Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at foreign ag tele-town hall hosted by 'dark money' group

America First Works, the self-described advocacy arm of a Trump-tied think tank, hosted Gov. Kristi Noem to promote foreign ag legislation and reiterate anti-China sentiments during a virtual town hall Monday evening.

The governor was joined by Keith Kellogg, former National Security Advisor to Mike Pence, and Steve Yates, former National Security Affairs Deputy Assistant to Dick Cheney, to briefly talk about Senate Bill 185, a bill proposed by Noem in December. Kellogg and Yates are both members of America First Policy Initiative, a think tank founded by officials under former President Donald Trump.

AFW is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, which means it is allowed to participate in some partisan political activity. The related think tank is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and is limited to nonpartisan advocacy.

While neither organizations are required by law to disclose their donors, 501(c)(4) non-profits are colloquially known as "dark money" groups since they are allowed to use its eponymous U.S. tax code to raise an unlimited amount of money and pour it into the accounts of political candidates or initiatives.

Based on reporting from The Guardian, AFW circuited $4.8 million of dark money through DonorsTrust, another non-profit, as an earmarked fund for the Honest Elections Project, a conservative group focused on restricting voting laws.

AFPI previously received a $1 million donation from Save America, a political action committee created by Trump.

AFPI is slated to host Noem and Yates in a similar America First discussion Wednesday.

The governor prefaced her Monday talk by describing China as a historical adversary that first attempted to infiltrate the U.S. food system by buying American processing facilities and manufacturing plants "decades ago."

"They've been buying our chemical companies [and] our fertilizer companies," Noem said during the town hall. "I've been trying to work on food policy to make sure that they didn't end up owning our food supply chain, because I knew that when they did, they would control our food supply. And that's really when they control our country."

The legislation, which a state Senate committee plans to hear Tuesday morning, would establish a state-run board to review ag land transactions and scrutinize foreign investors.

Noem, who is currently overseeing this year's legislative session in Pierre, largely spoke about the purpose of the board and how it would prevent foreign governments from having undue control over the state's agricultural industry.

The governor took one question from Doug Hoelscher, senior advisor for AFPI, about whether South Dakota farmers have concerns about the proposed bill.

She said some producers expressed worries that cutting off Chinese investments would lead the country to retaliate against the state by refusing to buy ag products, but she followed-up to say "that's just not possible with the way our trade agreements work."

Noem then exited the town hall event before a short question-and-answer phase joined by South Dakota and out-of-state callers. Media members in attendance were not allowed to ask questions during the event.

Kellogg and Yates both provided commentary on China's influence on American society before ending the event, which ran for less than an hour.

The tele-town hall comes after months of intensified scrutiny of Chinese companies in South Dakota and abroad.

In January, Noem signed an executive order blocking the state from executing contracts with "prohibited entities," or any organization owned by a so-called "evil foreign government" from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia or Venezuela. This came months after the governor banned TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, from state-owned or state-leased devices.

More recently, Noem used the Chinese spy balloon debacle and the entwined national security concerns to advocate for SB 185.

"This goes to show that it is more important now than ever for states to step up and defend our people form [sic] the threat posed by the Chinese Communist party," Noem said in a Feb. 2 column, titled "Securing South Dakota Agriculture." "This is exactly why we need to pass these bills. We cannot allow Chinese interests to purchase any South Dakota ag land, much less land near any military base or critical infrastructure."

Dominik Dausch is the agriculture and environment reporter for the Argus Leader and editor of Farm Forum. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @DomDNP and send news tips to ddausch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 'Dark money' group features Noem's foreign ag agenda at tele-town hall