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Noem Skips Western Governors’ Meeting to Promote Self in DC

Governor Kristi Noem flew to Washington, D.C., last week to flog her book, her lies, and her Presidential campaign. Bob Mercer notes that she chose this self-promoting Beltway tour over meeting fellow governors in Idaho:

The Noem administration sent one person to Idaho last week for the annual summer meeting of the Western Governors Association. Meanwhile Governor Kristi Noem spent those same days in Washington, D.C., speaking to conservative audiences as a possible Republican candidate for U.S. president or vice president and holding book-signings for her new political memoir [Bob Mercer, “Noem Chose DC Campaign Trip over WGA Meeting,” KELO-TV, 2022.08.05].

Gee, the last Governor thought those WGA meetings were kind of important:

Republican Dennis Daugaard regularly participated in WGA events during his time as governor, from 2011 through 2018, and rose to be WGA chairman during his last 18 months in office. He brought the 2018 annual summer meeting to Rapid City.

That summer Daugaard made a statement that remains on the WGA website four years later: “The Western Governors’ Association is special because it’s a non-partisan organization that actually gets things done. It provides opportunities for non-political conversations about the issues western states have in common – issues like transportation, trade, energy, and workforce – and those conversations result in action,” he said [Mercer, 2022.08.05].

But hey, what’s more important: working with other governors to coordinate policy solutions for our region, boosting one’s own celebrity?

Gee, if we can get Dick Cheney to come out and tell the obvious truth that Donald Trump is a menace to the Republic, is there a chance we can get Dennis Daugaard to come out and tell the obvious truth that Kristi Noem isn’t really focusing on the job South Dakotans elected her to do?

7 Comments

  1. Justin Van Ormer 2022-08-05 10:26

    My guess is because she can read the writing on the wall about being voted out in November. She has to have a nest egg to fall back onto haha.

  2. Donald Pay 2022-08-05 10:30

    I wonder if she’s sharing the dais this week with Vikkktor Orban, who espouses the sort of Christian Nationalism that Noem embraces.

  3. larry kurtz 2022-08-05 10:31

    A Democratic gay man with a net worth about fifty times what Mrs. Noem’s is the chair of the WGA so no doubt a selfie with Governor Jared Polis just isn’t in the stars.

  4. Guy 2022-08-05 10:45

    Governor Jamie Smith has a nice ring to it. That sounds like responsible leadership and maturity to me. I have no doubt Smith will be very involved in the Western Governors Association like Governor Daugaard

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-08-05 11:06

    Donald, the CPAC Dallas speaker list does not include Noem this time. Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Mike Lindell, and Sarah Palin, yes, but no Kristi.

    But CPAC will feature two straw polls on 2024, one with Trump, one without, so we can get a better picture of how how well Noem is building her brand among the other fascists contending to be the next Duce.

  6. Donald Pay 2022-08-05 13:38

    By not attending the Western Governors’ meeting Noem dodged voting on a bi-partisan demand that states need to “consent” to efforts to site federal or private nuclear waste storage or disposal operations. The Biden Administration has revived deliberations over how to structure such “consent.” Those deliberations began under the Obama Administration and were shelved during the Trump Administration. Trump, who thought, he “alone could fix it” by screwing Nevada with Yucca Mountain (payback for voting for Hillary), ended up groveling to Nevada in 2020 by burying Yucca Mountain, probably for good. His groveling didn’t mean he approved of “consent,” whether with Stormy or any of the Western States he could care less about. At any rate, Noem had a chance to curry favor with about 90 percent of the voters in Western States, and she blew it off for a booty call with Lewandowski.

    https://www.alamogordonews.com/story/news/2022/07/29/western-states-new-mexico-resisting-nuclear-waste-storage-texas-radiation-federal-fuel-energy-holtec/65382940007/

  7. O 2022-08-05 14:21

    Former Gov. Daugaard’s statement about the Iowa conference would be the very reason Gov. Noem would NOT be interested (and a theme that seems ever prevalent of campaigning/politics over governance). Whether the (aborted) promise of a special session to help women affected by the new abortion restrictions or more mundane processes like setting Social Studies standards, Gov. Noem grabs opportunities to politicize and pivot into campaign/slogan mode over practical governance for the betterment of the residents of SD.

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