I commented earlier this morning that maybe Governor Kristi Noem could implement a bounty system that would encourage kids and parents to go outside together and trap public officials who’ve been drinking too much so Noem could make a whole list of public officials she could target for removal from office.
Then I read Bob Mercer’s outstanding article on the law Noem is using to target Minnehaha County state’s attorney Aaron McGowan and learn that the Prohibition-era law she’s citing to sic the Attorney General on McGowan included a bounty system:
In South Dakota, the 1917 return of prohibition that July 1 even created a bounty system, down in the legislation’s 97th section, for catching drinkers and enablers. It let town boards, city commissioners or council members, and county commissioners offer rewards, up to $200, for information that produced a conviction of any person illegally drinking, supplying or transporting alcohol.
Those same local-government officials also could use public funds to pay people to be employed as semi-private secret investigators, gathering evidence against customers and business persons suspected of breaking the alcohol ban. There was a specific exemption that said their hiring didn’t have to be reported through a public notice in the local newspaper [Bob Mercer, “Law Governor Noem Cites in State’s Attorney Probe Came After 1916 Vote Made South Dakota ‘Dry’,” KELO-TV, 2019.09.20].
Bounties and no public accountability? Boy, that sounds right up Kristi’s alley!
Mercer then tops this outstanding historical reporting with two splendid questions about our Governor’s own inclincation toward alcohol:
KELOLAND Capitol Bureau reporter Bob Merer sent the governor’s office two questions — Does Governor Noem abstain from use of alcohol? — Was alcohol served at Governor Noem’s inaugural events at the official residence? — because he didn’t know the answer to either but they seemed relevant given the “drunkenness” reference in the state law she cited.
Responded Joshua Shields, the governor’s communications director: “This matter is under investigation therefore the governor won’t be making any further comment on the matter until it is completed” [Mercer, 2019.09.20].
Wait a minute, Team Noem: questions about the Governor’s use of alcohol are not questions are not legal questions pertaining directly to the matter of your investigation of the Minnehaha County state’s attorney. They are questions about your standards of conduct in office. Why refuse to answer those questions.. and refuse to answer with such a specious deflection? If we’re going to go rooting out public officials who drink to excess, then we need every public official to lay out her or his drinking habits so we can be on the lookout for office-forfeiting tipsiness. heck, we won’t even ask for a bounty; we just want to know that our elected officials aren’t governing under the influence.
So lay it out, Governor Noem: how much alcohol do you drink? How much alcohol do you serve at your campaign events, and which elected officials have drunk at those events?
For the record, I do not touch alcohol or any other intoxicant. As your next Governor, I look forward to carrying on Kristi Noem’s legacy and bringing back full Prohibition and helping South Dakota sober up.
If she’s drunk with anything, it’s with power. Too bad there isn’t a 12-step program for that.
Donald
For any addiction program to work, a person must admit he/she has a problem and decide he/she wants to change. Nothing will work without these. Not sure those around her see any need for an intervention either.
Cory has my vote for governor!
And … How much booze has been “donated” to Noem functions and family weddings (in exchange for political favors) by SD-Licensed Beverage Dealers and Gaming Association? Grudzie. Care to share that information? Hmmmmm?
Does Mich Ultra really qualify as alcohol?
I’m not writing this as tit-for-tat as much as to point out the cruelty and brazen arrogance Noem has displayed in this gimmick of digging up a rusty, antiquated law to replace a popular public servant with a Republican hack. Apparently, she doesn’t care that Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan had not put himself or others in danger of physical harm and that he did something about his problem, made a contrite apology and let Kelo’s investigative reporter Angela Kennecke get answers to tough questions.
But let’s do a little time travel nine years ago to Congressional candidate Kristi Noem:
https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/life-in-the-too-fast-lane-noem-traffic-shows-long/article_5fdda8ca-b18a-11df-8518-001cc4c002e0.html
State records going back to November 1989 show Noem with a total of 20 speeding tickets, plus additional violations for failure to stop at an intersection and invalid license plates. Noem also has been sent reminder notices and had warrants issued for overdue fines, which she later settled.
Rapid City Journal
August 27, 2010
https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/noem-apologizes-for-traffic-citations/article_268757a4-b876-11df-a43e-001cc4c03286.html
Missed court dates and fine deadlines on traffic citations have become more common in recent years because of the way the courts handle traffic tickets, said Terry Mayes, a former South Dakota Highway Patrol captain from Rapid City. Citations used to come with a court date only, giving the violator the option of appearing in court on the assigned day to pay or stopping at the courthouse before that, Mayes said.
“Now, you get a ticket and an envelope and you sign a promise to appear; then you’re supposed to mail it in,” Mayes said. “You have both options now. And people can misplace the letter or forget about it.”
Noem’s total of 20 speeding tickets in 21 years is “certainly above average, but really not all that uncommon.”
Rapid City Journal
September 5, 2010
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/254343-please-pull-over-gop-candidate-has-26-traffic-violations
The Republican challenging Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) (left) has a lengthy list of traffic violations, including two arrest warrants.
Keloland (S.D.) News reported Friday that Kristi Noem (right) has had 20 speeding tickets, three stop sign violations, two seat belt violations and a citation for driving with no driver’s license. She has also been issued six court notices for failure to appear and two arrest warrants.
