Score one for the South Dakota Democratic Party. Their attack on Marty Jackley’s touring the state to campaign on office time may have fallen flat on the actual numbers cited, but they have pulled Noem and Jackley into a toe-to-toe over travel spending.
And Jackley is winning.
The Jackley campaign continues its data-driven rebuttal explaining his office’s travel expenditures. The campaign then plays offense by accessing the Legistorm Congressional expense database and finding, as RCJ’s Seth Tupper did, that Noem is indeed the 16th-biggest traveler spender in the House. To Noem’s excuse that she has to spend more on travel since she represents one big rural state, Jackley rebuts beautifully by showing that she spends far more than her at-large district counterparts in North Dakota and Wyoming:
Office Travel by Members of Congress from South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming
Members of Congress 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Jan–SepNoem (SD) $129,668 $137.921 $132,442 $122,029 $112,432 $123,711 $74,261 Cramer (ND) $77,841 $61,077 $74,261 $90,198 $67,752 Lummis (WY) $109,086 $119,861 $85,184 $90,533 $90,783 $52,351 Cheney (WY) $45,534 Average House Member $58,473 $52,586 $49,955 $52,923 $53.826 $47,921 [Marty Jackley for Governor, press release, 2018.01.15]
To these darning figures, Team Noem responds with vague percentages and a shout that she’s not Stephanie Herseth Sandlin:
In 2016 (the latest year for which the numbers are final), the Noem office’s overall spending was 13% below her predecessor’s last year in 2010.
Noem’s 2016 spending was more than $190,000 less than her predecessor’s last year in 2010.
The office’s budgeted spending for 2017 was also lower than 2016.
Kristi has always kept her office’s travel spending around 10% of her total budget. The 2018 travel budget remains under 10% as well [Kristi Noem for Governor, press release, 2018.01.15].
“I’m not as bad as Stephanie!” probably lost its punch as a campaign slogan on November 10, 2010. And contending that one’s travel budget is below some arbitrary percentage not only has no resonance with voters but also does not refute the damaging claim Jackley is able to make: Noem spends more traveling than her rural counterparts.
If the intent at Democratic HQ was to weaken Jackley, that attack backfired. But if the intent was to get the Republican candidates off their messages and into a fight, mission accomplished! At this point, Democrats shouldn’t worry about trying to favor the Republican they’d rather run against; just keep testing the lines, luring Jackley and Noem in, and letting them do whatever damage they can to each other.
I find it confusing when some one writes “more than … less,” but maybe that’s just me.
I wonder if Noem is starting to re-think the “let’s play nice” offer that Jackley threw out to her. With Noem, Jackley has alot of ammunition.
That phrase trips me up in my writing, Terry. That “more than… less” structure seems to be the briefest way to express the concept, but that confusion may make it less efficient with some readers. How do we get around it? “Noem saved taxpayers more than $190K compared to her predecessor’s 2010 spending”?
Strangled logic begets mangled prose.
I see Noem is taking a page from the GOP playbook of blame everything on the predecessor – without realizing that only works if your constiuentcy remembers and really hates the predecessor.
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is no Hillary Clinton, and Noem would do well to remember that.
Solid point, John. Sometimes you don’t have to pick different words; you need to make a different argument..
And Eve, yes, reaching way back to campaign against SHS is a bad idea in this GOP primary. Noem sounds like she’s saying, “I’ve sent fewer government e-mails from a private server than Hillary did!”
Solution vote in November for Sutton for gov.
Oh yes, Sam, we’ll get to that solution in a moment. But first, we get to enjoy Marty putting Kristi through the wringer.
Hey has anyone been over to Noem’s FB page or personal twitter page to see Noem be rude and obnoxious to liberals ?
NOem is looking at her internals and seeing the people are saying NO to NOem. We will see her in action here right quick like with the shutdown coming. Her and the rest of the roypublicans are gonna take the kids hostage with CHIP, always the hostages with those child abusers. Her internals are gonna take a big old hit so expect more spittle from her.
No, Debbie—I just don’t make enough time to read fiction.
Noem actually responds? Has she offered any new twisted excuses for being such a big spender on travel?
No excuses her Twitter page is Trumpism at it’s finest – She is making fun of liberals and today she is proudly claiming ownership of the right to deny LBGT medical services if it goes against a dr belief……………….. She is throwing all of this on her personal page but not her senatorial twitter account which must mean she can’t keep her mouth shut but at the same time she doesn’t want her centrist republicans to see it…….. They really should see how she wants to divide SD