Governor Dennis Daugaard now says he won’t be releasing all the names of people who attend the governor’s hunt or stay at the state-owned cabin know as Valhalla. He made that announcement Monday and says he’s still going to keep some names a secret.
Last week, Daugaard announced he was opening up the governor’s cabin for anyone to rent for $200 a day during the summer. And that he planned on releasing all the names of people who stay here, as a sign of open government.
But Daugaard says he never said he would release all the names.
“I have not changed anything. This is exactly what I said all along: I will release the names of everyone except the business that are looking to move to South Dakota,” Daugaard said.
Daugaard says it’s important to keep some names a secret.
“Some of those business people don’t want their local communities to know they are looking at South Dakota and we don’t want other states to steal our prospects,” Daugaard said.
The secrecy surrounding Valhalla was even brought up at this year’s legislative session.
A South Dakota House panel killed a pair of bills that sought to make the names of people who attend the state-sponsored events and those who stay at Valhalla public.
At that time, legislators said the bills weren’t needed because Gov. Daugaard had agreed to release all the names. But now the public will only get to see the names of guests the governor wants us to see.
Daugaard says he will release the names of business leaders who stay at Valhalla and attend the governor’s hunt, but only after they’ve made the decision to move here.