Apparently, it’s good to be Speaker of the House. Because even when you’re on the way out the door, you get to approve sending yourself to Hawaii on the back of the taxpayer:
Gosch, as well as Rep. Jamie Smith, both went on a trip to Hawaii to attend the Council of State Governments’ national conference in Honolulu. They were among a dozen South Dakota lawmakers to attend.
But neither Gosch nor Smith are returning to the Legislature in January. Both are lame-duck lawmakers.
And..
“As God is my witness, I can think of no justifiable reason for the outgoing House speaker, with less than 30 days left in his term, to be at a taxpayer-funded legislative conference in Hawaii,” Hoffman said. “My constituents will not be pleased to hear of it.”
Read the entire story here (subscription required).
According to the story, Gosch would have approved his own travel to the legislative conference where he learned about topics important to South Dakota. Such as the cliff jumping which caused Gosch’s leg injury.
The cliff-jumping session for Gosch must’ve been in-between his important session on bouncy houses and the all important luau round table.
Understandably, legislators are not happy about Gosch sending himself and Jamie Smith on a Hawaiian junket a month before they’re out of office. Not the last we’ll hear about that one. Especially when the final bill is available.
“I don’t find Jamie Smith extreme in anything, and I wouldn’t call him a liberal Democrat, I really wouldn’t … he’s just the kind of guy that everybody loves, he’s a guy who’s really hard not to love. When he talks to you he really listens and he really cares.”
— Republican Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch. SD News Watch 10/19/22
Talk about wasting taxpayer dollars. Isn’t he a “conservative” this is an outrage.
Claiming to be one and being one are two different things.
It must be nice to get a tax paid “vacation” to Hawaii in the last month on the job! Actually, it must be nice to get taxpayer paid trips to Hawaii at any point in your legislative career. WE need to address whether these Conferences are truly beneficial to our legislative process or just another perk of being in office.
Yes they are. Interacting with and learning from other state representatives is vital to a thriving democracy. SD does not have all the answers. Now, this does not need to take place in an expensive destination like Hawaii though.
If you really believe the Council of State Governments is beneficial, feel free to spend your own money on it. Spending our public funds on it is immoral.
Outrageous. But not surprising.
Would be nice to see the full list of legislators that went. Always interesting to see if they are legislators who have been committed to the organization or if they decided to hit this one because of the location.
How do we find out who all went? Seems like that should be transparent.
What Hoffman are we talking about here PP?
Thanks!!!
Trying to remember if I talked to a reporter in the Hosmer Liquor Store last round…..🙃
Both Gosch and Smith were critical of Noem’s use of the state plane to attend policy events. Incoming Sen. Brent Hoffman, R-Sioux Falls, said he was praying for Gosch’s recovery, but he added that Gosch’s and Smith’s criticism of Noem was hypocritical given their trip to Hawaii.
Thanks for that explanation which fills in the blank Pat.
Character is revealed by what we do when no one can stop us.
Easily fixed, however. No state funded trips for lame ducks.
This will get addressed by the legislature.
A legislator that doesn’t file for reelection still has 1/3 of their term left. They may be serving on boards or committees where they are South Dakota’s representative and they get to go to exciting places like Bismarck and Omaha to fulfill their responsibilities. So it’s not about banning lame duck travel.
This shouldn’t be a problem. You don’t expect this type of behavior with taxpayer dollars from leaders .
It’s likely that the Executive Board will need to pull the authority to approve lame duck out of state travel back to being made by EBoard or Executive Committee
I hope J Smith used a massive amount of sunscreen.
Jamie Smith, the total hypocrite, disdainful of the people, and yet his supporters have the guts to attack Noem. The height of stupidity.
Wasting our public funds on the Council of State Governments is immoral. Wasting them on Noem’s “ambassador” flights on the state plane is immoral and explicitly illegal.
What about zoom meetings? They worked during covid and are basically no or low cost. Of course, they aren’t as much fun.
See Ya and Schoenbeck are in agreement. Lame duck travel is an issue easily fixed.
