Despite being a supposedly conservative group, the South Dakota Family Heritage Alliance has been throwing rocks at Governor Kristi Noem from not acting quickly enough on their agenda.
And Governor Noem, having to operate in those pesky constraints of government, has had about enough of it, telling the FHA that she’s done with them until they get their act together, and make “changes in their operational leadership.”
“As a result, my office will no longer work with the Alliance until and unless its executive director chooses to act professionally,” Noem said, criticizing Woods for “sending this letter and releasing it to the media at the same time, instead of reaching out to my office to have a productive conversation about how we can work together.”
and..
Woods accused Noem of ignoring the student-led drag show that took place at South Dakota State University on Nov. 16 in Brookings and requested the Governor’s Office to work with the Attorney General’s Office to determine if child endangerment laws were broken.
and..
Noem said in her response, accusing Woods of “unbecoming behavior” that’s “become a pattern in recent years.”
Read it all here (Subscription required).
Boom. Unfortunately for the Family Heritage Alliance, they need a friendly Governor’s office far more than the Governor needs them.
In recent years, since the group parted ways with Dale Bartscher, who remains well respected by legislators and is now at South Dakota Right to Life, FHA has gotten more and more demanding, and under Woods has pushed harder for immediate implementation of their wish list, no matter how radicalized it may be.
Whether FHA likes it or not, Governor Noem represents all South Dakotans, and has to consider the interests of the state as a whole, as opposed to kowtowing to one group’s agenda.
And this time they might have just pushed it too far.
Good move on the governor’s part. No organization that wants to be heard should stoop to pettiness to get their way and expect to get by with it.
🍿
Hey corn growers don’t advocate for corn industry.
Pork producers don’t advocate for pork industry.
Teachers unions stop advocating for teachers…
Hey Municipalities stop advocating for municipalities…
These associations are not personality based. They represent issues and donors their members care about.
I imagine FHA digs in. Donors supportive of these issues are not interested in compromise or watered down legislation.
How about we just switch out governors?
More context from the Dakota Scout story:
[snip]
Don’t add considerably more content from the article, as I will delete. Fair use principles only cover using a small portion of the article, and the point is you should go read the whole thing on your own. -editor PP
The key here is that Norman Woods’ now-wife used to work for Noem and left under less than friendly circumstances. Hard not to think that Norman doesn’t have an axe to grind as a result. One has to wonder why FHA wants it effectiveness to be tainted by that?
This is deeply personal for both sides.
Yes, this is a double sided axe-grinding convention amongst people that can’t see past whether someone said something negative about them in the press before. Incredibly petty and disappointing, but of the two, I think the Governor’s office should be held to a higher standard.
FHA is already tainted by Sneaky Norman and his vindictive wife..remember, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. We were part of FHA until she showed up, but no more. FHA talks the talk, but the leadership doesn’t walk the walk.
What a hypocrite. She’s attacking Norman publicly instead of reaching out to him.
Norman Woods is the true hypocrite. He and his wife are the opposite of what FHA stands for.
Noem has little ground to stand on calling someone else a ineffective hard-liner.
At least the FHA has something other than an oversized ego setting their policy agenda.
The Woods seem to have a problem telling the truth. Rather than acknowledge that the Governor agrees with them they publicly declare that she doesn’t.
Obviously they aren’t interested in getting anything done, they just want to promote themselves, and con their donors into giving them more money.
This governor says she is a conservative then only backs moderates abdcmoderate policies then waters down conservative issues but then claims to be a hige trump supporter. Who is the hypocrite?
But cross her and she is vicious..very Christian…not
anonymous at 1:44, the Governor was always clear about her opposition to biological men competing in women’s sports. Mrs Woods got on her soapbox and said she wasn’t.
The Governor was very clear she didn’t approve of SDSU having a drag show. Mr Woods got on his soapbox and declared she wasn’t.
They are obviously not interested in getting anything done, just promoting themselves.
Non-profits which depend on donations have a problem, once their mission is accomplished, how do they keep bringing the money in? They worked to get Republicans elected, but having done that, they have to convince their donors there is more to be done. Add to that these organizations are all competing for the same donors. They don’t want their donors to decide to give their money to somebody else, so they have to make a lot of noise.
Eric Hoffer is the one who said that every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and degenerates into a racket. I don’t remember where I heard the similar observation that in an organization, the people dedicated to the founding mission are not the ones who rise to the top, it’s the people who are dedicated to the bureaucracy who take it over. Eventually the needs of the bureaucracy are more important than the mission itself, to the point that the mission is seen as interference.
My experience with people named Norman is that they tend toward the dramatic and pouty. This young fellow seems more Norman than most.
This comment was totally not germane to the discussion.
It was simply beyond your ability to understand, young fellow.
Looks like National Review did a story about this issue
Family Heritage Alliance should just go away. They are so far out of the mainstream of society and Christianity it has always been a cult of personality organization.
Yes, our Governor has a thin skin and a proclivity for publicity. But, it’s cheap entertainment and a good way to beat the winter blahs…like eating popcorn and playing pinochle.