Speaking of cash flow, Kristi Noem spent nearly $826,000 out of her campaign war chest in a year when she wasn’t on the ballot. Thanks to lots of contributions from her out-of-state hustle, she ended 2020 with $1.388 million in hand, $1.137 million more than she had at the end of 2019.
Noem spent $353K (42% of her total 2020 campaign expenditures) on consulting, $109K (13.2%) on event expenses, and $96K (11.6%) on salaries. She spent more on advertising ($77K), printing ($68K), credit card fees ($36K—that’s the last time Kristi lets Booker handle the plastic), office supplies ($27K), and postage ($21.7K) than she did on travel ($21.46K).
But she invested not one penny of her campaign cash to help any South Dakota candidates. With Republicans on the ballot across the state, she did not lift a campaign pinky to share her good will, her good name, and her good dollars with Republicans who actually had to work to keep their jobs in South Dakota. She spent her booming stream of non-campaign-year campaign cash on herself and her priorities.
Former Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels wasn’t on the ballot, either, but he still has a campaign committee. He started 2020 with $23,611.84 in the bank—a paltry sum compared to Governor Noem’s burgeoning campaign chest. He has zero campaign income through the year, but he still spent $1,800 on five Legislative candidates in the primary; $1,000 to Noem and $1,000 to Dusty Johnson, $225 to his local county GOP, $500 to Steve Swenson for Sheriff, and another $1,800 to nine more Legislative candidates around the state plus $1,500 to the Boys and Girls Club and $500 to the Vermillion Public School Foundation pre-general; and donated $751.80 for USS South Dakota promotional materials before year’s end.
Matt Michels started the year with a tenth of the money Kristi Noem did, and he ended the year with barely a hundredth of her war chest, yet Michels donated far more to support local Republicans than Noem did.
Plus, whatever campaigning Noem did led to loss after loss after loss.
Think about that, Republicans, come 2022. Think about that really hard.
36K on credit card fees?
With 36K, most of us could start and run a statewide ultra prospering project that would create jobs or basic income, something amazingly cool!
Since R-Insurrectionist supermajority will never create a State Bank or support DC statehood, we could create a coin, a crypto currency, and use it to, get this, a nonprofit Donkey crypto bank that will issue billions of coins at low prices to prosper all South Dakotans! Doge coin was created as a joke in 2013, and now 8 years later, it is worth 4 billion dollars worldwide! It started as a Tweet, then a website was built, then 2 Australians created the coin! Anyone for a Tweet and a great coin?
Kristi is high maintenance, Cory. You should know that.
I would guess that the $36K is the bank fee for allowing the Noem campaign to accept credit card-paid donations. I might be wrong.
That does make me think that if the banks can get their cut, why not the taxpayer? Campaigns and political parties are not government entities, so tax them at the corporate rate.
Why would she give money to our retrumpublicans? They only seem to need an “R” (should be “T”) after their name to get votes.
I’m sure kristi has soooo many needs; Jenny is correct.
COVID Kristi’s wants to be The Audience of One and The Party of One in South Dakota, and hopes to spread her disease to the national stage. If Trump isn’t the beneficiary of establishing a monarchy, why would anyone bother to consider an unknown like Noem?
COVID Kristi seems to forget that Trump’s name ID was the product of being a celebrity A Lister since the 80s, having his name on hotels around the world and having his own TV reality show for several years. What has COVID Kristi done other than abandon her state during the pandemic crisis to campaign in 2020 for the 2024 election. All on the state’s dime (and now hoping to keep her theft from becoming public). She even ripped off millions from CARES Act funds to air a thinly veiled campaign commercial touting her face and a few scenes of South Dakota.
She lives in a fool’s paradise with The Lew whispering sweet nothings in her ear. It’s a safe bet voters won’t have much of an appetite for Trump Extremely Lite as their nominee. All of the corruption, none of name ID or money.
Kristi. Your ego trip is kaput. A joke. Buh-bye.
You may want to do a little fact checking.
Sorry to pick nits, but the number in the last line should have a decimal instead of a comma. $751.80 is correct – at least according to the copy of the document shown. /cp
Ah, Pat Powers gets Kristi’s federal reports and notes that Noem did shake some cash loose from her federal PAC to help some SDGOP candidates.