My Great Honor
By: Gov. Kristi Noem  
January 17, 2024   

You probably know that President-elect Trump has called on me to serve, if confirmed, as the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It’s a tremendous honor and a great responsibility. The mission is to keep the American people safe from threats to the Homeland. 

That leaves me in a position where I may say “farewell” to all of you in the very near future. But South Dakota will be in good hands.

Almost seven years ago, people recommended I pick a Sioux Falls businessman to be my running mate. But I didn’t. I asked a West River rancher to join me on the ride of a lifetime. Larry Rhoden stepped up to the plate. He has been more than just a partner in this role – he has been an adviser, a source of wisdom, and (this is sometimes more important) a source of laughter.

I chose Larry to run with me because I knew that a day like today might come. I knew that it was always possible that I might not be your governor anymore – whether that circumstance be the result of tragedy or opportunity. So I wanted a partner who would lead this state just as I would. I wanted someone who realized that our rights come from God, not from government – that it is our duty to protect the rights and Freedoms of our people. I wanted a friend – and Larry has been a friend since I was first elected to the state legislature almost 20 years ago.

I trust Larry and our leaders in the legislature to knock it out of the park – because that is the trust that the people have bestowed in them.

“Under God, the People Rule.” Our people are worth serving. They are the very best in America. They have been such a blessing and a source of joy to me and my family.

So although I am saying “farewell,” please know that I’m not going far. South Dakota has always been my home – and it is still my home. I will continue to focus on making our people safer, stronger, and freer.

To the people of South Dakota: thank you for the incredible honor of serving you as state representative, as congresswoman, and now as governor. Thank you for trusting me and for working with me to accomplish incredible things.

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Rounds Presses Biden Administration to Suspend Mandated Use of Electronic Tags in Livestock Herds

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is pressing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) leadership to immediately suspend enforcement of the USDA’s Electronic Identification (EID) tag mandate.

The rule, which went into effect on November 5, 2024, requires producers to use both visually and electronically readable tags on covered cattle and bison herds. Many producers are concerned about the security and confidentiality of EID tag data.

After receiving funding from Congress to address the price of the rulemaking, USDA initially said it would supply the tags at no cost to producers. However, animal health officials have not made these tags available to producers of covered livestock, leaving producers with no choice but to spend their own money on these tags or risk being noncompliant with Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) regulations.

“Our American ranchers work hard every day to produce the highest quality beef in the world while contending with unpredictable markets, rising input costs and extreme weather,” said Rounds. “It is unreasonable to subject American producers to this unfunded mandate.”

In 2024, Rounds introduced legislation to prevent the EID tag mandate from going into effect. The bill was endorsed by the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, R-CALF USA and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association.

Read the full letter HERE or below.

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Dear Secretary Vilsack and Administrator Watson,

I am concerned about the recent implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Electronic Identification (EID) rulemaking. While USDA initially committed to providing EID tags for covered livestock, animal health officials have failed to allocate the necessary infrastructure.

Shortly after the rule went into effect on November 5, 2024, veterinarians began reporting an EID tag shortage. Unfortunately, producers are now being forced to grapple with an unfunded mandate. Farmers and ranchers are also concurrently dealing with high input costs and a worsening trade deficit.

As you are aware, the cattle industry has remained sharply divided over USDA’s EID rulemaking. While producers raised various concerns about the new regulations, potential costs remained a significant point of contention. In several USDA documents, animal health officials indicated EID tags would be made available to producers at no cost. USDA’s inability to supply necessary tag infrastructure has made producers even more skeptical of the new animal disease traceability (ADT) regulations. This is especially true in areas with a high concentration of cow-calf production, including the northern plains.

The federal government has taken steps in the past to avoid unfunded mandates. After earlier ADT regulations required tags to be visually readable, the federal government supplied the necessary tags at no cost. To alleviate the concerns of many livestock producers, Congress acted to address the price of the rulemaking. In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending measure, Congress directed USDA to spend no less than $15 million on EID tags and related infrastructure. Despite the efforts of appropriators, animal health officials have failed to make EID tags readily available to producers of covered livestock, exacerbating skepticism and opposition to the ADT regulations across the livestock industry.

Given these circumstances, we urge USDA to suspend the enforcement of the new requirements under the EID rulemaking. In addition, we request a detailed explanation as to why USDA has not complied with the congressional directive to supply EID tags and infrastructure.

Our American ranchers work hard every day to produce the highest quality beef in the world while contending with unpredictable markets, rising input costs and extreme weather. It is unreasonable to subject American producers to this unfunded mandate.

I look forward to your prompt response.

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Johnson Responds to SCOTUS Upholding TikTok Law

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), a member of the Select Committee on China, released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled Congress has the authority to force TikTok to divest from Chinese ownership.

