Taxpayers in South Dakota stumped up a massive $150,000 to help finance then-Governor Kristi Noem’s cross-country flights last year, new analysis has show.
The bills, accrued during her time as governor and during President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, include almost $8,000 for plane tickets to a right-wing conference in Paris, a book tour through New York and a bear-hunting trip to Canada, according to the Associated Press, which collated the data. Noem also went on “numerous” trips to Trump’s then-home in Palm Beach, Florida as she continued to rise up the MAGA movement’s ranks.
The news agency also reported Noem spent roughly $2,200 on a visit to a Texas dental clinic.
She refused to say what the trips were costing taxpayers but, in the weeks since Noem became Trump's Homeland Security secretary, that mystery has been solved.
An Associated Press analysis of recently released travel records found more than $150,000 in expenses tied to Noem's political and personal activity and not South Dakota business.
Most of those costs covered the state-provided security that accompanied Noem, irrespective of the reason for her travel. Over her six years as governor, the AP's analysis shows, South Dakota covered more than $640,000 in travel-related costs incurred by the governor's office.
The expenses, released last month following a lawsuit by The Dakota Scout, have incensed Republicans in the deep-red state, with several GOP lawmakers accusing Noem of tapping state funds to fuel her own political ascendancy.
The revelations come at a time when federal spending is under the spotlight, with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency making mass cuts.
The spending "offends a lot of people," said Dennis Daugaard, a former Republican South Dakota governor, who added that costs generated by Noem's ambition for higher office could've been paid with campaign funds.
Taffy Howard, a GOP state senator who clashed with Noem over her refusal to disclose her travel expenses, expressed shock at the price tag. "It seems like an incredible amount of money," Howard said.
A spokesman for Noem, Tim Murtaugh, declined to answer detailed questions about the expenses but did not dispute that some of the travel lacked an apparent connection to state business. There's no indication the former governor broke any laws having the state foot the bill for security expenses — even on trips that critics said benefited her more than South Dakota taxpayers.
"Unfortunately, bad guys tend to make threats against high-profile public officials," Murtaugh said. "When it was a political or personal trip, she paid for her own travel out of her political or personal funds."
Murtaugh then questioned why Democratic governors were not being scrutinized for their travel on behalf of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
"They maintained aggressive political schedules on behalf of Kamala Harris but somehow escape media attention for costs associated with that, while Kristi Noem is being held to a different standard?" Murtaugh wrote in an email.
Josie Harms, a spokesperson for Noem's gubernatorial successor, said security requirements were "a matter of state business no matter where the governor may be."
"The scope of that security is not up to the governor," Harms added.
During her years in office, Noem frequently said that releasing the travel expenses would jeopardize her safety.
This is not the first time Noem's travel and finances have come under the microscope. A state government accountability board in 2022 had requested an investigation into her use of the state plane to attend political events, but a prosecutor found no grounds for charges.
Back in 2021, she came under fire for allegedly using underpaid prison labor to create a hand-carved wooden desk worth $9,000, according to The Daily Beast.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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