SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — ProPublica, a nonprofit watchdog news outlet, says Krisi Noem, while governor of South Dakota in 2023, supplemented her income by secretly accepting a portion of the money she raised for a nonprofit promoting her political career.
According to the ProPublica story, tax records show the nonprofit American Resolve Policy Fund made an $80,000 payment for fundraising. That payment was made to Noem’s personal company, Ashwood Strategies.
Noem created the Ashwood Strategies LLC in Delaware in June 2023, early into her second term as South Dakota governor.
The report noted South Dakota has “minimal disclosure rules for elected officials, and Noem had not previously divulged that she created a side business while she was governor.”
Lee Schoenbeck, a former longtime Republican state lawmaker, told ProPublica Noem may have violated state law with the creation of Ashwood Strategies.
“There’s no way the governor is supposed to have a private side business that the public doesn’t know about,” Schoenbeck told ProPublica. “It would clearly not be appropriate.”
ProPublica notes American Resolve Policy Fund is a dark money group, not required to name their donors, meaning that the origin of the money is unknown.
Noem did not disclose the $80,000 payment when she was required to release a detailed account of her assets and income sources from 2023 on after her selection as Secretary of Homeland Security. ProPublica notes experts have called this a likely violation of federal ethics requirements.
ProPublica reached out to Noem’s lawyer after he claimed in a statement that Noem had fully disclosed all of her income. When ProPublica asked for evidence given the $80,000 was not reported, they did not receive a response.
You can find more details on the funds and questions raised in the full story by ProPublica.
