South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has built her brand on attacking LGBTQ+ people, particularly kids, and pushing her far-right “anti-woke” agenda with regular appearances on Fox News and other conservative media outlets.
But while the gay-hating governor is earning brownie points with her base by bitching about drag queens, bashing “woke” ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, and inviting racist country singers to perform on the lawn at the governor’s mansion, things aren’t going so well for her behind the scenes.
According to a damning new report published by South Dakota News Watch, Noem’s office has been in “upheaval” since she was first sworn in back in January 2019.
In just four and a half years, she’s cycled through a whopping five chiefs of staff. Her last one, Mark Miller, quit last month and she still hasn’t found a replacement for him.
Miller left Noem’s office to return to his former employer, Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative nonprofit dedicated to “defending and promoting individual and economic freedom”.
His departure came less than a month after Noem’s deputy chief of staff, Rachel Oglesby, who was largely seen as Miller’s eventual replacement, also quit for a gig at the America First Policy Institute, which was founded in 2021 to promote Donald Trump‘s agenda and is largely funded by the ex-president’s Save America PAC.
Other members of Noem’s cabinet to leave in recent months are Steve Westra, who served as her Economic Development Commissioner; Joan Adam, who acted as Health Secretary; Tiffany Sanderson, Education Secretary; and Laurie Gill, Social Services Secretary.
All four of them quit in the last year.
But it’s not just people who work in Noem’s office who seemingly want nothing to do with her.
Speaking to South Dakota News Watch, Republican Lee Schoenbeck, President Pro Tempore of the South Dakota Senate, said he prefers not to interact with the governor after some beef they had during the last legislative session, during which Noem got almost nothing accomplished, despite her party having complete control of the state legislature.
“The governor made some statements last year that she attributed to me that I thought were not accurate, so I find it more comfortable just to not talk to her,” he said.
Schoenbeck made similar remarks earlier this year when he told The Dakota Scout podcast that Noem is the most ineffective governor he’s ever worked with.
“She can’t keep staff,” he said. “She’s got these people from Ohio and Florida who have no clue about what they’re doing. So it’s the people you surround yourself with that will define your talent and ability. She has no talent to pull on.”
Former Republican House Speaker Tim Rave also implied to South Dakota News Watch that he’s heard working for Noem can be “demanding” and admitted he “can’t imagine” what it must be like.
“That doesn’t mean it’s good or bad,” he said. “It just is what it is.”
Hmmm. Sounds pretty bad to us.
Noem has yet to respond to the report about the high turnover rate in her office or the fact that even members of her own party find her repulsive, but if her response to being told 90% of queer kids in South Dakota suffer from depression and anxiety is any indication, she likely doesn’t give AF that her colleagues are unhappy too.
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who just signed the first anti-trans bill of 2022 into law, is asked why she thinks 90% of LGBTQ+ youth in South Dakota are diagnosed with anxiety or depression:
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 17, 2022
“I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.” pic.twitter.com/WbKr2Tlujs
abfab
HEY KRISTI…….. you can fill some of those empty seats by contacting the GOPTROLLS who do such a swell job here promoting your silly ideas. They love you.
decrans
I mean, I guess she’s kind of similar to Katie Porter and Kamala Harris in that regard.
dbmcvey
You’d work for her decrans. You have no pride.
abfab
And he has no skills. The perfect candidate. Oh, and like Saint Kristi, he’s not very bright.
WillParkinson
Yawn. Tired old queen should shuffle off to the rest home. Go on now, shoo, lest a house drop on you.
abfab
He’d be somewhat useful as a foot servant or nursery maid, but never a Queen.
decrans
More than 13 high-profile aides have left the vice president’s office, including her director of speechwriting.
decrans
Guys used to pay me for footjobs when I lived in New York City. That was back during my Marxist salad days! As that old axiom goes, “If you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative when you are old, you have no brain.” I was a footjob Marxist, abcrabs.
dbmcvey
So you were a prostitute then and a prostitute now, except back then you were offering something people actually wanted.
decrans
I’m just saying. Abscrabs strikes me as lonely. I’m more muscled now. If he ever needs a footjob, I’m happy to oblige. I do charge, though.
dbmcvey
Go back to the footjobs. At least that was honest work. At least you were providing a service.
Kangol2
Actually, she’s most like Don the Con, her beloved fake Christ-master.
