I predicted last night that Rep. Kristi Noem wouldn’t give up running for Governor in 2018 to serve as Donald Trump’s window dressing in the Department of Agriculture. I was right:
U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., was contacted about potentially serving in the Trump administration but has chosen instead to stay in the House of Representatives, according to her spokeswoman.
[Spokeswoman Brittany] Comins additionally provided a written statement from Noem. The statement said, in part, that while it is “an honor to be considered by President-elect Trump to join his administration,” Noem is “convinced the best way for me to help President Trump succeed while also producing the greatest impact for South Dakota is to serve out my two-year term in the House of Representatives” [Seth Tupper, “Noem: Not Interested in US Secretary of Ag Job,” Rapid City Journal, 2016.12.12].
Kristi didn’t announce her gubernatorial bid and transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from her Congressional campaign fund to her new South Dakota campaign fund just six days after winning her fourth term for nothing.
And come on, people: Rep. Noem worked really hard to get off the House Agriculture Committee; do you really think she wants to get dragged back into farming, especially by a guy like Trump, who if he ever notices agriculture will send out nasty “drain the swamp!” tweets about all the excessive spending on crop insurance and order her to cancel her husband’s job? Get serious.
The Trump transition team appears to be more than just Trump. With Pence at the head, there appears to be a RNC quality to it and an attempt to use new available federal positions as a way to better position the GOP going forward. What I mean is that the transition team’s interest in Heitkamp and Manchin are merely ways to turn blue senate seats red , that happen to be in red states, and I think the Noem interest is merely an attempt to hold on to the SD gubernatorial seat for the GOP. Because I am of the school of thought, and I think the RNC/transition team is too, that Noem can beat Jackley, but that Huether can beat Noem, and if Noem is in DC as the next Ag Secretary then a governor’s seat can be saved for the GOP… There is a definite partisan strategy to the Trump transition which goes beyond the obvious. It is Karl Rovean in nature….
I know Trump is smarter than that to pick the subsidy queen.
JKC, I could not agree more.
Trump likes to make deals to get enemies on his side. Pence lead the ‘not trump’ campaign in Indiana and got the vp job. Trump does not have the integrity to know that some people will do what their conscience says rather than what the boss says. He is putting in party insiders who will, and for good reason, steer him in a different direction. Not that republican conservativism is good but trump is worse. He just threw out Daugaard so tries to put in another South Dakotan to appease the ranchers.
Having said some very hot-headed things about Marty Jackley in this blog, I am much more supportive of his candidacy for Governor than Noem. As to any Democrat coming close, if things remain the same with the decline in the availability of quality news reporting in South Dakota, the ever-shrinking capabilities of the South Dakota Democratic Party’s leadership and the impervious control of the SDGOP, it would be silly to expect a Democrat will take the oath of office as Governor in two years and one month from now.
Noem is by nature a lazy, incurious and arrogant. I can’t imagine that she will come up with ideas to grow the economy or improve education or do anything more than sleep in the mansion. While I’m sure I have many differences with Jackley, he isn’t lazy or incurious or arrogant. Those who know him well will tell you that he is very bright and approachable.
It might be worthwhile for those of us of any party who believes South Dakota is a great place to live, raise kids, work and retire to do what we can to help Marty Jackley become the next governor.
There, I said it.
If you pull her bio she doesn’t really have the background in Agri-Business to run that department. She’s more of a people person/emotional issues person and as proven lately, it doesn’t take much more than that to be a Republican governor in Pierre. Heidelberger is about ten library books ahead of her in the categories that would make government a little smaller through efficiency and a lot more honest … because that’s just the kind of guy he is. “likeable”
Jackley wouldn’t recognize a crime unless/until Master Cory points it out to him in easy to understand verbiage and prolly written in Crayon. Jackley is and has been a large part of the corrupt cronyism in South Dakota. You need an independent outsider, say from iowa, (Attorney General Tom Miller would be an excellent choice). I believe he has prosecuted at least as many Dakota crooks as Jackley.
mfi – Yep, just ask Dan Nelson, Chris Tapken (and his mom), their bookkeeper, the MetaBank Board and John Thune. It’s clear to me that voters have forgotten this. The State Democratic Party has forgotten it, or are incapable of conducting tough press conferences. The GOP Legislature won’t call for independent, outside investigators unless the target is a Democrat. And Tom Miller has no legal standing to pursue crimes committed in South Dakota.
Having said that, the choice is ours. Do you want the sloth Kristie Noem or Marty Jackley to win that primary? The winner will be the next Governor.
Tom Miller has been iowa’s AG since before jeebus was a bawling brat. He is the kind of AG your state needs. Maybe we can clone him and you can replace Jackley with a Miller clone. You’ll see the difference his first day in office.
If I were either Jackley or Noem, I’d be worried that Miller would file charges immediately, governor or not.
she is what you describe in business as an order taker.At age 62 she will be able to draw a pension of about 16000 not bad for 6 years or more in congress,Amazing this subsidy queen will qualify for a pension but her party is trying to privatize Social Security and medicare .