In Front of Our Noses: The Continuing Grift
In this case, Noem's rent-free living.
Via WaPo: Kristi Noem is living rent-free in home used by Coast Guard commandant.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem is living for free in a military home typicallyreserved for the U.S. Coast Guard’s top admiral, officials familiar with the matter said. The highly unusual arrangement has raised concern within the agency andfrom some Democrats, who describe it as a waste of military resources.
Noem recently moved intoQuarters 1, a spacious waterfront residence at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington where the Coast Guard commandant typically resides. She did so because of concerns over her safety after the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published photographs in April of the area around Noem’s residence in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
[…]
Noem pays no rent to live in the commandant’s house, according to an official familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.That’s a departure from how other Cabinet secretarieshave handled similar arrangements. Other Cabinet officials, including during both Trump administrations, have paid to use military housing that otherwise would be occupied by top generals and admirals.
She is supposedly there “temporarily” (however long that means).
The next paragraph is an example of the scourge of elite-level journalism in the US that continues to demonstrate it is not up to the task of dealing with the authoritarian nature of this regime.
Noem’s housing has raised eyebrows among current and retired Coast Guard officials, as well as Democrats, who warn that Noem risks creating the perception that she is exploiting the perks of her position as DHS secretary, in which she supervises the Coast Guard.
The “risk of creating the perception” is quite the phrase. You see, it might make people think there is a problem.
No.
It is a problem.
The WaPo piece goes down the same road twice.
Noem’s housing arrangement could create the impression that she is exploiting her position of authority over the Coast Guard to accrue perks for herself, said Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning watchdog nonprofit.
“What are the optics?” Brown said. “And is this taking advantage of your individual position as a government official to benefit unduly?”
I understand the impulse to be evenhanded, but good grief.
If there is a real security concern with the doxing, well, deal with it. But she should not be getting free housing. It is an abuse of office and is unfair to those who are entitled to said housing as part of their posting. It should be noted that the admiral entitled to the property pays the lease on the property in question (but does get a housing allowance).
Members of the military, including the Coast Guard commandant, receive a housing allowance that is based on their rank, the city they live in and their dependents. It is common for members of the Coast Guard to use the funding to pay for a lease, including in the house where Noem is residing, according to a person familiar with Coast Guard housing policy. Previous commandants have paid the leasing company directly for the quarters, they said.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin appeals to Noem’s humanity and rancherness in justifying all of this.
McLaughlin defended Noem’s living arrangement in an email to The Washington Post, saying it was necessary because the secretary had been “so horribly doxxed and targeted that she is no longer able to safely live in her own apartment.”
She added that it was “sad” for a Post reporter to “suggest a rancher should have to pay a second rent because of a reporter’s irresponsible decisions to dox where she lives.”
“If you cannot find humanity in another human’s safety and security, I invite you to find it here,” she said, including a link to Washington National Cathedral.
Sure, that makes sense. She has access to a great deal of security, being head of, you know, the Department of Homeland Security, but sure, free houses for all the ranchers, or something.
The griftiness of it all is quite Trumpian.
Current and former Coast Guard members have also cited Noem’s frequent use of a Coast Guard Gulfstream aircraft as a point of tension. Agency guidelines require the DHS secretary to use a plane with secure communications for both personal and professional business, though they are required to reimburse the government for personal travel. McLaughlin said Noem had reimbursed “tens of thousands of dollars” for the air travel, after publication of this story.
Noem faced scrutiny for her expenses when she served as governor of South Dakota. She spent $68,000 in taxpayer money to refurbish the governor’s mansion with a sauna, chandelier and other amenities, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported in 2021. And South Dakota picked up the tab for at least $150,000 in campaign and personal travel for Noem related to her security when she was governor, the Associated Press reported this year.
You know, as public servants do.
Just pointing out there have are congress people living out of their DC offices. I can recall an episode of The West Wing portraying one. It isn’t any secret. Those congressmen’s living quarters are being paid for by taxpayers too.
BTW, Noem slept in her office when serving in Congress.
@Bill Jempty: Are you suggesting that getting a free actual residence is the same as sleeping in one’s office?
@Steven L. Taylor:
Are you suggesting that by sleeping in one’s office that the congressperson is not getting a tax payer paid for residence?
Professor, we’re not a student of yours here. You can’t fail me for not nodding my head in agreement with everything you say.
@Bill Jempty: I can point out when you make a category error.
An office is paid for by taxpayers, yes. Offices are not residences. That one can sleep in an office is incontrovertibly true.
I agree that the federal government pays for offices for any number of people.
I ask again: are you equating sleeping in one’s office with getting an actual free residence?
The same residence from which the first female Commandant of the Coast Guard was evicted because DEI or something? Somebody’s gotta use it I guess.
@Bill Jempty: I suggest you take a look at some of those offices before suggesting that SLEEPING WHERE YOU WORK is some kind of perk.
The big guys–Speaker, Whip, etc.–have generous office quarters. Most members have pretty small offices. Sleeping on a f*cking cot is not grand. And they don’t do this because it’s some level of awesome…they do it because DC is expensive, and you have a $180K salary that has to cover TWO places to live–your home district and your DC residence. That might sound like a generous salary, unless your home district has a high cost of living.
Most of the members I knew were in shared houses/apartments.
Very, very little about being a member of Congress is glamorous. It’s hard work and long hours and given how much money it costs to run, you are flying home A LOT to do district hours and fundraise.
Sleeping on a cot or on a sofa in your congressional office isn’t exactly the same as Noem camping out in quarters that are designated for someone else.
ETA: I will allow that for some members of Congress, sleeping in their office is some kind of performative gesture, “I’m not spending taxes on another living space, blah blah blah.” But it’s usually because they don’t want to spend their earnings (aka, a taxpayer-provided salary) on a separate space.
@Bill Jempty:
BTW: yes, I am. I had an office at the university, which I suppose I could have slept in. That is not the same as being provided a residence,
I’m sure Secretary Noem will declare the value of her accommodation to the IRS, and pay income tax on it.
HAHAHAHAHAHA now you tell one.
@Ken_L: Ken has jokes! 😉 Jokes are good in the doom times!
To be honest, I would prefer that we rent each Congress critter an apartment in DC, and paid for fewer flights home.
The cost of providing an office to an executive or official is the same whether they sleep in it or not.
I think there is a typo in this section, missing a “not”?
@Robert in SF: Yup–I have inserted the appropriate “not.”
Thanks for noting that.
@Bill Jempty:
It strikes me that by this logic, if one gets a company car, it is the same thing as getting a residence, since some people sleep in their cars.
@Bill Jempty:
Well, yes, if a Congress person sleeps in their office then the taxpayers are paid for their sleeping quarters – in the form of an office, not an extra residence.
Noem is paid a salary, is provided with an (probably spacious) office, AND is living in a taxpayer funded residence.
Is this normal for cabinet secretaries?
This is a great point, and it’s easy to become cynical when these kinds of scandals seem to repeat themselves. The article highlights an important issue.
For a lot of people, the frustration comes from feeling that there’s a different set of rules for those in power. It’s important to keep looking at the facts and to hold leaders accountable, regardless of their political party.