FACT CHECK: Travel Numbers
On Sunday, Congresswoman Noem’s campaign issued a statement attacking Marty Jackley with false claims that he has had a “sudden” and “extreme” increase in his travel budget.1 However, state records for Jackley’s personal travel actually prove there is a decrease. The Noem campaign is using falsehoods drummed up by the Democratic Party earlier last week. Here are the facts:
Jackley Personal Travel Expenses while Attorney General
| FY2012 | $3,313.66 *partial fiscal year |
| FY2013 | $6,810.28 |
| FY2014 | $6,769.92 |
| FY2015 | $5,146.30 |
| FY2016 | $4,054.20 |
| FY2017 | $4,803.51 |
| FY2018 | 1,196.63 *partial fiscal year (July 1, 2017 thru Dec. 31, 2017) |
* Note: Attorney General Jackley has access to state vehicles that are also used by other employees in the Office of Attorney General. In 2017, less than 5,000 miles were attributable directly to Attorney General Jackley.
Total Travel Expenses by Office of Attorney General
| FY2013 | $1,083,682,.95 |
| FY2014 | $913,988.08 |
| FY2015 | $971,647.29 |
| FY2016 | $987,168.69 |
| FY2017 | $969,992.04 |
| FY2018 | $458.031.73 *partial fiscal year (July 1, 2017 thru Dec. 31, 2017) |
“South Dakotans deserve an open and honest campaign,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley. “South Dakotans also work hard for their tax dollars, and they deserve to know exactly how their money is being spent. All candidates running for governor who utilize state or federal resources should release their personal travel records, including detail that is not currently available to the public.”
A review of Congresswoman Noem’s taxpayer-funded travel makes her recent attack on Jackley’s travel perplexing. Noem’s personal travel records are not public information; however, overall spending for her office travel is available.
Current public records reveal Congresswoman Noem has historically spent far more than double that of the average House Member on travel. She also ranks 16th highest of all House Members for travel reported so far in 2017.
| Calendar Year | Travel by Congresswoman Noem’s Office | Travel by Average Congressional Office |
| 2011 | $129,668.46 | $58,473.03 |
| 2012 | $137,920.76 | $52,586.39 |
| 2013 | $132,441.82 | $49,954.52 |
| 2014 | $122,028.69 | $52,922.91 |
| 2015 | $112,432.31 | $53.825.54 |
| 2016 | $123,711.73 | $47,920.97 |
| 2017 | $74,260.99 *3 quarters of the year (Noem Ranks 16th highest in nation) |
$34,997.87 |
Source: https://www.legistorm.com/expenses/search_details/member_id/2796/name/Rep_Kristi_Noem.html
In the January 14th Rapid City Journal article, the Noem campaign also defended Noem’s high travel costs by stating “South Dakota is larger and more rural than most congressional districts, which leads to higher travel costs.” However, Noem’s travel expenses are also substantially higher than her counter-parts in North Dakota and Wyoming as shown in the chart below.
Office Travel by Members of Congress from South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming
| Members of Congress | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 *3 quarters |
| Noem (SD) | $129,668.46 | $137.920.76 | $132,441.82 | $122,028.69 | $112,432.31 | $123,711.23 | $74,260.99 |
| Cramer (ND) | $77,840.87 | $61,076.85 | $74,260.99 | $90,197.80 | $67,752.36 | ||
| Lummis (WY) | $109,086.03 | $119,860.70 | $85,183.77 | $90,532.61 | $90,783.43 | $52,351.24 | |
| Cheney (WY) | $45,534.00 | ||||||
| Average House Member | $58,473.03 | $52,586.39 | $49,954.52 | $52,922.91 | $53.825.54 | $47,920.97 | $34,997.87 |
Source: https://www.legistorm.com/expenses/search_details/member_id/2796/name/Rep_Kristi_Noem.html
- Tupper, Seth (2018, January 14). Noem Ranks 16th in House travel expenses. Rapid City Journal, p. A4
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Can’t they at least fight over something interesting?
