Governor Dennis Daugaard's economic development chief Pat Costello stirred us up a bit at the Legislature's March 7 hearing on the Governor's Office of Economic Development when he announced that in addition to the federal investigation of GOED's handling of the EB-5 visa investor program, his office is handling information requests from three other federal agencies. Costello suggested that publicity surrounding EB-5 may have induced other federal agencies to take a look at South Dakota's use of federal dollars.
But hold the phone: nothing so sensational seems be happening here. When I contacted the Department of Housing and Urban Development, both the Sioux Falls office and regional Denver office weren't sure what information request Costello was talking about. GOED responded that HUD simply selected South Dakota for "a routine monitoring" as part of HUD's "annual risk analysis process," a four-day process that is tentatively scheduled for June.
The other two information requests seem similarly innocuous:
The U.S. Treasury review resulted from GOED's request for its third tranche of funding for the SD Works program.
The U.S. Department of Energy review was to determine whether SD effectively and efficiently managed State Energy Program Funding.
To date, GOED has not received any adverse findings resulting from either of the foregoing reviews [Governor's Office of Economic Development, e-mail, 2014.03.12].
Oddly, we have here a situation where the GOED commissioner himself may have been fanning smoke where there is no fire.
Lora Hubbel is sending a letter to Brenden Johnson requesting information about the EB-5 scandal before the primary vote. I would encourage Susan Wismer and Joe Lowe to do the same. Johnson is doing a news conference on sex trafficking in SD. Isn't it time for a news conference on the EB-5, telling us who is going to be subpoenaed and indicted. Voters have a right to know this information before the primaries.
Get in line, Ms. Volesky: we'll release the results when we're ready.
Larry, do you mean stand in line until after the elections? Sorry I am not that patient. I am sure you have the same information that we all have, from Mr. Sandven. It's really hard to get it released when the press isn't cooperating very well.
Tara your daughter is a real player!!!!
Thanks Oldguy, now getting back to EB-5: the press, Susan Wismer, and Larry Lucas are stonewalled from getting any information from the GOED. A couple of reporters had to file a freedom of information act, because Pierre will not cooperate with information. Just look what happened with the so-call audit.....or should I say review of the GOED. The auditors are big campaign donors to DD. Imagine that. The Republicans on the commission will protect DD.
This could be a pre-emptive strike to alleviate any sting that might actually come forth after June. They can say they've covered this before and dismiss any criticisms.