(Pierre, SD) — The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is facing criticism from South Dakota’s top lawmakers over the selection process of an Ohio-based marketing firm to lead Governor Noem’s ‘Freedom Works Here’ workforce campaign. Go West Media, a business entity under Strategic Media Placement, won the contract to lead ‘Freedom Works Here,’ which kicked off in June of last year. But Republican Representative Will Mortenson wanted to know if Noem or anyone on her staff put any pressure on GOED’s staff to select Go West Media in Monday’s examination. Republican Senator Lee Schoenbeck also criticized how GOED used the register-for-proposal process when it should have just picked Go West Media anyway instead of presenting it as winning a bidding process. But he said he believes there was ultimately no wrongdoing.