I hope J Smith used a massive amount of sunscreen.
Post it one more time to show us how rare a clever insult is for you, more need to see it. Go!
Politicians gonna grift. Have any of you heard about the Governor’s travels and how taxpayers are paying for her security?
To me it is a matter of ethics. Politicians do not seem to have any.
Rounds spends $384,000 on chartered flights because it is inconvenient to drive to Sioux Falls or Rapid City
Did ado about nothing
I need brain bleach after imagining those two on the beach in Speedos
What on Earth would even lead you to want to conjure up that image? The grass skirt/lai combo they likely wore at the event luau is bad enough to think of.
I was honored to serve in our state senate and on the executive board. Granted, it was ten years ago, but we allowed NO PAID TRAVEL because of budget concerns. If fact, I had to pay my own way to attend and testify at a rules meeting. Times, priorities…and especially, personalities…have changed!
Think:
Since 1871 – we have this “Corporate Structure” of Government!
Pre-1870 – were were under the Original 1789 Constitution, where you had this “Central Government” restricted to the Territory of the District of Columbia, whereas you had the Republic of Sovereign States whom had the unimpeded free right to do as they wished.
The adoption of the Act of 1871 was to adopt the Organic Corporate Form of Government, which established the Federal Territory as the UNITED STATES, aligning the three towns inside D.C as one main Town of Washington, becoming Washington D.C
All Federal Properties, Roads, Infrastructure, Military Bases, Foreign Properties, all through out the United States now become part of the UNITED STATES CORPORATION.
in 1874 they repeal the “act” but in adopted the 1874 Municiple Act which gives Washington D.C a mayor, 11 Member City Council to now govern over all “residents” of D.C of which includes the President, Vice President, U.S Senators, Representatives, the Supreme Court Justices, Foreign Ambassadors, Ministers, All Federal Officials, Officers, Secretaries, Employees, let alone all the Lobbyists, let alone any American who now wishes to reside in D.C for a period of 30 days or more or less.
Whereas the Territory was never intended to have a populous, today, he has come to have 700,000 Residents, and if they get their way, they become a “State” of which would mean it would be a CITY-STATE like Sparta or Athens in ancient Greece – Democracy.
You have this “Corporate Constitution” today which was the real purpose of the 1871 Act, and organically changed the 1789 document…We now have the UNITED STATES OF AMERCA.
Amendments 13, 14, 16, 17 are corporate amendments which tie the State Republics to the Territory by contract.
Today, we have this Corporate Constitution (contract) of which contracts to the 50 State Incorporated Districts (corporate constitutions – post 1871), of which are furthermore contracted out to the Municipalities by means of Home Rule Incorporated Charters, of whom furthermore are contracting themselves out to the Multi-National Corporations who are organically, contracted to the U.S Corporate Govt in the field of Foreign Commerce.
Those Multi-National Corporations act as W-9 Federal Contractors under the Internal Revenue Tax Act (1954), of which today, employ W-4 Federal Employees of which the corporations now become the biggest source of ‘tax collections’ to collect Subtitle A and C taxes aka Federal Income Tax (Sub-title A) and Payroll Taxes (Sub-title C) aka Unemployment, Workman Comp Fees, Social Security, Medicare, etc.
Corporate States now as Federal Districts – are now contracted to manage Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid Programs in that Federal Territory of which the Federal Contractors and Employees are paying into, let alone can benefit from…
States and Municipalities are benefiting emensely from this Corporate Government Structure, and are now beholden to the contracts by means of Federal Grants, Monetary Funds, etc.
IF you have a Federal Tax # either a Employer I.D Number or a Social Security # you are acting as a Federal Person (citizen).
IF you do NOT have, nor use any of those federal #’s – you act as an American Citizen, National, or Soveriegn Individual but are seen as a “Domestic Terriorist” under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Think About it… 67% of our income tax payments by U.S Persons go to the Crown, just as it did prior to 1783.
I see mark vargo went to dc on a trip…he was a lameduck as soon as he was sworn in