The South Dakota Newspaper Association praised Governor Kristi Noem last week for her transparency efforts. The newspaperers evidently missed yet another violation of her pledge to increase government transparency last week, when Governor Noem signed Senate Bill 90, which repeals the requirement that she and other elected officials file a statement of financial interest every year. Under SB 90, only candidates will have to file such statements. Thanks to her signature, Governor Noem will now be able to keep secret any changes in her sources of wealth until she runs for reëlection in 2022.
But we can’t just blame Kristi. Every legislator in the building voted for SB 90, every single one. We still get to know their main sources of income when they run for office, but once they’re actually in power, we don’t get to know about any new sources of income that might raise concerns about corruption.
“So far, so good,” said the SDNA on Governor Noem’s transparency. I’m not sure how less transparency counts as “good.”
Wow. How did that slip by ALL OF THEM?
Inexcusable. 🤮🤮🤮🤮
Governor Transparency!!
What do they have to hide? SMH
I haven’t listened to all of the audio, but in committee, prime sponsor Senator Ernie Otten made it sound like all this bill would do is end elected officials having to file one financial interest statement within 15 days of taking office and then another on January 1, back to back. They all seem to have ignored that SB 90 repeals the reporting requirement for every subsequent year before the next election.
Now what good governance reason is there for this bill? I said “good governance.”