A claim in a political ad that South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden “increased the gas tax” is wrong, although he did vote for a failed increase, while a claim that he then “targeted your guns, increasing fees on concealed carry permits” is false. 

The claims are in ads paid for by the Rushmore Principles political action committee, chaired by Hadyn Smith of Mountain Brook, Alabama. Smith’s email address in campaign finance documents indicates he’s affiliated with the Crosby Ottenhoff Group, which describes itself as “focused on building strategic, quality services for political committees.” Smith did not respond to requests for comment. 

Because Rushmore Principles was formed in March and doesn’t face a campaign finance reporting deadline until next week, nothing is publicly known about the committee’s funding sources.

One of Rushmore Principle’s ads says “Rhoden raised fees on plumbers, nurses, miners, barbers, and even on assisted living facilities that care for seniors. And he increased the gas tax, the cell phone tax, and fees on milk. Then Rhoden targeted your guns, increasing fees on concealed carry permits and hunting licenses.”

Rhoden’s campaign singled out the two claims that he raised the gas tax and increased fees on concealed carry permits as false, and demanded that broadcasters pull the ad. A broadcast official contacted by Searchlight indicated that the ads are under review and have not been pulled, and Fury did not respond when asked whether he knew of broadcasters pulling the ads. 

Rhoden campaign manager Ian Fury called the claims “patently false” and said Rhoden “has cut taxes his entire career.” Fury said the last state gas-tax increases happened in 1999 and 2015, when Rhoden was not serving in the Legislature or the executive branch. Before being elevated to governor last year when then-Gov. Kristi Noem departed for a job in the Trump administration, Rhoden had been lieutenant governor since 2019. He previously served 16 years in the Legislature. 

As a state senator in 2009, Rhoden voted for Senate Bill 201. The bill would have increased the gas tax by 3 cents per gallon, but it failed in the Senate and did not become law. 

“The ad doesn’t say ‘voted to raise gas tax,’” Fury told Searchlight in a statement. “It says he raised it.”

Regarding the concealed carrying of pistols, the Noem-Rhoden administration eliminated fees for concealed carry permits in 2022. South Dakota Searchlight was unable to find evidence of Rhoden increasing fees on concealed carry permits. He did cast a vote in 2017, while serving as a state representative, for a bill that created an easier renewal process for concealed-carry permits and set the renewal fee at $10, but that fee was unchanged from the prior reapplication process.

A broader Rushmore Principles claim that Rhoden raised “400 taxes and fees” was not fully documented. Fury told Searchlight that he highlighted the gas-tax and concealed-carry claims because those were “patently false,” while describing other claims as “twisting the facts.”

“There are certainly other false claims in Dusty’s ads,” Fury said, referring to Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, who is running against Rhoden for the Republican nomination for governor in the June 2 primary election. State House Speaker Jon Hansen and businessman Toby Doeden are also running.

Johnson disclaimed any connection to the Rushmore Principles ads.

“I did not approve these ads, but it’s clear this PAC supports me and opposes the governor’s history of tax and fee increases,” Johnson said. “Every other candidate has a PAC supporting them and this is no different.”