Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reportedly took $80,000 from a dark money nonprofit while serving as governor of South Dakota
In 2023, the nonprofit American Resolve Policy Fund paid an $80,000 "fundraising fee" to to Ashwood Strategies — a personal LLC registered in Delaware by Noem — according to an investigative report by ProPublica.
The "fundraising fee" amounted to a 10% cut of donations allegedly brought in by Noem.
American Resolve raised $1.1 million in 2023 but spent little beyond payments to Noem's LLC and travel costs. As a dark money group, donors to American Resolve are secret and its public activity mostly consists of maintaining pro-Noem social media accounts.
Noem, who earned about $130,000 annually as governor, did not list the $80,000 payment on her federal financial disclosure forms, which legal experts told ProPublica likely violates ethics rules.
Noem established Ashwood Strategies — named after one of her horses — during her second term as governor on June 22, 2023. The side business only became publicly known during her confirmation process to Trump's Cabinet where she said the LLC was for "personal activities outside my official gubernatorial capacity."
South Dakota's former Senate president, Lee Schoenbeck, referenced a state law explicitly requiring top officials to devote their full time to office and limiting their compensation to their salary and to businesses they had before taking office. "There's no way the governor is supposed to have a private side business that the public doesn't know about," Schoenbeck, a Republican, told ProPublica. "It would clearly not be appropriate."
In a statement, Noem's lawyer insisted she "fully complied with the letter and the spirit of the law" and said ethics officials had reviewed her disclosures, though he did not answer follow-up questions about the undisclosed income.
While Noem's lawyer defended the payments as legal, ethics experts warned the case reveals a deeper risk: donors may effectively be paying politicians directly, not just funding their campaigns.
"If donors to these nonprofits are not just holding the keys to an elected official's political future but also literally providing them with their income," Daniel Weiner of the Brennan Center for Justice warned, "That's new and disturbing."
Noem's finances have previously garnered scrutiny. As Governor, Noem spent over $150,000 in taxpayer money on travel that was not directly related to South Dakota, including her book tour, a Canadian bear hunt, a trip to Houston for dental work, and multiple trips to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Since her appointment heading DHS, she has been photographed wearing a Rolex watch reportedly worth over $50,000 while at the notorious Salvadoran torture prison, CECOT, and her Gucci designer handbag was allegedly stolen with $3,000 cash inside.
Originally published on Latin Times
