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Noem Budget Staffer Wears Dirty Socks to Conference Committee

Governor Kristi Noem and some other opportunistic Republicans spent a day or two last week making a fuss over Representative Steven Haugaard’s utterance of three offensive words on the House floor. So how do Noem and her morality police feel about Noem’s own staff sneakingly displaying three offensive words in formal Capitol hearings?

Joe Sneve, Argus Leader, tweet, 2022.03.10.
Joe Sneve, Argus Leader, tweet, 2022.03.10.

Joe Sneve of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader noticed this acerbic sock on the ankle of a staffer from the Governor’s Bureau of Finance and Management during a conference committee hearing yesterday on House Bill 1281. Yesterday’s minutes of the HB 1281 B Conference Committee indicated that Colin Keeler of the Bureau of Finance and Management testified against HB 1281.

An f-bomb and an s-bomb, while speaking to leaders of the House and Senate in a formal hearing on important legislation? My, my—where are the Republican cries to reprimand and censure this appalling breach of decorum in the Capitol?

24 Comments

  1. Dana P 2022-03-11 07:24

    This state continues to be run by juveniles.

    Sorry that I’m insulting juveniles.

  2. sx123 2022-03-11 08:12

    Nice. I need to find a pair for myself.

  3. Mark T. 2022-03-11 08:45

    Extremely unprofessional. Extremely poor judgment. Extremely poor taste. No class. This is obviously a person who’s indifferent about being a serious public servant. South Dakota deserves better. This behavior harms public confidence and reflects poorly on the administration. Maybe some supervisory counseling or a different line of work is appropriate for this individual.

  4. Ryan 2022-03-11 10:32

    people offended by unthreatening words are silly. if those socks said “to heck with this” the meaning would be the same and nobody would care. meaning and action matter. don’t get me wrong – i agree that an adult wearing these socks is childish and unprofessional… but not because the F or the S word, just because they’re childish socks. if you are an adult and have cartoons and words on your socks, i assume you are a moron.

    (this does not include my lucky boston bruins socks, which must be worn at game time or the hockey gods won’t bless the fellas on the ice. the hypocrisy is not lost on me, but no questions please)

  5. Nick Nemec 2022-03-11 10:45

    Maybe it is my military training coming through but this is simply unprofessional behavior. The wearer of these socks is a member of the team and the team, especially when testifying before a legislative committee should be wearing the team uniform, and for men the team uniform should be coat and tie and dark (preferably black) socks. Private citizens testifying before committee have laxer rules but don’t cry if you are dressed like a slob or inappropriately and some legislator taking a dislike to your appearance uses that dislike as strike against what you are testifying in support of.

  6. Steve Pearson 2022-03-11 10:46

    If you’re offended and commented you need to check yourself. And get over your “outrage.”

    I’m sure you’re outraged multiple times daily and call for cancelling too.

  7. larry kurtz 2022-03-11 11:03

    Mrs. Noem called the two US Senators from Georgia “Communists” so it’s pretty clear the brute doesn’t fall far from the tree. When that staffer put those socks on he might have meant them for her and for her reckless endangerment of his coworkers to fatten a campaign war chest.

  8. Nick Nemec 2022-03-11 11:03

    Mr. Peterson I’m certainly not outraged, simply shaking my head at the lack of professionalism. But then it doesn’t surprise me.

  9. Loren 2022-03-11 11:04

    Yes, Steve, I put your comment right in there with the socks, stupid and meaningless!

  10. O 2022-03-11 11:10

    Dana’s comment reminds me of the old joke: What is the difference between the Governor Noem’s staff and a kindergarten class? Adult supervision.

  11. Anne 2022-03-11 11:35

    Watching the South Dakota state legislature [and some blog commenters] at work is like watching a therapy session in the retard ward.

  12. Bill Kennedy 2022-03-11 11:57

    Those should make a hit in his next job interview!

  13. Scott Ehrisman 2022-03-11 12:15

    The bigger issue is why doesn’t Sneve tell us who this is? What’s the point. Just like the political consultant who texted Ravnsborg. Tell us who these slime balls are.

  14. Arlo Blundt 2022-03-11 13:36

    Well, in my days in Pierre we would never have worn the socks unless we had another job waiting for us after the session. There was a respect for the Capitol building and the legislative process that was the number one consideration when entering the building on any business. The young man is frustrated with the craziness of a legislative session, but as employees of the executive branch, we are to keep our opinions to ourselves.

  15. grudznick 2022-03-11 13:36

    Those bossturds. I can’t believe Governor Noem buys her minion lobbists fresh customized socks for every law bill.

  16. Donald Pay 2022-03-11 14:07

    I think it’s unprofessional, but what do you expect from the Noem Administration. At least the unprofessionalism is honest.

  17. O 2022-03-11 15:36

    I will chalk it up to sections of society’s heightened selfishness and general disregard for others. “My freedom” is the end of the thought process.

  18. Mark Anderson 2022-03-11 17:20

    Hey everyone, it’s on the left foot, what can you expect?

  19. Mark Anderson 2022-03-11 17:22

    My Flash socks are always totally covered, like Mormon underwear.

  20. All Mammal 2022-03-11 19:08

    Major fashion faux pas. Not wearing dark sox with dark pants and shoes is inexcusable. Almost as uncivilized as white pants after Labor Day.
    As a server at Denny’s in high school, I would have been shxx-canned for wearing non-black sox with my black Dickies and big-fat black Etnies skater shoes:/
    Bfd if the culprit wore them in black.

  21. Arlo Blundt 2022-03-11 20:11

    Well, the biggest problem the young man had was that he was wearing those skinny legged pants. His pants rode up on his calf and uncovered his joke socks. Skinny legged pants are not formal wear in a legislative session but they don’t have much fashion sense or decorum in Pierre.

  22. Wonderful Wino 2022-03-12 10:20

    I thought that it was some punk kid wearing the socks but Colin Keeler is the Director of Financial Systems for BFM and according to Open SD makes close to 112K a year. Very unprofessional but what do you expect from someone in Pierre.

  23. R Morrison 2022-03-12 17:09

    Judging by the picture, they need to hire a new “janitor”…..

Comments are closed.