American Legislative Exchange Council Ranks Governor Noem Best Governor in the Nation

American Legislative Exchange Council Ranks Governor Noem Best Governor in the Nation

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) announced that Governor Kristi Noem is ranked the best governor in America for 2021. In accepting the award, Governor Kristi issued the following statement:

“ALEC is an incredible resource for legislators in every state, and it is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition from them. We’ve accomplished a lot for South Dakota in my first three years as Governor, but there is still more work to do. South Dakota will continue working to advance policies that protect freedom, cut red tape, and promote continual growth for our state.”

Governor Noem had been ranked first in policy and third overall in last year’s “Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom: Grading America’s 50 Governors.”

The award was announced at ALEC’s States & Nation Policy Summit. You can find a photo of Governor Noem accepting the award here.

###

34 thoughts on “American Legislative Exchange Council Ranks Governor Noem Best Governor in the Nation”

    1. Some states went overboard in locking down businesses too long. And some did the opposite, taking advantage of the circumstances for political and economic gain. They did little to stop the virus from spreading.

      Neither approach was necessary.

      Masks don’t harm the economy. Neither do vaccinations that are proven safe and effective. What is our excuse for not promoting both of them extensively? Our governor has a responsibility to protect the vulnerable. She chose another route.

      1. elk, when did the governor tell you not to wear a mask or get vaccinated?
        I don’t remember that.

        and unless she gave birth to you, she isn’t your mother

        1. I must have missed her on TV encouraging us to wear masks and get vaccinated. She was sure on for a lot of other things. Especially covering her behind on the medical marijuana issue.

          I saw her posing with others without masks during the worst of the pandemic. Including teens. Brilliant.

          I don’t want her to be my “mother”. I want her to protect the vulnerable. But that obviously isn’t happening.

          1. If your mother isn’t around to tell you what to do, perhaps I can help you out:

            There you go. You’ve received the maternal admonition you cannot seem to function without.

            Fortunately most SD residents don’t need mothers to tell them to do things.

            1. You talk about something you know nothing about. I may be older than you, Anne. Try addressing the issues instead of attacking people personally.

              A little fatherly advice.

  1. Own it. Own it all.

    From Aug 23, 2021
    SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — “It’s been eight days since the official end of the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

    And the home county for the annual motorcycle rally is seeing the highest percent of PCR COVID-19 tests come back positive in the state of South Dakota. According to the South Dakota Department of Health, Meade County has a weekly test-positivity rate of 36.1%. That means more than one out of every three COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in Meade County.

    That’s the highest amount for any county in South Dakota dealing with more than 10 new COVID-19 cases.”


    And that was just the beginning. Cases jumped ten, twenty times as high in that area in just a few weeks. How many hospitalizations and deaths resulted from the Sturgis party? A lot. Maybe one of our universities right here in South Dakota will conduct a study to estimate how many.

    Noem was cheering on the Rally. She can say it was worth it. I don’t think so.

    1. elk, who dragged you, kicking and screaming, into Sturgis during the rally and forced you to get sick?
      Are you saying the governor made you attend the rally?
      Do you know how you get a high positivity test rate? By testing only those people with symptoms.
      If you test four people and two of them are positive, you have a positivity rate of 50%
      Consequently those positivity rates don’t mean anything. Deuel County is up to 48.6% positive this week. They have 49 active cases which means they tested only 101 people at the most this past week. Probably half of them joined the ranks of the active cases the week prior, so the odds are good they tested much fewer than 101 this past week.
      Meade County has a total population of about 20,000 and so far has had less than 5000 cases
      in 18 months. So while you would have us believe that the people of Meade county were dropping like flies the week after the sturgis rally, in 18 months 25% of them have actually tested positive.
      So you have to tell us how many people were actually tested the week after the rally, not the percentage which were positive.

      1. if they got only ten new cases the week after the rally, that means they tested only 27 people that week. Out of a population of 20,000, they tested 27 of them and got a positivity rate of 37% Oh the horror!

