Sad to hear the truth about this. I’ve been a big fan.
Related:
Skousen: Kristi Noem took too much credit for keeping South Dakota open, which she was against. SD legislature kept SD open
Did Gov. Kristi Noem Sell Out? – Dean Henderson in South Dakota — “They got to her”
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Despite the public support for school shutdowns, the introduction of a bill that would give the state Health Secretary lockdown authority, and two executive orders which encourage business restrictions and a stay-at-home order, Noem continues to wrestle for the torch as America’s number one anti-lockdown politician.
Gov. Kristi Noem Blasted Other Republicans For Lockdowns, But She Didn’t Entirely Oppose Them, Either
July 16, 2021
Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem made headlines last week for calling out fellow GOP governors on lockdowns, but her own record on the issue isn’t spotless.
Noem has consistently claimed she is the only governor in America not to order any business or church to shut down. A closer examination of her record reveals that she did support several restrictive measures in the early days of the pandemic that her office is now trying to distance itself from.
In March 2020, South Dakota Rep. Lee Qualm introduced House Bill 1297 at the request of the Governor’s Office. The bill would have granted the Secretary of Health the power to “order the closure of or place reasonable restrictions on the use of any public or private location, including a business, park, school, or other location that promotes public gathering, if reasonably necessary to slow or prevent the spread of communicable diseases during a public health emergency.”
The bill was defeated in the South Dakota legislature by a vote of 50-17, according to Jon Schweppe, the director of policy and government affairs at the American Principles Project. While the passage of the bill would not have resulted in Noem herself ordering business shutdowns, it would’ve granted that authority to the state’s Health Secretary via a bill requested by the governor.
South Dakota also shut down schools in March 2020 through the end of the 2019-2020 academic school year. Noem came out emphatically during the summer to insist that South Dakota’s K-12 schools would reopen in the fall, but she was whole-heartedly on board with the initial closure. …
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