In her most recent incident earlier this year, Noem was pulled over for going 94 miles-per-hour on a highway.
The Hill
August 27, 2010
Through her campaign aide, a public admission was made after she was caught, but it was not a contrite apology. Excuses were made instead and a counter attack that Noem’s opponent was playing politics.
“Kristi apologized when she was asked about it today. She said the tickets were a result of haste and carelessness,” campaign manager Josh Shields said Thursday. “She was trying to make up time over flat country highways, but that is never an excuse. She paid all the penalties and is working on trying to set a better example going forward.”
When she was running stop signs and screaming down the interstate at 94 miles per hour, she was putting people’s safety at risk, and she didn’t seem to care much other than being caught while running for office. Voters cut her some slack and she won a seat in Congress where she didn’t get anything accomplished.
I think the comparison of how they responded when confronted with their reckless behavior speaks volumes about McGowan and Noem. No wonder a major southeastern South Dakota Republican leader reacted to Noem’s persecution of McGowan as such: “I was shocked and dismayed to learn that our South Dakota Governor chose to take this action. This action is insensitive, cruel actually, and just plain disgusting. Legality aside, I believe in respecting human dignity.”
Who was this article written by?
Welcome to the show, Jess. Like most everything here (except for occasional guest columns!), this blog post was written by me, Cory Allen Heidelberger. I quote from an article written by Bob Mercer.
Good one, 96. Of course, if she was getting tickets on the back highways, at one per year, there was always the opportunity to settle with the officer, out of court.
Noem’s total of 20 speeding tickets in 21 years is “certainly above average, but really not all that uncommon.”
Rapid City Journal
September 5, 2010
Wth! What 20 tickets in 21 years shows is a careless, nay reckless disregard for the rules of safe driving and a stoopid female begging to have her license jerked for life. Plus sky high premiums for auto insurance.
MFI … That’s just the times she got caught and charged. Willful disrespect for the law and no willingness to change her criminal behavior.
Used to be habitual violators were stripped of their driving privileges and forced to bum rides. Wingnuts changed the rece and now they ride bums to political office.l
Of course, Bill Janklow eventually went on to kill someone, but …..
Talk about irresponsible self serving journalism.
94 mph is very fast on a public road. No seat belt? No excuse for that. Running stop signs? As Buckobear mentioned, I believe that’s how Jerklow ran down an innocent motorcyclist…..
That’s a shameful driving record. If NoMa’am apologized and showed genuine remorse, that would include slowing down and obeying traffic laws. Clearly she’s not. Does the HP drive her around now? I wonder if she orders them to speed, lights and siren, like Jerklow?
One last thing. Apparently she hired her relatives on SD taxpayers’ dime so they could find these outdated and obscure excuses for her to harass others.
Is NoMa’am a Baby Jerklow or a Baby trump?
Is it really anybody’s business when a person is out on personal leave? Just so the Noem Administration knows, PTSD and stress are considered real medical diagnoses, not to be taken lightly. McGowan taking personal medical was the right thing to do in order to get better.
Governor Noem should know this and didn’t have to act like a jerk and make a public statement about this situation.
Sadly enough, We shouldn’t act surprised, republicans notoriously struggle with empathy and compassion.
Hi Jenny. I was totally with you until your last sentence, which was totally ridiculous, but otherwise I agree that it’s nobody’s business what was going on in his personal life.
Among the tricky points here is that the statute in question does not authorize or require the Governor to remove herself for such violations. Furthermore, the language of the statute—”guilty of the violation of any law”—does not make clear whether it would apply to violations of the law that, like Noem’s speeding tickets, happened before she held her current office.
But yes, I wold agree that Noem’s violations of the law appear to have endangered members of the public, while McGowan did not violate any law (it’s still legal to get schnockered at home, right?) and that he appears not to have endangered the public or the police officers who visited him and that, while getting drunk is not healthy, he did not even endanger himself to an extent that required police or medical intervention on the spot.
Please, Scott H., do talk about “irresponsible self-serving journalism.” I don’t see Bob Mercer doing that here, but feel free to explain your position rather than just doing a drive-by and think that labeling makes your claim true.
Attempting to ruin reputations is a very common thing is South Dakota when you are on the wrong side of the politics in this state. It has been going on for a long time.
She seems to spend a lot of time using her power trying to shame and control others. She bullied a Girls’ Stater for posting a photo of her. Now she’s shaming someone taking personal leave for a medical reason.
I can’t figure out why people act this way the way Noem acts, but I know it’s not the way normal people live their lives.
When I was a teenage driver I got a couple of tickets for driving infractions. That’s all it took for me to straighten up. If you don’t learn self-control early in life, you end up like Noem.
She was the Queen of Being AWOL in Washington, DC. And then she wanted to be absent from Pierre. I’m not sure how much time she actually spends doing her Governor gig. You have to wonder if she spent more time checking her trap line, than doing her actually paid job.
Taking all your inner insecurities out on others might indicate some sort of personality disorder, similar to the President’s issues. When you put that person into a powerful position you get someone that probably takes bullying to the tyrant level.
Noem is not fit for office. What options do South Dakotans have for that situation?
She need to be vetoed out against medical marjuina hemp shes a bad choice all states who are legal are not in debt we are because of her anti marjuina lies
I think Bill Maher said once, ‘I don’t trust people who don’t drink or use drugs.’