Ellis: Noem’s pheasant hunt shake-up is a shot at The Establishment

It was just another humdrum Monday morning in June. Across South Dakota, members of the Good Old Boys Network were doing what they usually do.

Some were undoubtedly swinging a golf club.

Some were probably out walleye hunting.

Others might have been contemplating their next business conquest.

And a few might have been huffing on a cigarette outside their favorite video lottery parlor.

And then, bam. The governor’s office issued an announcement that lit up The Establishment, sparking emails and phone calls and angst.

Surely, they wondered, Gov. Kristi Noem’s announcement about the Governor’s Hunt portended some deeper meaning.

More:Noem moves Governor's Hunt from Pierre to Sioux Falls to 'attract more business prospects'

Indeed, the announcement to move the governor’s annual pheasant hunt from Pierre to Sioux Falls and southeastern South Dakota does represent a disturbance in The Force, to borrow from Star Wars. It was, six months into her term, a reminder that Noem was an outsider who promised to shake up the cloistered little world of the Pierre power structure.

The annual pheasant hunt traces its roots to Gov. Joe Foss. In 1980, Gov. Bill Janklow revived the hunt, branding it as an opportunity to bring outside business executives to the state and pitch them on the benefits of setting up shop in South Dakota.

But over the years, the hunt morphed, as all things do. It got bigger. Its mission of promoting the state for economic development never changed, of course, and out-of-state prospects were still invited. But even the hunt’s defenders concede that it became more of an event for the existing business community and the political elite. Which, of course, means Republican Party donors and the political class. It became an event about access. Of hobnobbing.

Some will tell you that Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s decision to make the list of invitees public also hampered economic development. Daugaard did so in his first year in office after this newspaper sued Gov. Mike Rounds for the list. The Argus Leader lost in the state Supreme Court after all of the court’s justices recused themselves because they regularly attended the hunt. The decision to make the list public, according to some, meant fewer out-of-state business leaders wanted to attend because they didn't want it known they were being courted by South Dakota.

The announcement was a surprise, even to some of Noem’s closest supporters. The administration says the hunt will be refocused on economic development. But now, the hunt won’t be just about wooing a few out-of-state business executives. It will be about highlighting the state’s sports culture. The administration hopes to make it a destination event for the industry, as well as out-of-state business leaders.

And, importantly, the public will be invited to participate. You won’t have to be a bank president anymore to be involved. Besides a trade show, the event will have other public features, including a concert.

“They most definitely want it to become a family event,” said Teri Schmidt, the executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau. Schmidt, it should be pointed out, was having a lovely Monday morning.

There is no question that the hunt will lose something when it moves to southeastern South Dakota. There is an unparalleled beauty to central South Dakota, with its big sky and rugged landscape. But if the hunt is to be what Noem envisions, it needs to be in a place that has the infrastructure and the access that Pierre does not have. The announcement also only noted that the hunt would move to Sioux Falls in 2020. There is no guarantee that it won’t go somewhere else in 2021.

More:State pushes spendy bighorn sheep tags to raise money for pheasant habitat fund

Some have cast the decision in a Sioux Falls versus the rest of the state narrative. But that is the wrong take. The correct take is that Noem promised to change Pierre, and this is one of those moves.

Indeed, she made a point of change at her inauguration. There wasn’t booze at the Capitol, which was unheard of and still has people talking.

Noem, of course, is part of the establishment. She earned her place there when she won her U.S. House seat in 2010. But she has always appeared skeptical of some elements of the established political and business class, just as they’ve been skeptical of her. Not serving booze at the inauguration? That’s crazy talk.

It’s possible that she will eventually be co-opted into the Pierre way of doing things. It happens with government. It has a strong gravitational pull that captures independence. Put an ardent reformer on a school board, and in three years that person will be defending the superintendent’s use of hookers and Learjets as essential components of the district's curriculum.

But for now, Noem is on the loose. And it’s making some people nervous.