Kristi Noem Refused To Say Who Financed Some Of Her Travel. It Was Taxpayers Who Were On The Hook. | EUROtoday

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.

In the weeks since Noem grew to become 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 Associated Press evaluation of just 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 Beach, 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 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 together with her niece and a e-book tour that included a cease in New York. An further $2,200 stemmed from a controversial journey final 12 months to Houston for dental work she showcased on Instagram.

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 remove 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 scale of South Dakota’s.

The spending “offends a lot of people,” stated Dennis Daugaard, a former Republican South Dakota governor, who added that prices generated by Noem’s ambition for larger 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 seems like an incredible amount of money,” Howard informed AP.

A spokesman for Noem, Tim Murtaugh, declined to reply detailed questions concerning 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 stated benefited her greater than South Dakota taxpayers.

“Unfortunately, bad guys tend to make threats against high-profile public officials,” Murtaugh stated. “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, stated 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.

During her years in workplace, Noem incessantly stated that releasing the journey bills would jeopardize her security.

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 referred to as on Washington’s Jay Inslee, a Democrat, to reimburse the state for related prices ensuing from his unsuccessful 2019 presidential run. And Ron DeSantis, Florida’s GOP governor, additionally got here below fireplace 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 get together’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.

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 certainly one of 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. Only 30 gadgets totaling $2,056.72 have been charged on the governor’s state-issued Mastercard, in response to her lawyer.

Some bills seemingly had no hyperlink to state enterprise, reminiscent of $21 hotel-room film purchases. It’s additionally unclear who attended meals that included unnamed “federal officials.”

The state auditor questioned a few of the prices, together with the governor’s workplace’s use of a luxurious airline journey company for a flight to Paris and a $2,000 change charge.

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 additional time 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.

Most 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 working 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 will not be the primary time Noem’s journey has come below the microscope. A state authorities accountability board in 2022 had requested an investigation into her use of the state aircraft to attend political occasions, however a prosecutor discovered no grounds for prices.

The information increase questions concerning 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.

But the newly launched information embrace a number of transactions in South Florida on these days, together with a rental automobile and a keep on the posh Trump National Doral Miami. Days later, South Dakota picked up the tab for gasoline and lodge rooms for Noem’s safety so she may communicate at a Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire.

“Noem’s travel doesn’t pass the smell test,” stated Viki Harrison, program director for Common Cause, a nonpartisan group that seeks to restrict huge cash in politics. “There should be a huge firewall between campaigning and official business.”

Noem’s predecessors traveled much less incessantly 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, stated he reimbursed employees for purchases like ice cream.

Former Gov. Mike Rounds, now South Dakota’s junior U.S. senator, stated he tried to maintain partisan exercise at “arm’s length” from state assets and was cautious about what he placed on the federal government’s dime.

Such thriftiness was required, he stated, 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.”

Goodman reported from Miami and Mustian from New York. Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.