His administration was a revolving door, in case anyone (DeKlans) has forgotten.
Just list his White House Communications Directors alone, including the Mooch, who lasted not even two weeks (10 days!)!!!
Don the Con had Spicey (Sean Spicer), Michael Dubke, Spicey again, the Mooch, Hope Hicks, Bill Shine, Stephanie Grisham, Dan Scavino, Kate Bedingfield, and finally Ben LaBolt, in just four years!
Talk about a hot f*cking mess!
decrans
This is honest work, too. I’m talking about my experiences with American healthcare at their front door.
DBMC
No, this isn’t honest. You’re supporting politicians who want to take away our rights. You’re working for people who want to take away what little healthcare we get in this country. You’re working to make things worse for people, not better.
decrans
Dave Matthews, YOUR side is refusing to do anything to help detransitoners. YOUR side. And it is honest. It’s my life story. If you’re so concerned about your rights being taken away, perhaps it’s time to exercise intersectionality. As it stands, I talk honestly about my story and get a paycheck.
decrans
And here I thought Healthcare had been solved by the magical neoliberals after Obamacare. Dave, maybe it’s time to get off your ass.
WillParkinson
Well, terrible humans make awful bosses, so it stands to reason.
missvamp
exactly. no one wants to help her destroy the state. too bad we can’t say the same in Texas & Florida.
abfab
And just when it looked like things couldn’t possibly get worse, a new report revealed that Kristi Noem accepted campaign donations from a convicted murderer and a right-wing extremist.
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “Noem’s latest finance report found multiple donations totaling $10,000 from Louisiana man Charles Pilkinton, who was convicted of homicide in 2010 after admitting to shooting a man in the head two years earlier and pleading down from second-degree murder charges.”
Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “The 2021 year-end filing also shows $4,000 in contributions from a Florida man named Steve Alembik, a known right-wing extremist with a history of using racially and ethnically disparaging language to attack Democrats and progressives.”
Ta-da! Such a nice lay, ain’t she tho.
abfab
This is how dumb this woman is…this Spring……………
On Friday, scores of Republicans, including every 2024 hopeful, descended upon Indianapolis to chum it up with NRA members in the aftermath of two devastating mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee. And the results have been as appallingly wild as one could imagine.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem insisted that, contrary to the deluded media’s narratives, the NRA is much more diverse than is given credit. That, indeed, the attendees of the convention represent a mass movement of people of all stripes ready to go to battle to defend their right to own killing machines.
Beyond trying to score woke points about how diverse and inclusive the NRA is, Noem also glowingly discussed how her almost-2-year-old granddaughter apparently “already has a shotgun, and she already has a rifle.”
(what the hell does ”of all stripes” mean to her? Crazy kunt.)
still_onthemark
“of all stripes”
I immediately thought of those poor female cats who end up with a paint stripe down the back and get sexually assaulted by Pepe LePew.
still_onthemark
This makes me sad, and we should figure it out.
Oh wait, it doesn’t and we shouldn’t!
Kangol2
Noem NO MO!
abfab
But she’s doing such a terrific job!
”South Dakota ranked higher for residents that struggle to find their next meal compared to other states”
Jeff Inglis, Sarah Dolezal Jul 23, 2023
abfab
The best!
By Kristin Kite
Published: Jul. 24, 2023 at 6:06 PM PDT|Updated: 16 hours ago
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The annual cost of child care continues to increase in South Dakota. According to a ReadyNation report, the lack of affordable child care could cost the state’s economy $329 million dollars each year.
The child care industry in South Dakota is in crisis as the gap between childcare costs and what parents can afford to pay widens.
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, As of May 2022, South Dakota’s hourly mean wage for childcare workers is $12.26. This is the equivalent to less than $26,000 a year.
abfab
Must see TV
The fight for the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota takes center stage in the documentary ‘Lakota Nation vs. United States’
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Updated 8:30 PM EDT, Sun July 16, 2023
abfab
The nasty, hate-filled bitch keeps busy.
POLITICS Published July 19, 2023 11:29am EDT
‘Shocked’ Noem blasts liberals trying to ‘cancel’ Aldean over anti-crime song, invites him to South Dakota
Aldean is facing backlash from liberal activists over his new music video for ‘Try That in a Small Town’