PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The communications director for Governor Kristi Noem has refused again to say how her trip to Texas last week to visit the U.S-Mexico border was funded.
He also still won’t say how she got there and back.
Ian Fury told KELOLAND News in an email on Tuesday night that “the Governor did not take the state plane, and no taxpayer dollars were expended on the Governor’s travel.”
He didn’t respond to follow-up questions,
Kristi Noem speaks to South Dakota lawmakers on issues at US-Mexico border
Fury was asked again Wednesday afternoon, this time in person, as he, press secretary Amelia Joy and another of the governor’s aides, Ben Koisti, made arrangements for Noem’s speech about the border to a joint gathering of the House and Senate.
Fury said it wasn’t in his purview to say, because public funds weren’t involved.
“You don’t have to like the answer,” he said, “but that’s the answer.”
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