A county Republican group in Colorado says it has canceled a fundraiser featuring the South Dakota governor and a potential Republican vice presidential candidate. Kristi Noem after that described In his upcoming book, the young man kills his dog.
Nancy Pallozzi, chairwoman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, said in a statement Friday that the group’s Saturday fundraiser was canceled “due to security concerns” after the group, the governor and his staff and guests at the hotel hosted it. event received “numerous threats and/or death threats.”
“After talking with the Governor’s office on Tuesday, we mutually decided that safety is the most important thing for everyone,” Pallozzi said. “The Denver West Marriott also received alarming comments and shared with us their deep concern for the safety and security of our event attendees, other guests and their employees.”
Noem was confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Jefferson County Republicans’ annual fundraiser in early April after the group sent out an invitation in January, Pallozzi said.
That was before The Guardian published an article late last month explaining that Noem had taken his 14-month-old dog Cricket to a gravel pit to be shot after deciding he was “worthless” and “untrained”.
Pallozzi’s statement noted that his group “does not take a position on public opposition to the Governor’s book,” adding that Noem “has and continues to have and continues to defend our Constitutional rights, freedom and less government, which is a platform from the Republican Party.”
Pallozzi told NBC News in a phone interview that the decision was not taken lightly.
“We lost money on it,” Pallozzi said. “It was meant to raise money, but now we’ve lost thousands of dollars.”
Pallozzi said the group had “full refunds” on the tickets, adding that he owns 300 copies of Noem’s book, which the publisher gave special permission to release at the event. It was also expected that Noem would do a signing ceremony and take photos.
The group continues to negotiate with Noem. It was not immediately known if the event with the governor would be rescheduled.
A spokeswoman for Noem did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment Friday night.
During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Noem said he has a dog “extremely dangerous.”
“It came to us from a family that found itself very aggressive,” Noem said, adding that the day the dog was killed he had “taken to slaughter” his neighbor’s livestock.
Noem first responded to criticism of Cricket-related links Send to X He wrote last week: “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on the farm.” Noem’s social media response is written above the screenshot of the article. GuardianGot a copy of Noem’s book, No Return, which is scheduled to come out next week.
NBC News has not obtained a copy of Noem’s book or independently confirmed the account of Noem’s dog reported by The Guardian.
Noem was widely considered among Trump’s top choices for running mate. The South Dakota governor, who has been in office since 2019, previously served as the state’s lone representative in Congress.