Last week, Labor and Regulation Secretary Marcia Hultman told the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee that the unusual July 27, 2020, meeting at the Governor’s mansion involving Secretary Hultman, Governor Kristi Noem, the Governor’s daughter Kassidy Peters, the Governor’s chief of staff, three Executive Branch lawyers, and hot-seated Appraiser Certification Program chief Sherry Bren, the participants discussed a plan to help Peters complete the appraiser certification process:
“At the very end of the meeting we discussed a possible plan forward with Ms. Peters which had been determined prior to the meeting and it was a brief discussion at the end,” she said [Arielle Zionts, “DLR Secretary: Meeting with Noem, Daughter and State Officials Was Unusual,” SDPB Radio, 2021.10.28].
At a press conference yesterday, Governor Noem said no such discussion of her daughter’s recovery/remediation/whatever plan took place at the mansion meeting:
But when Noem was asked by the AP at a Thursday news conference if she was aware of that plan headed into the meeting, she responded by saying, “We didn’t even talk about that” and insisted the meeting was not to discuss Peters’ application.
“She gave her personal experiences through the program,” Noem said. “Of course, she gave her perspective and how long it took to go through the program and how difficult it was.”
However, Sherry Bren, the longtime director of the Appraiser Certification Program, told the AP she was presented at the meeting with a letter from Peters’ supervisor that slammed the agency’s move to deny her the license [Stephen Groves, “Noem Contradicts Labor Secretary on Meeting with Daughter,” AP, 2021.11.04].
Noem has spent today screaming at reporter Stephen Groves on Twitter, calling him a “dishonest reporter who cooks up stories.” But Noem has not provided any information that calls into question any facts Groves has reported. She has refused to release the documents from her daughter’s appraisal file that could help support Secretary Hultman’s crucial claim that Peters’s recovery plan had been created before the mansion meeting and thus mooted any “pressure” the Governor might have been perceived to have been exerting on Bren. And Noem has not provided any clarification on who was being dishonest, herself or Secretary Hultman, in stating how the Governor’s daughter figured into the mansion discussion.
But the verbatim statements of Hultman and Noem on this topic make clear that, if there is any dishonesty worth shouting about, it’s the dishonesty coming from the Executive Branch. I’m betting the dishonesty is coming from the helicopter mom who intervened in her grown daughter’s professional application and now is trying to cover up her rank abuse of power.
It’s looking like Marcia Hultman will be looking for a job soon.
Because Kristi Noem is the REAL victim here, huh?
If you don’t want to come clean and answer the AP’s questions, just claim YOU’RE the victim and it’ll get swept under the rug.
It didn’t work for Trump and it won’t work for you, Governess.
You mean, you mean, she can’t be VP or P?
Freud weighs in once again:
“What, you think I go into this without ,,, um…having. conversations with people over the years about the program? Yes, absolutely, I have for years.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1456611442950615044
Time for all the members of the Republican persuasion on the Government Operations Committee to get their heads deeply implanted in their sandbox. Just pretend nothing has happened. Make it go away.
I can say a lot to my kids without saying a word. Why were the lawyers there? Wasn’t it just a brainstorming session?
Captain Obvious here; if Noem didn’t tell porkies EVERY time she flapped her lips, she wouldn’t have spend so much time screaming at reporters and making up new excuses for her frequent and transparently illegal actions.
If the kid’s appraisal app didn’t come up, why was the kid there? Noem’s coverup story doesn’t make sense. Hultman’s story rings of truth. Clearly, there was some sort of written plan concocted before the meeting. Whatever was going to happen had probably been “negotiated” or “dictated” (choose your word) prior to the meeting, but Noem can’t seem to do anything without getting a bit of bullying in. Thus, this meeting, which appears to have been unnecessary, except that Noem wanted a bullying session, where her kid could get a little experience in being a world-class whiner, just like her momma.
Uh oh, Mommy Gov, this is starting to smell like a cover-up, favoritism, skirting regulations, and boundaries. Is the Mom Gov a dem wit or just a nitwit?
Mom Gov could be the Governor of one of the 50 states of the United States, not clear, as she is self-proclaimed to be America’s Governor. She is not the Queen of the state; that was a rigged rodeo contest years ago. Maybe Mom Gov presumes to be the supreme queen bee of dominant-party system or one-party dominant system, that almost happened nationally by king bee 45 on Jan 6, 2021. She did win a fair and rigged election in 2018 and might go for a repeat in 2022 unless ordered to run to replace that RINO Thune by 45.
Nevertheless, when one of her critters wants something, all stops will be opened until that poor defenseless adult critter gets her want. Mom Gov keeps delivering for her brood; job, pay, now add license.
The problem with a dominant-party system or one-party dominant system is the inbreeding that naturally happens of ideas, behaviors, social norms… the list goes on. Just maybe voters in 2022 want something different. Then again, the illiterate dumb wits might buy into the slick poster ads and stories about those messy tax hungry democrats.
Critter got her license; property buyer and seller beware. The mom gov is cleaning out the nest of non-loyal defects. Life in SD inbred Republican Party goes on,
Well…it took THREE government lawyers to monitor the meeting…what kind of task was that…there isn’t enough whiskey in the world to make this assignment palpable…What did the lawyers do at the meeting??? What was their counsel before the meeting…and afterwards?? obviously the Governor is not paying attention ….It’s time for serious people to push the Governor away from the driving wheel…problem is…there are no serious people in the Republican Party.
Mr. Blundt, it has been established there were four lawyers in attendance.
Mr. Blundt, I wrote this earlier but Mr. H is censoring my communications.
grudznick said:
The governor is trying to claim her daughter was there to tell about her experiences in getting this certification. She could have had that conversation with her on the phone or at her home. Plus there are many others who went through the same thing… why weren’t any of them there? Another abuse of her position and bullying session from our half-ass governor.
Too normal for South Dakota that we cannot get the pre-meeting, meeting, notes/emails/testimony. Well, Ian get on this.
Are we counting Chief of Staff Venhuizen as the fourth?
Is not young Mr. Venhuizen a lawyer, too? We have the general counsel fellow, the two hired guns flanking Ms. Hultman, and Mr. Venhuizen. That is 4 lawyers surrounding the wide-eye head-on-a-swivel Ms. Bren.
So, Noem continues to refuse to answer simple questions and would rather lecture a reporter about honesty when she can’t be transparent herself? Got it.
Is Mr. H also censoring your field of vision grudznick?
Grudz…apparently you are correct…4 lawyers were in attendance if you count the Governor’s Chief of Staff who is a lawyer as a lawyer…I counted him as an executive staff member…goodness, that’s a lot of legal eagleing for a discussion of a professional certification program…your tax dollars at work.