South Dakota investigation weighs Noem's use of state plane
Source: Associated Press
South Dakota investigation weighs Noem’s use of state plane
By STEPHEN GROVES
September 24, 2022
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was returning from an official appearance in Rapid City in 2019 when she faced a decision: Overnight in the capital of Pierre, where another trip would start the next day, or head home and see her son attend his high school prom?
The Republican governor chose the latter, a decision that eventually cost taxpayers some $3,700 when the state airplane dropped her off near her home and then returned the next day to pick her up.
It’s one of several trips that year where Noem, a potential 2024 White House contender, blurred the lines between official travel and attending either family or political events. The trips sparked a complaint to the state ethics board, which has referred the matter to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. A county prosecutor overseeing the investigation will decide whether the governor broke an untested law enacted by voters in 2006 to rein in questionable use of the state airplane.
The governor has also faced action by the same ethics board for intervening in a state agency shortly after it moved to deny her daughter a real estate appraiser’s license.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/kristi-noem-south-dakota-sd-state-wire-rapid-city-pierre-c779a5ca06476a54b77376309fd8f2e5
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