Kristi Noem threatens to sue The Dakota Scout over credit card spending stories
Former South Dakota governor’s personal lawyer sends 'cease and desist' letter to Sioux Falls-based news outlet; The Scout defends reporting
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s personal lawyer on Friday threatened to sue The Dakota Scout newspaper over reporting on the former governor’s use of taxpayer-backed credit cards.
Trevor Stanley, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Baker Hostetler, claims the Sioux Falls-based news outlet published “false, misleading, and inaccurate statements” regarding the credit cards.
Specifically, Stanley said The Scout has claimed that the governor spent more than $650,000 on expenses is incorrect, but only about $2,000 of the total was by Noem.
The letter, received via email at 4:50 a.m. on Friday, demanded The Scout cease and desist reporting that Noem “spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her government-issued credit cards…”
“Otherwise, we will consider all legal remedies, including a lawsuit seeking maximum compensatory and punitive damages, that we estimate at millions of dollars,” Stanley wrote.
The Scout’s reporting on the credit cards began in May with an open records request to state Auditor Rich Sattgast. That request was denied, citing potential safety concerns to Noem and her staff.
The newspaper sued Sattast arguing that state citizens are allowed full access to records detailing the expenditure of public funds. Sattgast and The Scout reached a settlement that led to the release of about 4,000 pages of redacted credit card bills, state vouchers and submitted receipts from Noem’s five years in office.
The Scout and Sioux Falls Live continue to compile and analyze the documents, which often don’t include details beyond broad categories related to travel, such as airfare, car rentals, hotels and food.
Names are redacted in nearly all cases and the records often don’t indicate the purpose of the trip.
In a story published Friday, the analysis revealed that more than $300,000 of the total went to travel costs for Noem’s security detail. Those trips included official state business, such as national governor’s meetings or testifying to Congress, but also purely political events, such as speaking to a conservative convention in Paris and campaign events.
As of 1 p.m. Friday, Stanley had not replied to an email from Sioux Falls Live requesting an interview to discuss details of Noem’s assertions.
The Scout’s co-founders, Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve, declined to comment on the letter, other than to characterize it as a "frivolous attempt to throw a brush off pitch” meant to stifle further reporting on the amount of spending on state-issued credit cards that took place during Noem’s tenure as governor.
“We stand by our reporting and consider it an honor to bring the truth about government spending to South Dakotans,” the longtime South Dakota journalists said in a joint statement, adding that more stories are likely. “And we’re always willing to defend it in a court of law, too.”
Paid subscribers can view the credit card expenses in a searchable database below.
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