane — and an inquiry is now being made into Noem’s taxpayer-funded security detail, which accompanied her from one Trump event to another in 2020.
Now doesn’t that sound like a Trump supporter? How much of the taxpayers’ money was sacrificed to a losing cause? If the allegations are true, she could have just tossed the money in the air and used that flamethrower [5] on it, the effect would still be the same.
Joe Biden would still become president.