Laura Zylstra Kaiser told Elisa Sand yesterday that the state had issued the settlement checks that she was supposed to receive for her sexual harassment/retaliation settlement at the end of March. The state’s online checkbook confirms that the state did indeed write a check to pay out at least part of the $1.5 million Zylstra Kaiser was due:
I can’t find the other million bucks in the Open.SD.Gov database.
But why was even that payment delayed? Zylstra Kaiser held a press conference in Sioux Falls today to affirm Kristi Noem’s assertion that it was Marty Jackley playing politics:
Laura Zylstra Kaiser, who was forced to resign from the DCI in 2012, said the state began stalling after Jackley spotted her sitting with Rep. Kristi Noem during a Republican fundraising event. Jackley and Noem are fighting each other for the Republican nomination for governor, which will be decided on June 5 [Jonathan Ellis, “Former DCI Agent: State Delayed Settlement Payments After Jackley Saw Her Sitting with Noem,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2018.05.24].
Zylstra Kaiser refers to the Brown County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner, held here in Aberdeen and publicized on the Brown County GOP Facebook page:
Maybe they weren’t cahootsifying then, but Noem is ready to make Zylstra Kaiser’s punishment at the hands of Jackley’s good-old-boy network in law enforcement a campaign issue, and Zylstra Kaiser is fine with that:
Kaiser said she has worked with the Noem campaign to air her story. Noem on Thursday said that her campaign had posted an interview with Kaiser on her campaign’s website. She accused Jackley of using Kaiser to further his political career.
“I think that is something that indicates poor judgment,” Noem said. “I think her story needs to be told.”
…Kaiser said Noem is free to user her story in campaign advertising against Jackley.
“I’m OK with that. This isn’t about politics. For me it’s about telling the facts. I think it’s important for the general public to know all the facts” [Ellis, 2018.05.24].
It grates my cheese to say this, but Kristi Noem sounds like she’s ready to bank her GOP primary hopes on playing the #MeToo candidate in South Dakota. Marty, speaking from a purely cynical perspective, now might be the time for that press release on Kristi’s lies about her family’s estate tax.
So Noem plans to play politics with this issue, too?
So ZK is the football both candidates toss around while she doesn’t get the $ she is owed and deserves?
To be fair, apparently Jackley is the Jerkley who is withholding Her Money. Why? Because he can. Because it suits him at the moment. And he wants to be governor? Eeek! Petty little tyrant like that? I wouldn’t want him.
Noem is standing up for the truly aggrieved party, and if it suits her political needs too, I guess that’s a bonus that I’m sure isn’t lost on her.
There is a Democratic candidate who’s clear of that entire mess, Billie Sutton. He’s not all that woman friendly, however, per his record.
South Dakotans, you deserve better options than Not That Good (BS), Poor (KN), or Worst (MJ). Argh!
I hope Noem runs with Laura’s story. Jackley wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him in the head. Laura did everything by the book and she was forced out. I changed my party affiliation from a dem to rep just so I could vote against Marty and Dusty. When I was a lobbyist Dusty told me he “didn’t appreciate the ACLU roaming the halls of the Capitol”. I was unaware Dusty owned our great Capitol.
Is 86k bread crumbs to you Cory?
You do know that the value of land is not cash right?
$86,000 is bread crumbs compared to a $1,100,000.00 loaf of ciabatta. Look at all those zero’s! Here is how this works in a lie. Put the figure of $1,100,000.00 on top of the $84.000.00 and then subtract, just like third grade man. You will see that NOem got a positive, that would be a plus or + of just over $1,000,000.00. What all of this actually means is that NOem lied. Had it not been for Cory’s due diligence (thanks Cory), we would have never known how she proves herself a lying liar everyday.
What I like about republican primary politics is that they fight like junior high girls. I had one, so I can speak with the knowledge of that. Meow.
The Governor’s office helps make sense of the discrepancy between the $500K listed in the state’s checkbook and the $1.54 million paid to Kaiser. Spokeswoman Kelsey Pritchard tells my local paper that the settlement was paid with a combo of state funds and insurance money.
Noem’s lies about her estate tax do not negate the truth of what LZK is saying or the importance of her story. I simply post-script this article by saying Noem’s lies about her family’s estate tax are one logical and powerful response Team Jackley could use to deflect the attention this issue is getting and/or do comparable damage to Noem.
Don’t forget: Billie Sutton hasn’t been caught on the wrong side of a sexual harassment lawsuit or in lies about his families tax situation.