She didn’t really say it in so many words, but it was obvious to anyone who listened to Gov. Kristi Noem’s budget speech. She’s breaking up with us. Maybe she didn’t want to jinx the next chapter of her life, so she never really came out and said she was leaving us. Read between the lines, though, and you can tell that her bags are packed.
It seems like only yesterday we renewed our vows for another four years. Now, suddenly, it’s over.
We always knew that in her role as governor, there was an expiration date on our relationship. Still, we have to wonder why we weren’t good enough, why South Dakota wasn’t good enough to keep her here. It seems the lure of the nation’s capital and a new job as secretary of Homeland Security was just too enticing, even after all we’ve shared.
There are some hurt feelings in any breakup. In her speech, Noem stressed the state government’s role in providing safety for its citizens. She didn’t mention the way she stretched her notion of providing safety for South Dakotans all the way to the Texas border. Her idea of keeping us safe cost us millions of dollars. It was her investment in those National Guard deployments that was likely one of the factors that led to her big new job. A thank-you would have been nice.
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Sometimes in a breakup the most important words are those that are left unsaid. Her budget speech used 3,700 words yet never touched on increasing teacher pay, property tax reform or tribal relations.
She knows the last time the state stepped in to raise teacher pay out of the basement of national rankings, it took a task force and a sales tax increase. She knows that property tax reform is so complex that the best ideas floated by lawmakers so far include raising the sales tax to decrease property taxes. That amounts to a wash for those of us who happen to own property and buy things. She knows that the hurt feelings of the tribes are best healed with time and a new governor who won’t let a zeal for public safety lead to a claim that tribal leaders are in cahoots with drug cartels.
It must have taken quite an effort for her to quell her natural inclination for leadership to avoid tackling these problems. You can tell by these things Noem didn’t say that it’s only a matter of time before she’s out the door, leaving those challenges for our next governor.
In every relationship there are mysteries — things that aren’t so easily explained. They say some mystery keeps a relationship healthy. With Noem, that’s hard to tell. In her speech, she went on at some length to praise the economy we shared. She said South Dakota’s economy is the best in the nation. If our economy is so good, why is the budget she proposed so austere? She admonished legislators to “make a permanent tax cut for the people of South Dakota,” but isn’t that cut one of the reasons why sales tax collections have been so sluggish?
It’s hard not to be bitter about the sudden end of a six-year relationship. It’s probably best to concentrate on the good times: the Custer State Park Buffalo Roundups, the balanced budgets and that fireworks-filled night at Mount Rushmore, although that celebration was centered on the man who will take her away from us.
It hurts to imagine her renting a new place to live in Washington, D.C. It’s impossible to know if her new landlord will allow pets. It’s a little late now, but there are plenty of us who would have offered to take care of Cricket.
It’s likely Noem would say that instead of the end, this is the start of a new relationship. Rather than leading us as our governor, she’ll be protecting us from her perch at Homeland Security. And we’ll see her when she comes home. We’ll see her on TV. But it just won’t be the same. With luck, the pain of loss will heal in time. After a breakup, maybe the best we can hope for is that we can still be friends.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com.