California GOP brushes off Kristi Noem dog controversy ahead of convention

The California Republican Party hopes to stay out of the doghouse ahead of its statewide convention in two weeks.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — who’s in the midst of a media firestorm after she detailed in her new book how she killed her own 14-month-old dog — is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the party’s big spring convention from May 17-19 in Burlingame on the San Francisco Bay.

Noem’s ambitions to become Donald Trump’s VP pick made her disclosure all the more attention-grabbing. Ordinarily, the convention’s keynote speaker is a national Republican star whose appearance is intended to boost fundraising and media buzz around the event (tickets to the Saturday luncheon featuring Noem are $175 for general admission and $300 for VIP, which includes a private photo-op with her).

But Noem’s speech threatens to be a distraction for California Republicans — amid an election cycle where the road to the GOP holding its majority in the House likely depends on a handful of suburban swing districts in the Golden State.

CAGOP Executive Director Bryan Watkins brushed off the idea that an unleashed Noem could present an image problem. “People are excited and we are looking forward to hearing from the governor at the convention,” Watkins told POLITICO.

But Mike Madrid, a veteran California Republican consultant and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said the story makes Republicans look “out of touch” and that most Californians, even Republicans, are rarely in similar situations.

“Most Republicans are more concerned about investing in dog parks than shooting their dogs,” said Madrid, a frequent critic of his own party. “We’ve genetically modified a creature to love us unconditionally — that’s not something you shoot.”

As Noem writes in her forthcoming memoir, she shot her Wirehaired Pointer named Cricket because she said the dog frequently misbehaved and even killed a neighbor’s chickens. She attempted to use the incident to boost her credentials as a tough leader who’s dealt with the hard realities of farming.

But the tactic didn’t go over as planned, especially the part where Noem described how she led Cricket to a gravel pit and killed the dog with a single shot.

Noem has defended her actions, repeatedly accusing the news media of misleading reports. During an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity this week, she argued Cricket was not a puppy and was an “extremely dangerous” working dog that had attacked her and “massacred livestock.”

But her explanations have done little to quell a national backlash from pet owners of all political stripes who called her actions cruel and unnecessary.

And it came at an awkward time for the California GOP: The party announced Noem would be its keynote speaker just two days before The Guardian first reported the excerpt from her memoir.

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote in the excerpt.

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