    2. 20X increase in the number of cases for Meade County? Got a link from the SD Dept of Health that proves that claim?

  2. How do you do it? You refuse to see reality.

    Some of you boldly argue that Sturgis was not a Covid superspreader? Really?

    Meade County (Sturgis) had a weekly average of 1 case a day just before the Rally on August 3rd, 2021. By August 28th, the weekly average was 38 cases a day. After that it slowly dropped and today is still 11 cases a day on average.

    The entire Black Hills had a huge spike following the maskless Sturgis party. And, of course, the whole upper plains area was impacted. The spike this year occurred more rapidly than in 2020. Probably because of the Delta variant. So yes, it caused hundreds of hospitalizations and many deaths.

    But you won’t believe me. Because you don’t want to.

    1. Pennington County went from 8 cases a day on Aug. 3rd (weekly average) to 129 cases one month later. 154 per day two weeks after that.

      1. your numbers just mean they ramped up the testing. The KELO story said they had only ten new cases the week after the rally. Meade County has had 53 deaths in 18 months, out of 20,000 people. Did they all die after the rally last year or after this year?

        AND SO WHAT??the people who went to the rally were adults, knew the risks, went anyway. They ride motorcycles which are much more dangerous than driving a car. They know the risks, they do it anyway. Motorcycles make up 3% of all registered vehicles, drive fewer miles than cars, but account for up to 14% of traffic fatalities. The Sturgis Rally has never been a “safe” event. If safety of the participants were such a concern the whole thing would have been shut down 80 years ago.

        1. Anne writes: “AND SO WHAT??the people who went to the rally were adults, knew the risks, went anyway.”

          Let me be clear. I have gotten to the point where I don’t really give a s**t whether or not you take risks with your life.

          If you aren’t wise enough to understand the threat of a deadly pandemic on others, especially vulnerable populations, I can’t reach you.

          But just in case you still care about the loss of innocent lives… why don’t you check on the number of deaths in Meade County (Sturgis) in the four months before the Rally and compare them to the four months since. Get back to me on that. If you dare.

  3. To teach his subjects about the limits of his power, King Canute issued futile commands that the tides reverse their course. It was a valuable lesson. Human’s can’t control nature.

    Elk believes humans, and especially political leaders, can suppress an airborne virus. The evidence — along with King Canute’s example — shows otherwise.

    1. 94% of ventilated patients in this area are unvaccinated.

      THAT is evidence, Cliff. You are wrong. We can reverse this tide.

      1. Elk at 6:20…

        Uh, no. Vaccines for airborne coronaviruses have a checkered record, as mutations occur with dizzying speed and the shots can’t keep up. Fortunately, mutations are usually less dangerous. And we have this thing called the immune system, which is the best protection we can have. Even bikers in Sturgis. And you.

              1. My daughter is an RN and was working in a Covid unit last year. I have talked to her. It is a terrible disease.
                However, the Governor is neither your mother nor a physician and if you want maternal or medical recommendations she is not the person to ask. She’s a politician. Most politicians are not licensed medical professionals and shouldn’t be issuing medical advice anyway.
                Getting your medical information from a politician makes as much sense as getting it from facebook posts.

                If your mother and doctor both told you to wear a mask and get vaccinated, but your excuse is the governor didn’t tell you to do those things, that’s entirely your fault.

                1. What’s with this “mother” business? It’s just weird.

                  And did I say I get my medical information from Kristi Noem? I hope I didn’t.

  4. To get this high rating from ALEC, she must have signed all of their template bills that were used. This isn’t a good rank to consider for South Dakotan’s, it is an award to highlight we have very few free thinker legislators and governor.

  5. “Enough with the face diapers.”

    “Chicken Little.”

    “You are really dumb…”

    “You’ve received the maternal admonition you cannot seem to function without.”

    Hmm. Is there a committee that cranks out this stuff or is this all on your own?

Comments are closed.