Kristi Noem-linked firm secretly got money from $220 million DHS ad contracts

On Oct the second day of the establishment shutdown Homeland Protection Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants Break our laws we ll punish you Noem has hailed the more than million taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration Her agency invoked the national emergency at the demarcation as it awarded contracts for the campaign bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption The Department of Homeland Safeguard has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret records and interviews show a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot called the Strategy Group does not appear on community documents about the contract The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company which was created days before the deal was finalized No firm has closer ties to Noem s political operation than the Strategy Group It played a central role in her South Dakota gubernatorial campaign Corey Lewandowski her top adviser at DHS has worked extensively with the firm And the company s CEO is married to Noem s chief spokesperson at DHS Tricia McLaughlin The Strategy Group s ad work is the first known example of money flowing from Noem s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends Regime contracting experts revealed the depth of the ties between DHS leadership and the Strategy Group suggested major anticipated violations of ethics rules It s corrupt is the word mentioned Charles Tiefer a leading authority on federal contract law and former member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan He commented that the Strategy Group s role should prompt investigations by both the DHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee Hiding your friends as subcontractors is like playing hide the salami with the taxpayer Tiefer added Federal regulations forbid conflicts of interest in contracting and require that the process be conducted with complete impartiality and with preferential medicine for none It s worthy of an assessment to ferret out how these decisions were made and whether they were made legally and without bias announced Scott Amey a contracting expert and general counsel at the watchdog group Project on Ruling body Oversight The revelations come as the amount of money at Noem s disposal has skyrocketed The so-called Big Beautiful Bill granted DHS more than billion and Noem has given herself an uncommon degree of control over how that money is spent This summer she began requiring that she personally approve any payment over Demanded about the Strategy Group s work for DHS McLaughlin the agency spokesperson stated in an interview We don t have visibility into why they were chosen I don t know who they re a subcontractor with but I don t work with them because I have a conflict of interest and I fully recused myself she disclosed My marriage is one thing and work is another I don t combine them Her husband Strategy Group CEO Ben Yoho didn t respond to questions In a written declaration DHS mentioned DHS has no involvement with the selection of subcontractors They added that the Strategy Group does not have a direct contract with the agency saying DHS cannot and does not determine control or weigh in on who contractors hire Contracting experts reported that agencies can and do sometimes require that subcontractors be approved by leaders It s not clear how much the Strategy Group has been paid This is not the first time that the Strategy Group has gotten masses money through a Noem contract As governor of South Dakota in her administration set off a controversy by hiring the Ohio-based company to do a different ad campaign paying it million in state funds While the state commented the contract was done by the book a former Noem administration official narrated ProPublica that Noem quietly intervened to ensure the Strategy Group got the deal ProPublica granted a few people anonymity to discuss the deals because of their sensitivity The firm also paid up to to one of Noem s closest advisers in South Dakota previously unreported records show The adviser -year-old Madison Sheahan now serves at DHS as the second-in-command of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Sheahan didn t respond to questions about why she was paid The DHS ad that the company filmed at Mount Rushmore has aired during Fox Friends in latest days Executives from the Strategy Group traveled to the shoot and hired subcontractors to fill out the film crew according to records and a person involved in the campaign The ad s aesthetic sits somewhere between a political campaign ad and a Jeep commercial as Noem tells would-be immigrants to come here the right way From the cowboys who tamed the West to the titans who built our cities Noem says as images of Trump Tower in Chicago and Trump raising his fist after the assassination attempt last year flash on the screen America has consistently rewarded vision and grit Noem continues You cross the territory line illegally we ll find you The ad is the latest in a campaign that Noem debuted in February just a limited weeks after she took charge of DHS Any delay in providing these critical communications to the masses will increase the spread of misinformation especially misinformation by agents the agency wrote explaining why it was skipping the competitive bidding process normally required for administration contracts The initial ads featured Noem thanking Trump for securing the territory line The contracts total million so far leading the DHS ad budget to triple in the majority