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Noem Quickly Fills Education Secretary Seat with Sanderson

Governor Kristi Noem must have had her musical chairs all planned out. After ejecting Interim-after-all Secretary Ben Jones from the Department of Education to go run the State Historical Society, the Governor was ready before Turkey Day to slide policy advisor Tiffany Sanderson over to run the DoE. Sanderson goes to work across the street on December 9.

Sanderson has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from SDSU, but her resume does not highlight any actual teaching experience:

Governor's Office, biography of senior policy advisor Tiffany Sanderson, retrieved 2020.11.28.
Governor’s Office, biography of senior policy advisor Tiffany Sanderson, retrieved 2020.11.28.

Tiffany’s career has spanned education, youth development, and workforce development. Prior to her current role, she worked for the National FFA Organization in Indianapolis; a learning solutions company, Vivayic Inc., based in Lincoln, Nebraska; and the South Dakota Department of Education. While at the department, Tiffany led career and technical education, including the state’s four technical institutes [Governor’s Office, staff biography, retrieved 2020.11.28].

Sanderson’s husband is Retailers’ lobbyist and über-insider Nathan Sanderson, who actually taught history at the University of Nebraska. Like other subjects of the SDGOP regime, Nathan Sanderson donated $1,000 to Kristi Noem’s gubernatorial campaign in 2018 (see p. 20 of the pre-general disclosure). Sanderson gave money to Dusty Johnson and Mike Rounds to go to Washington, but neither he not Tiffany show up in OpenSecrets.org‘s records of contributions to Kristi for Congress.

9 Comments

  1. Bob Newland

    The road goes on forever and the party never ends.

  2. Mark Anderson

    You have to teach compliant Republicanism in Trumpland, what else is there? Any way by the fourth grade all the kids know it’s BS.

  3. grudznick

    She seems very young and inexperienced.

  4. Curt

    Too soon to judge … wait and watch.

  5. Nick Nemec

    How old is she?

  6. Loren

    Age? What difference does it make when you have 30-somethings at the White House advising on national and international policy. I’m surprised Kristi didn’t hire Booger. He’s out of hi school now, isn’t he? !@#%^&*

  7. mike livingston

    What is the salary one receives in exchange for a 1000.00 dollar donation?

  8. paladn

    I don’t understand why anyone is baffled; the SD Republican Party and particularly our Gov have no love or respect for public education in our state. The status quo continues.

  9. grudznick

    Probably x100, Mr. livingston. The magic of government can turn your measly $1,000 into $100,000. Plus perqs. Not the kind of perqs teachers get but perqs nontheless.

Comments are closed.