The Dakota Scout is apparently the paper of record for Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All I can say is this: If what we’re seeing out of the Dakota Scout is the best journalism that corner of the country can provide us with, Sioux Falls ain’t giving us any Woodwards or Bernsteins anytime soon.
According to Fox News, in the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between Department of Homeland Security Secretary and former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Noem’s legal representation is seeking a cease-and-desist order against the paper, which has been doing what it claims is erroneous reporting on her use of credit cards while she ran the state.
It doesn’t help that one of the several reporters who have been doing most of the legwork on the credit cards story, Austin Goss, was arrested in 2023 for using a call spoofer to pretend to be Noem in a call to the head of the South Dakota Republican Party and using a pre-recorded message titled (seriously) “Mafia Guy Got Vaccines” in which a mafiosi pretends to be extremely upset that diverted COVID vaccines went “outside this family.”
So yeah, I’d say things are going great around the office of the Dakota Scout, which stands by its reporting. (Well, not the “Mafia Guy Got Vaccines” bit — but if that’s indicative of the care they’re showing in reporting this sort of thing, standing by their reportage isn’t exactly a spectacular argument from authority.)
“On behalf of former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in her personal capacity, I write out of concern that your website continues to publish false and misleading information about my client that you have known to be false since at least July 2024,” one of Noem’s personal attorneys wrote in the letter, obtained by Fox News on Thursday.
“Specifically, your website repeatedly, and inaccurately, refers to all charges on credit cards used by the Office of the Governor of South Dakota as charges of my client — allowing a conclusion by multiple commenters on the site and other news outlets that my client violated the laws of South Dakota or stole taxpayer funds for her personal use,” the letter continued.
“We demand that The Dakota Scout immediately cease spreading these false, misleading, and inaccurate statements and take immediate and significant steps to correct past inaccuracies.”
And, from the sound of things, they may have a case.
“The Dakota Scout has for months reported that Noem racked up more than $650,000 in credit card transactions on a government-issued card during her gubernatorial career, which has now grown legs in the state as other outlets publish similar reports,” Fox News reported.
“The monthly totals show that Noem spent nearly $650,000 from the time she took office in 2019 through April of this year,” one report from July 2024 stated.
“The Scout reported last summer that Noem had spent nearly $650,000 on the charge cards,” another said.
However, as Fox News noted, the amount on the one particular card singled out in the letter was only a little over $2,000.
The letter from Noem’s attorneys requests that the outlet make changes to its stories, including changing headlines and removing graphics like this — although not necessarily this one, since we don’t have access to the full letter and the problematic examples, but this gives you an idea of how it’s being covered by the outlet:
Taxpayer-backed credit card use rose with Kristi Noem’s national profile
Travel, lodging for former South Dakota governor’s security detail largest portion of $750,000 paid on two state charge accounts
Story: https://t.co/aVvTP11PPG pic.twitter.com/lp3KgWFurn
— The Dakota Scout (@TheDakotaScout) March 7, 2025
That being said, there are a few wrinkles to this. First and foremost, as KELO-TV, based in the state capital of Pierre, reported on March 3, the records themselves were sealed by the South Dakota Office of State Auditor, which denied a request last June to release them.
The Dakota Scout noted that the records weren’t to be made public for 10 years, which would be problematic for outlets like the Scout, since documents can be destroyed after seven years.
The two sides reached an agreement in early February, with the first story regarding the 137 voucher invoices turned over to the Dakota Scout being published by the outlet on Feb. 23, KELO reported.
And, while the spending on only one particular state-issued card totaled $2,000, a series of cards with spending on Noem’s expenses from the gubernatorial office did come up to $650,000 — although there were caveats there, too.
For one, it wasn’t just Noem spending the money, but Noem’s people, who were arranging both security and logistics for her team. If you don’t remember, she was one of the highest-profile politicians in the nation for several years — and a front-runner in Donald Trump’s veepstakes until a series of high-profile missteps took her out of the running.
Nevertheless, as retired New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, “complaints about these expenditures are ludicrous,” Fox reported.
“Kristi Noem was and is a high-profile public official who faces real security threats, including during the time when she was governor of South Dakota.”
Should Kristi Noem sue for libel?
“A governor is never off-duty and requires the same level of protection regardless of whether they are in their home state or traveling out of state,” he said. “And the level of security they need would be assessed by the security experts providing the protection, not by the governor herself. It’s the same for all protectees — if you want to keep these people safe, it costs money.”
As for directly ascribing this spending to Noem, that could just be a case of sloppiness and unprofessional journalism as it is actionably libelous. And make no mistake, there’s not a paucity of sloppiness and/or unprofessional behavior going around the newsroom of the Dakota Scout, such as it may be.
For instance, take the emailed reaction to the cease-and-desist from Dakota Scout co-founder Jonathan Ellis — who, along with the aforementioned Goss, has been working at the credit card story for almost a year now.
“I have reviewed your letter. We do not comment on pending litigation. Heh,” he said. “I’m certain you will have the opportunity to fully explain your reasoning when you are deposed.”
Heh heh. Heh heh. Hey, Butt-Head. She said “desist.”
I’m also going to guess that the email didn’t mention Goss’ arrest and guilty plea for using the website PrankDial to spoof Noem’s cell phone number and deliver the pre-recorded “Mafia Guy Got Vaccines” message to the South Dakota GOP head when Goss was with an outlet called Dakota News Now.
“You telling me, you didn’t tell Vito, that you were going to try to move the three boxes of that AstraZeneca outside this family?” the message said, in part, according to The Daily Beast. (Goss was fired and pleaded to a reduced disorderly conduct charge. He ended up at the Dakota Scout. I merely present those facts as known and will allow you to make summary judgment, should you so choose.)
It should be noted that Goss did send a letter of apology to Noem following the plea deal, saying in part: “Given my line of work, it has not always felt like it I am sure — but I care about you, your family, and your current and former staff. Many of the people you work with, or have worked with, are personal friends of mine and I deeply value their relationships both professionally and personally.”
Anyhow, Ellis and the Scout’s other co-founder, Joe Sneve, issued a slightly more decorous message on the Scout’s Substack.
“We stand by our reporting and consider it an honor to bring the truth about government spending to South Dakotans,” they said in a joint statement. “And we’re always willing to defend it in a court of law, too.”
To be fair, the majority of the Scout’s reporting since they obtained the records and started reporting on them Feb. 23 seems to make clear that it wasn’t a single individual making the charges and that there were multiple cards involved. If the case were to go to court, it’s entirely conceivable that the Dakota Scout could simply posit that they made mistakes or used inexact language but that they don’t rise to the level of falsehood or “actual malice” in making those mistakes, the standard set for defamation by the Supreme Court in the landmark case New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964.
That being said, we’re also entering terra nova regarding proving “actual malice” in the electronic age, something that was virtually impossible even a decade ago. Consider the recent judgment against CNN in its reporting on a Navy vet contractor who was extracting those left behind in Afghanistan after the fall of the country to the Taliban; CNN reported he was charging exorbitant fees but gave him little time to respond to reporting that turned out to be materially false. In addition, during discovery, it turned out that messages between producers and correspondents on the story said the vet, Zachary Young, had “a punchable face” and promised that “we’re gonna nail this Zachary Young mf****er” — pretty clear evidence of very actual, very much malice.
All I’m saying is, if that’s what’s going on at CNN, just imagine what’s happening behind the scenes at the outlet where “Mafia Guy Got Vaccines” dude found a home.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
