South Dakota Loses Noem’s Voice on Indian Affairs Committee

As South Dakota's lone Congresswoman reduces her workload to make more time for fundraising, the Lakota folks she represents are losing their voice in the House. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Kristi Noem had a seat on the Subcommittee of Indian and Alaska Native Affairs. She may not have made much use of that seat, but she at least had the potential to use that committee position to help the red man get ahead, man.

But now she's leaving the Indian Affairs subcommittee, as well as the Education/Labor Committee, to take a seat on the Armed Service Committee. As was the case when Noem ascended to the House Agriculture Committee in June 2011, Rep. Noem has no position statements on the main policy area of her new committee. She has published no issues statements focusing on the armed services on either her campaign website or her official Congressional webpage. She has statements on veterans' issues, but those lie in the bailiwick of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, not Armed Services. Noem doesn't even have military experience. As usual, Rep. Noem is thrown into work for which she is intellectually unprepared.

Lakota newspaperman Tim Giago thought he was showing his people a clever route to better representation in Washington by casting his vote for a show-horse Republican. In return, South Dakota's Lakota people lose their voice on the House committee where one voice can arguably do the most good. Real smart, Tim.