Report: State officials defended private $1 million donation for National Guard deployment

A batch of emails obtained by a Washington D.C.-based ethics watchdog group reveals South Dakota state officials were ready to defend Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s decision in 2021 to accept a private donation to fund a National Guard troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, released the emails Tuesday. Throughout the email threads, Noem’s former chief of staff Aaron Scheible and former SD National Guard Major General Jeffrey Marlette had a back and forth about the private donation payment. Additionally, emails questioned if the donation would be placed into existing state funds or if the guardsman would receive portions of the donation directly in their salaries.

Noem announced in late June 2021 that 50 National Guard troops would be deployed to the border. At the end of her announcement was a single line: “The deployment will be paid for by a private donation.”

More: South Dakota National Guard chief says private donation didn't affect deployment plans

In an email sent by Marlette on June 25 to Scheibe and Ian Fury, the Governor’s Director of Communication, he wrote, “I think the statement, ‘The deployment will be paid for by a private donation’ will start a flurry of inquiries from the media, but it is a true statement.”

The Noem administration at first refused to disclose the size of the donation to the public, according to Argus Leader reporting. The administration privately informed state legislative leaders that the Willis and Reba Johnson Foundation, a Tennessee billionaire couple, had donated $1 million to support the mission.

More: Tennessee couple paying $1 million to send South Dakota National Guard troops to border

The total cost of the two-month deployment was $1.45 million, according to CREW.

Representatives from Sen. John Thune’s, R-SD, office were already questioning the specific use of the funds, emails revealed. Jon Abdnor, one of Thune’s policy advisors, asked about how the payment would be reimbursed and whether it would cover all costs of the deployment.

Other questions focused on whether the troops would be paid directly with the donation, according to the emails.

Dan Lusk, the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Public Safety at the time, wrote the donation would go to the emergency and disaster fund, not to the salaries of the guardsmen after Kristi Turman, the director of Emergency Services within DPS, had learned the Department of Defense and National Guard Bureau were discussing the legality of whether such a National Guard deployment could be funded with private dollars.

After the administration was criticized for accepting the donation, Congress passed legislation banning the use of private donations for interstate National Guard deployments.

More: Defense bill bans private funds for deploying National Guard like South Dakota did this summer

As media continued to chase the story about the private donation, Marlette sent another email to Scheible and Mark Miller, then Noem’s legal counsel, defending the choice to accept the money.

Marlette wrote accepting private donations to the state weren’t uncommon or illegal and the state had a history of partnering with private citizens for projects.

“As I have stated, this is a National Security risk to our country and [sic] ul to our state,” he wrote, before going on to explain that Guard troops had been deployed to the border.

He later noted in the email, “This is a different approach, but I think it delivers the Governor’s important messages and the media’s misguided assumptions that this is political, illegal or not within her powers.”

Fury wrote in a statement Tuesday that the donation wasn't made to the state until after the deployment was authorized.

"We are grateful for the service of our National Guard soldiers," Fury wrote. "It is unfortunate that partisan liberal organizations continue to attack our troops to cover up for President Biden’s failures at the Southern border."

In a statement Tuesday, CREW wrote, "We’re dedicated to rooting out the influence of money in politics. Kristi Noem’s acceptance of a huge donation from a Tennessee resident to activate the South Dakota National Guard raised serious concerns of the influence of billionaires on our elected officials. This situation was not normal, the Noem administration clearly knew that, and South Dakota residents deserve to know how these decisions were made."

During the guard’s deployment in 2021, according to previous AP reporting, there were “slow days” and ultimately resulted in no seizures of drugs or confirmed encounters with “transnational criminals.”

More: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to deploy National Guard troops to U.S.-Mexico border

In June of this year, Noem, in her second term, announced 50 National Guard troops would be deployed to the border at the request of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbot. Troops were deployed in September but details have remained few and far between about the length of the deployment, the total cost and the mission goal, according to South Dakota Searchlight.

Fury said in June the deployment would be funded by the Emergency and Disaster Fund.

Noem inspected the troops in late September, according to a release from the Governor's Office, along with South Dakota Adjutant General Mark Morrell and DPS Secretary Bob Perry.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: How SD officials defended a $1M private donation to the National Guard