South Dakota Searchlight readers were recently treated to two very different views of bipartisanship and governance.
First came the story about an analysis of bipartisanship in the U.S. Congress. Released by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, the report had good news about South Dakotas congressional delegations willingness to work with the other political party.
Rep. Dusty Johnson ranked 106th in bipartisanship in the 435-member House. In the 100-member Senate, Sen. Mike Rounds ranked 20th and Sen. John Thune ranked 42nd.
Thunes ranking in the top half of senators is an oddity given that he is the right-hand man of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Despite carrying so much water for McConnell, Thune still managed to be more bipartisan than 30 of his Republican Senate colleagues, according to the analysis. That bodes well for the Senate should Thune ascend to the top job as McConnells replacement.
Johnsons high rank in the House is a testament to his refusal to get involved in the Donald Trump-inspired shenanigans that have taken up so much of that chambers time. His spurning of the Trump-backed messes made by Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk stands in stark contrast to the leadership of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Noem has become something of a contortionist, trying to shape herself into the person that Trump would choose as his vice president. Her approach to bipartisanship is neatly summed up in the title of her new book, No Going Back. While her publisher will be going back to correct mistakes in the book, Noem holds true to a course that calls for never admitting a mistake and never making an apology.
This was evident in another South Dakota Searchlight story about a rare news conference Noem hosted where she once again linked the problems at the nations southern border to drug cartels and the states Native American reservations. Noems previous comments on these topics suggested that tribal leaders were benefiting from the drug cartels and characterized children on the reservation as having no hope.
That didnt sit well with the tribal leaders of the states nine reservations, each of which has moved to ban Noem from its lands. Usually someone has to be a suspected terrorist to be banned from nine sovereign nations. To earn her status on the no-reservation list, all Noem had to do was lob a few verbal bombs at the states tribes.
The tribal bans are symbolic at best. Its any easy bet that as governor, Noem has spent more time traveling out-of-state first as the darling of the Republican Party and lately during the worlds worst book tour than she ever has on the states reservations.
The recent news conference would have been the perfect time to walk back some of her previous statements, express some remorse or even apologize for her harsh prediction about the lives of children on the reservations. Instead, she was true to the title of her book with no going back.
Had she apologized to tribes, they might be inclined to be more bipartisan. Instead of banning Noem, they might invite her to visit the reservations often and at some length. As South Dakotans, they could press the governor to bring the full weight of the states resources to bear in the areas of law enforcement, health and human services, social work, education and whatever else is needed.
Instead, theyve symbolically slammed the door on the state official who could help them the most.
Whats most important in the Lugar Center analysis is the fact that bipartisanship is hard work. That makes the high marks for this states congressional delegation all the more laudable. Bipartisanship takes a willingness to listen, discuss and compromise attributes that are too often missing in todays political climate.
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