“It’s no secret that TikTok is malware by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Johnson. “The app is designed to promote Chinese propaganda, harvest sensitive data on American users, and surveil users’ activity on their phones. I’m glad the Supreme Court voted to uphold the bill that forces TikTok to cut ties from the Chinese Communist Party in order to continue operating in the U.S.”

Johnson co-sponsored the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed the House in April 2024. Johnson has long been a critic of TikTok and ByteDance. In 2022, he introduced the Block the Tok Act to remove TikTok from federal government devices. Later that year, he voted to ban it on federal government devices.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would remove Chinese Communist Party-backed ByteDance apps, including TikTok, from American app stores and web hosting services unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to control of a foreign adversary.

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Not sure I can recall having seen this before.

Toby “dumpster-fire” Doeden, who used a campaign finance loophole to backtrack and escape responsibility for egregiously violating campaign finance law has apparently registered his PAC lackey Brian Lewis as a lobbyist to represent his political action committee in Pierre because he doesn’t want to see his loophole go away.

This is the same political action committee that held the fundraiser that was bringing Mark Robinson to South Dakota, until Robinson was nuked in the North Carolina election for Governor, as it was brought to light that he made some fairly controversial statements. In case it has faded from your mind:

The message came from North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. CNN recently reported that Robinson made racist and sexually explicit remarks more than a decade ago on a pornographic website’s message board. The report said Robinson, who has a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric, said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, referred to himself as a “black Nazi,” expressed support for reinstating slavery and praised Adolf Hitler.

Robinson’s video speech occurred during the Dakota First Action political action committee’s Victory Gala. Toby Doeden, an Aberdeen businessman and founder of Dakota First Action, said his fellow Republicans who are condemning Robinson are hurting the party.

“CNN has no substantive proof,” Doeden said.

Remember that here.

This was the PAC fundraiser that had the NAACP protesting outside (another first for the same SD PAC).

Getting back to Lewis, He’s not lobbying for any formal organization that happens to have a political action committee. He’s representing the Political Action Committee itself.  If you look at the reason it exists, it’s sole stated purpose is to “elect bold, conservative Republicans at each SD Governmental level,” according to the documents filed with the Secretary of State.

A claim to elect “bold Republicans” might have been their purpose, but instead we ended up with this, with PAC lackey Lewis standing over Carl Perry’s shoulder:

Why would a PAC solely dedicated to electing candidates need a lobbyist? According to the lobbying documents, the subject of legislation specifically includes lobbying on “anti-corruption election laws.”  Which anti-corruption election laws would they need a lobbyist on?

Senate Bill 12 would limit the amount of money that may be loaned to a candidate or a political action committee (PAC).

Sen. Michael Rohl (R) of Aberdeen hopes that the bill will close a loophole in the South Dakota campaign finance world.

“PACs shouldn’t be personal checking accounts for the ultra-wealthy to be able to buy politicians,” Rohl said.

and..

…the state allows unlimited loans, which can be forgiven as bad debt.

“We don’t have campaign finance laws in South Dakota. We just have them for people that are everyday citizens that are trying to follow the spirit of the law, but the bad actors don’t have to follow them,” Rohl said.

Read that here.

Senator Michael Rohl has brought anti-corruption legislation to close a loophole that was missed when campaign finance limits were set in legislation 15-20 years ago, because no one at the time would have envisioned that someone would loan their PAC $50,000, $100,000 or a million dollars.  And unfortunately, the Dakota First Action PAC proved that they should have considered it.

As recognized by Rohl, the problem with these campaign “loans” is that they’re not traditional loans through a bank. They’re loans where there are no set terms for repayment. Kind of like a Chad Haber loan.

And because of it, Senator Michael Rohl announced his legislation, which instantly triggered a massive social media freak-out on Toby Doeden’s part:

In other words, Rohl, Otten, Wheeler and Reed brought anti-corruption legislation to fix a loophole, which triggered Doeden to start howling a steaming pile of rhetorical nonsense about campaign finance, and attacking bill sponsors because they had the audacity to say there’s a loophole that we missed, and everyone should follow the same laws.

And now we have Doeden sending his PAC lackey/lobbyist to do his master’s bidding.

With Lewis registered as a lobbyist on the subject of anti-corruption election laws, and their pronouncement on the facebook post opposing the legislation, it appears that the Doeden PAC is sending a lobbyist to Pierre to lobby against the SB 12 anti-corruption bill.

It appears they are announcing their intent to lobby in favor of corruption, if you remove the “against-anti” double negative.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Attorney General Jackley Supports U.S. Senate Approval Of Gov. Noem, General Bondi and other members of Trump National Security Team

 PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley joins 17 other Attorneys General in encouraging U.S. Senate leadership to confirm Gov. Kristi Noem, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other members of the President-elect’s national security team.

The letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune ad Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“We need President-elect Trump’s team, including Gov. Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in place to address  immigration, national security, and reforms needed in the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI,” said Attorney General Jackley. “We Attorneys General appreciate Majority Leader Thune’s prioritization on the confirmation proceedings.”

Gov. Noem’s confirmation hearing was held Friday. The full Senate will vote on her confirmation later.

Other Attorneys General signing the letter are from: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

The letter can be read here: 

Thune Introduces South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem at Secretary of Homeland Security Confirmation Hearing  

“I’m pleased to be able to be here today to introduce our great governor and to thank you for your consideration. I look forward to this committee acting on her nomination, and I look forward to voting for her on the floor of the United States Senate to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Click here to watch the video.  

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today introduced Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ confirmation hearing for secretary of homeland security.

Watching Governor Noem’s live confirmation hearing, and interestingly, while no one is surprised that she’s flanked by her husband Bryon,  on her other side is someone who had left South Dakota, former South Dakota Republican Party Executive Director Madison Sheahan in a front row seat.

Sheahan had left South Dakota a year ago to become the Louisiana Secretary of Wildlife and Fisheries, so it’s interesting that she’s attending Governor Noem confirmation hearing in a front row seat.

Rounds Calls on Biden Administration to Provide Immediate Public Safety Resources to the Oglala Sioux Tribe

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of the Department of Interior Deb Haaland asking them to address the public safety crisis on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) is responding to an increased number of calls for help related to disproportionately high levels of violent crime. The OST Department of Public Safety receives as many as 166,000 calls for assistance per year with just 33 officers on hand to respond. In addition, OST is running out of room to house offenders once they’re brought in. With all of this in mind, tribal leaders have declared an extended state of emergency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Despite repeated calls to honor their trust obligations, federal government leaders have failed to effectively or substantially address the issue.

“While tribal officials have dealt with public safety issues for several years, a recent series of violent crimes has created a desperate situation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” wrote Rounds. “The OST Department of Public Safety is critically understaffed and under-resourced, and federal assistance is essential to safeguard lives and restore order.”

“Throughout the past two years, tribal leaders have asked federal law enforcement officials for assistance on numerous occasions,” continued Rounds. “Despite these efforts, there has been no substantial federal response to the public safety crisis. I encourage federal law enforcement agencies to act swiftly and decisively to address this crisis.”

Read the full letter HERE or below.

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Dear Attorney General Garland and Secretary Haaland,

The Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) is experiencing a serious breakdown in law and order. While tribal officials have dealt with public safety issues for several years, a recent series of violent crimes has created a desperate situation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The OST Department of Public Safety is critically understaffed and under-resourced, and federal assistance is essential to safeguard lives and restore order. Therefore, I urge federal officials to take any necessary steps to help reduce violent crime on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the OST Department of Public Safety has responded to an increasing number of calls for assistance. According to tribal leaders, the OST Department of Public Safety receives as many as 166,000 calls for police services annually. With only 33 patrol officers, OST law enforcement officials are unable to effectively address serious public safety issues.

The OST Department of Public Safety is also dealing with disproportionately high levels of violent crime. While almost all of the Great Plains Region is facing a public safety crisis, residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are encountering the highest rates of violence. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime statistics, 131 death investigations occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from 2013 to 2023.

A series of violent events on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have put tribal members in an extremely dangerous situation. In late December, tribal officers responded to several violent crimes, including the fatal shooting of a juvenile and a double homicide. The OST Department of Corrections, already operating at full capacity, lacks the ability to house additional offenders, further compounding the crisis. As tribal law enforcement officials struggle to address public safety issues, many reservation residents are living in fear. In response to these violent events, tribal leaders declared an extended state of emergency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

As you know, the federal trust responsibility obligates the United States to provide adequate public safety services in Indian Country. Throughout the past two years, tribal leaders have asked federal law enforcement officials for assistance on numerous occasions. Despite these efforts, there has been no substantial federal response to the public safety crisis.

The OST Department of Public Safety is in dire need of additional personnel, equipment and jail capacity. It is past time for federal officials to give this situation the attention it deserves. I encourage federal law enforcement agencies to act swiftly and decisively to address this crisis.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

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From Morning Consult, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds was just noted as the #10 most popular US Senator in the country, based on surveys conducted October through December 2024 among a representative sample of registered voters in each state:

During this period, South Dakota’s senior US Senator, Senator and Majority Leader John Thune, was only slightly behind Rounds with a 56% job approval, and 32% job disapproval.

You can read all the ratings here at Morning Consult.