EDITORIAL: The secretary of ‘constant chaos’

The federal agency in charge of disaster relief for Americans is itself a victim of a disaster, a man-made disaster brought on by the 59-34 bipartisan Senate vote a year ago to approve the appointment of the person President Donald Trump chose to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The most generous thing to say about Kristi Noem in her reign as DHS secretary is that she is incompetent, which in fact is being said by a growing number of Congress members who supported her appointment but now seem to be deep in the throes of buyer’s remorse.

Noem’s incompetence is plain to see even though it is often obscured by other traits she brings to the leadership of a government department with more than a quarter million employees. The short list of these includes self-promotion to a comical extreme, lavish spending of taxpayer money in support of her own comfort and celebrity while withholding disaster relief funds for suffering citizens, imperious mistreatment of subordinates and public prevarication to a degree that would embarrass Pinocchio.

Much of this behavior is related to Noem’s authority as leader of the DHS agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Playing this role in staged photo ops for recording by news media and her personal camera crew, she has been portrayed accompanying ICE agents on what was purported to be a deportation raid wearing high heels, designer jeans, an ICE hat and body-armor vest.

And then there was her unforgettable appearance in a cowboy getup, including a 10-gallon hat worn gunslinger-low just above eye level, at the news event where she informed the country that the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent was justified because the 37-year-old mother of three was a domestic terrorist.

The DHS chief’s ICE activity may be the most colorful act of her performance in office, but her impact on the nation goes well beyond immigration, and some of it is specifically affecting Wisconsin.

Noem’s Federal Emergency Management Agency has twice denied Wisconsin’s appeal for federal disaster relief for damage to public infrastructure caused by the flooding that devastated the state in August. Gov. Tony Evers had applied twice for $26.5 million in FEMA funds to repair damage in six counties, including Ozaukee, done by flooding so severe that meteorologists termed it a 1,000-year flood. Both his initial request and a subsequent appeal were rejected.

Wisconsin is not alone. FEMA has been sitting on disaster aid petitions from a number of states since Noem decreed that no relief requests over $100,000 could be granted without her personal approval.

Lest anyone is tempted to assume that Noem’s slowdown of FEMA support is motivated by a desire to spare taxpayer expense, it should be noted that though she has a fleet of government aircraft at her disposal the DHS chief leased a Boeing 737 MAX for her use at a cost of $70 million and has contracted to have the agency buy two Gulfstream G700 luxury jets at a reported cost of more than $172 million.

While states and communities were left waiting for aid, Noem expedited a FEMA payment of $11.4 million to rebuild a pier in Naples, Fla., one of the country’s richest cities, where a home was recently listed for $295 million. The aid request was legitimate—the pier was well used public facility that was destroyed by a hurricane in 2022—but Noem’s sudden interest had more to do with her own political needs than a city’s need for disaster relief.

City officials were frustrated by the lack of action by FEMA until Sinan Gursoy, a wealthy cardiologist, orchestrated a visit to Naples by Noem. There was a meeting with the mayor and a dinner at a renowned French restaurant and within a few days an announcement that FEMA would pick up the tab for much of the new pier’s cost.

All it took was a nudge by a generous donor to Noem’s campaign for governor of South Dakota in 2022. The donor was Gursoy.

(Little known factoid: Dr. Gursoy once visited Port Washington, enjoyed dinner at the Port Hotel and bought everyone at his table a Port Hotel T-shirt as a souvenir. Maybe he should be asked to whisper a word to Noem on Wisconsin’s behalf.)

If the DHS secretary’s approval of FEMA grants is influenced by political connections, it doesn’t help Wisconsin in its quest for federal aid that its governor is a Democrat. But even state Republican officials are complaining about the FEMA snub. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos criticized the failure to abide by the norm that “when you have a catastrophic event, the federal government steps in to help.”

Evers was more direct, calling the denial of aid “ridiculous,” adding that “efforts to rebuild will costs tens of millions of taxpayer dollars that local communities will be on the hook for and it’s really disappointing to see our federal government turn their backs on Wisconsin.”

Maybe Wisconsin will have to wait until the DHS has a new leader. That may be sooner than later. A Wall Street Journal report that was published last week and is now being treated as a Washington bombshell describes the “constant chaos” in Noem’s DHS, replete with details of missteps ranging from embarrassing to outrageous, and is adding momentum to a bipartisan effort to persuade the president to drop the curtain on the Kristi Noem show.