PIERRE, S.D. Dec. 8, 2022 – The South Dakota Freedom Caucus is praising Governor Noem's efforts today, after Noem ordered a full review of state investments.

According to a statement released today, The Freedom Caucus agrees with the governor's risk assessment related to threats the Chinese Communist Party potential poses on national security.

State Representative and Freedom Caucus Treasurer, Tina Mulally (R-Rapid City) said the governor's efforts are commendable. “Governor Noem’s conscious effort to protect our financial sector is to be commended,” Mulally said. “Good money, to bad people, makes bad policy and we’re encouraged to see good policy being implemented here.”

In addition, members of the Freedom Caucus have indicated an intent to bring forward legislation during the 2023 session, in order to address "bad actors" within the financial sector and E.S.G. Scores (Environmental Social Governance). Also referred to as "stakeholder capitalism," ESG policies have been created by the World Economic forum, as a social scoring tool to assess risk in lending according to their stated goals for The Great Reset.

According to Justin Haskins, Senior Research Fellow at the Heartland Institute, ESG is an arbitrary set of financial policies that allow for discrimination, inequality and unfair practices in the marketplace. Further concerns have been cited related to the centralized power that ESGs would give to the world's wealthiest corporations to dictate national policy.

Nearly half the states in the U.S. are currently working to create policies that would block the implementation of ESGs for businesses, and social scoring systems like MyLife for citizens.

“It’s great to see the Governor acknowledging the impact of foreign interference and how it can impact our financial markets,” Mulally said. Mulally also noted that the Governor’s recent actions are timely and necessary in light of recent news.

Last month, The Hill published the Op-Ed of Bryan Bashur, the federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Shareholder Advocacy Forum.

Bashur wrote "environmental, social and governance ratings, coupled with the Biden administration’s subsidization of electric vehicles, are facilitating the misallocation of capital toward firms controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. ESG ratings are encouraging the politicization of retirees’ life savings and bolstering China’s stranglehold on the global energy sector."

According to Mulally, this has been an issue of concern for sometime and she is looking forward to working on policies that will help protect South Dakotans from foreign countries that are currently working to purchase critical food supply resources.

Chair of the Freedom Caucus, Representative Aaron Aylward (R-Sioux Falls) said “the governor is right in framing this as a national security issue, this is economic warfare and we are fighting an enemy within.”

“There’s more at stake here than most people know,” said Freedom Caucus Vice Chair Representative Tony Randolph “and now is the time to act, before it’s too late to do so.”

The 2023 South Dakota legislative session begins this January 10th.


--Breeauna Sagdal

Post Date: 2022-12-09 10:51:08

Last Update: 2022-12-09 11:13:05