Plunder

It seemed odd – Kristi Noem spending $220 million of taxpayers’ money on TV ads.

Cowboy hat on her head, leather chaps on her legs, long dark hair down on her shoulders, sitting on a horse in front of Mount Rushmore, she made one ad during the government shutdown.

Wrapping herself in the fig leaf said she spent the money to stop illegal immigration.

A second story landed in the press: Noem paid $143 million (of the $220 million) to a Delaware company that has its headquarters in a Republican political consultant’s home near Washington.

The story rolled on: One the company’s subcontractors is married to Tricia MacLaughlin, Noem’s press spokesman; Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s political consultant, has worked for the subcontractor; Noem hired the same subcontractor to work for her during her campaign for governor.

It was screwy. And smelled bad. But Washington’s a funky world and plunder’s a powerful temptation.