The current race for South Dakota governor is a nightmare for advocates of limited government. Jackley wants to pull you over in the middle of the night, unpack your luggage in the ditch, and confiscate your car and your money on the spot if he finds anything amiss (or drive away and leave you to repack in the dark if he doesn’t). Meanwhile Noem wants to record your phone calls and seize your emails and other internet records without a warrant or even the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing.
I’m not excited about spending another year trying to figure out which of these evils is the lesser of the two.
I want to know how the Congresswoman spends THAT MUCH more than North Dakota and Wyoming???
I agree with first commenter. I could care less about either side on this issue. Plus it is only an issue as they are both talking about it.
I Doubt the average voter could care less as they seek to improve their lives
The bigger issue is that Noem lied and attacked Marty with false information
I would hardly call this an attack. I think “issued a statement” is misleading as well. This Seth Tupper guy is obviously trying to stir something up and Noem’s team could have been a little more careful, but they were responding to a journalists questions, not issuing attacks. Once again Marty plays victim.
dakota free press presented the story too, and it sounded like they were endorsing jackley or close to it.
What happened to Marty Jackley’s clean campaign pledge? Just the latest example of them stirring up a fight with the Noem campaign. They must be losing.
Noem lied about Jackley’s record so I would certainly hope he would respond and set the record straight. Do you think Jackley should just keep his mouth shut every time Noem lies about him? Her campaign response in the Journal was outrageous and wrong. It deserves to be corrected. I am surprised Marty is being as gracious as he is.
aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh.
I want to scream but I’ll just say I agree with the first poster.
Can you two accept one pretty broadly accepted fact? Jackley has been a good AG & Noem a good Congresswoman. Actually very good.
However, she’s not running for AG, he’s not running for Congress. You two are running for Governor. I’m more interested in hearing what each are going to do as Governor. I have no interest in either of you making up attacks against hte other in your current jobs. You are doing a real good job of turning this into a process of elimination where I’ll vote against the last one to do this stupid stuff.
…and that’s how we ended up with Rounds.
SD will have a third choice.
Not if she doesn’t make it on the ballot.
She will easily get on the ballot Pat, and the Democrat Party and you are going to eat some words.
Is there a viable candidate yet to announce? I haven’t heard of one.
since i remember let me say we ended up with rounds after the barnett/kirby/rounds debate where the three were asked if they’d take steps to increase ethanol use in the state. barnett and kirby echoed each other with position statements about the expansion of ethanol being good for everyone, then rounds said, clearly, NO, the free market will determine if ethanol increases it’s market share and competition will be best for the consumer. people I talked to after that moment moved to rounds.
I don’t disagree. She shouldn’t have taken a potshot at him and lied about his record. She didn’t fact check a Democrat? That’s just lazy.
RC,
I’m not quite sure what the lie/assertion Noem told except for a tweet which is really hard to link as an attack. Maybe in the most inside baseball rooms but most of us, nope.
If Noem never came back from DC, she’d have the lowest expenditures? Who thinks never coming back is a good thing? Not me. So, in short, Noem is criticized for not staying in DC.
Which is why when I read the Noem tweet I asked myself? What the heck? Traveling back to South Dakota is a good thing. And it is never too much.
Bizarro.
Troy- here is the quote from the nome campaign that was published yesterday “The sudden and extreme increase in taxpayer-funded travel by the Attorney General deserves the scrutiny it’s getting,” Brasell wrote in an emailed statement. What candidate in their right mind would not respond to such a lie?
Let this be a cautionary tale for Ms. Noem, and those fellows she has running her campaign. We all know they read Mr. PP’s blog.
Fellows: Do not jump on the French Math you read over at Mr. H’s blog. You will be wrong.
I call these posts staffer v. staffer because of the comments.
Yes, Noem lied about Marty’s travel. Yes, Marty was right to set the record straight and tell the truth about Noem spending far more on travel than the average congress member and far more than similarly situated at-large members from our neighboring states. Noem has some explaining to do. By explaining, I don’t mean spinning – which she has already tried to do.