Why doesn't Reich Mike fly into Pierre from Denver?

Pierre Regional Airport (PIR) does not currently have direct Essential Air Service (EAS) flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).  

Recall that in 1997 South Dakota got $23 million for going without Amtrak service so then-Governor Bill Janklow funneled much of that money into the Governor's Club and in 2007 Earth hating Gov. Mike Rounds spent some of it on an airplane for his personal use. But, in a state that says it hates big government money essential air service into South Dakota's capital city has always looked like a bridge to nowhere.

However, flights from the Washington, DC area (Reagan, Dulles or Thurgood Marshall) to Denver International Airport (DEN) are highly accessible, with nonstop options averaging around 4 hours. Main carriers like United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Frontier Airlines operate frequent daily nonstop flights and SkyWest Airlines, operating as United Express, provides twelve weekly round-trip EAS flights between PIR and DEN. SkyWest's winning bid requested a $5.4 million subsidy for the first year and $5.6 million for the second year with years three and four projected at $5.8 million and $5.99 million respectively until 2029.

Only a United States Senator who travels on the taxpayer dollar would think it’s acceptable to have a private plane ferry him to his home on return trips to South Dakota. That’s exactly the life of royalty (or corruption) that Career Politician Mike Rounds leads. From 2022 to 2025, the taxpayers paid over $1.3 million just to fly him to and from the Minneapolis airport in a private, convenience plane to his Fort Pierre home. This happened over 110 times during this four year period. Let me give you one example from the 110 plus trips to the state. On Friday, September 12, 2025, Career Politician Mike Rounds flew on a commercial flight from Washington to Minneapolis, where a private plane was standing by. The taxpayers were billed $5,879.08 for that private plane. Then, on Monday, September 15, 2025, that private, convenience plane, costing taxpayers another $5,879.08, returned him to Minneapolis, where he boarded a commercial flight bound for Washington. [Brian Bengs]

Image: Earth haters Mike Rounds before he became morbidly obese and Pat Powers, who has always been fat.

Scrub-a-dub-dub! The latest Republican to remove Donald Trump references from their website is...Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota! How bad must things look for the GOP if Trump is toxic in SD, too? #SDSen via @washingtonsun.com

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— TrumpsTaxes (@trumpstaxes.com) October 12, 2026 at 8:13 AM