of fresh fiscal year according to Bloomberg The lion s share of ad contracts is typically used to buy TV airtime or spots on social media Advertising firms make money by taking an often-hefty commission Federal records show the contracts have gone to two firms One is a Republican ad company in Louisiana called People Who Think which has been awarded million But the majority of the money million has gone to a mysterious LLC in Delaware The company was created just days before it was awarded the deal Little is known about the Delaware company which is called Safe America Media and lists its address as the Virginia home of a veteran Republican operative Michael McElwain McElwain has long had his own advertising company separate from the Delaware one but there s little evidence that firm could handle a nine-figure federal contract on its own It broadcasted just five employees when it received COVID- relief money a inadequate years ago How where and to whom Safe America Media doled out the million is unknown Any subcontractors hired to do work on the DHS ads are not disclosed in federal contracting databases The office funding the ad contracts is listed as the DHS Office of Populace Affairs which is run by McLaughlin contract records show McLaughlin married Yoho the Strategy Group CEO earlier this year In its comment DHS disclosed the agency does its contracting by the book and the process is run by career administrators It is very sad that Pro Publica would seek to defame these constituents servants DHS added Inquired about why the agency chose Safe America Media DHS stated The results speak for themselves the preponderance secure dividing line in American history and over million illegal aliens exiting the United States McElwain and People Who Think didn t respond to questions Yoho was still in college when he first served as campaign manager for a U S congressman Now at years old he s a national member in the cutthroat industry of political advertising Federal voting records show tens of millions in payments to his firm during the electoral contest cycle coming from dozens of Republican congressional candidates And Noem has proved a particularly lucrative client Lewandowski brought Yoho into Noem s inner circle back in South Dakota according to two people familiar with the matter putting the young consultant in charge of the ad side of her gubernatorial reelection campaign Noem had a more than million advertising budget for the race records show After she won in a landslide Yoho who has called Noem a friend came to South Dakota to attend her inauguration ceremony He sat off to the side of the stage next to Lewandowski Lewandowski didn t respond to a request for comment By then Yoho s next big project with Noem was already in the works In late Noem was quietly preparing to launch another sprawling ad campaign only this time the money would come from state coffers The stated goal was to encourage workers to move to South Dakota The upcoming contract opportunity wasn t general yet but Yoho was already involved in planning the campaign according to records first published by Sioux Falls Live Then on Jan Yoho s company registered to do business in South Dakota under the name Go West Media The next day the contract opportunity went live Seven companies submitted proposals for the project Then the pressure from above set in according to a former Noem administration official involved in the process The former official commented a top Noem aide notified them the governor would be angry if Yoho s company didn t win the contract He was very direct She wants to do it they revealed Contemporaneous text messages reviewed by ProPublica corroborate that senior Noem administration functionaries pushed for Yoho to get the contract Eventually he did In its report DHS denied that Noem influenced the process Noem starred in Yoho s ads herself dressing up as a dentist a plumber and a state trooper as she touted her state s growing business activity Exactly how much Yoho and the Strategy Group made off the million deal is unclear Selected of the money was used to purchase spots on Fox News including one during a Republican presidential debate Certain of the money appears to have gone back to South Dakota into the bank account of another of Noem s top advisers Sheahan now the second-in-command at ICE was paid up to by Go West in for consulting according to a financial disclosure document Sheahan later filed At the time Sheahan was serving as both the operations director for Noem as governor and the political director for Noem s campaign work according to a copy of her resume obtained by ProPublica Her responsibilities included coordinating daily logistics and operations for Noem and her crew the resume revealed She also managed the relationship with high level donors to American Resolve Noem s structure of outside political groups As his firm received millions from the South Dakota state regime Yoho separately continued to work for Noem in other capacities He worked under Lewandowski on the publicity campaign for Noem s memoir according to a person familiar with the matter The book became famous for including an anecdote about Noem shooting her dog The Strategy Group also received a stream of payments for social media consulting and media production work over the last scant years from Noem s American Resolve PAC Federal electoral contest records show the PAC made its last payment to Yoho s company this February a couple weeks after Noem took her post as the head of DHS The post Kristi Noem-linked firm secretly got money from million DHS ad contracts appeared first on Salon com