The Argus Leader has more information about the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney,’s job performance lately in a story noting that Aaron McGowan has led ZERO cases in the past two years:
In June, shortly before he disappeared from office for much of the summer, McGowan went to the Minnehaha County Commission to request more money for more lawyers. Similar to requests made in prior years, he argued his staff was overworked with a burgeoning criminal caseload.
In June, he said his office was “tremendously understaffed” and a year earlier he said his office didn’t have any discretion over which cases it took.
and…
An Argus Leader investigation determined McGowan rarely takes cases as a lead attorney compared to others in his office and his peers in other counties. The last time McGowan took a felony case as a lead attorney was in August 2017.
and…
Employees in the office described McGowan as “a very absent boss,” a “hands-off boss,” and a “figurehead,” according to Ravnsborg’s report.
and…
“It’ll make a difference for me,” he said. “I’m not inclined to subsidize inaction. I’m also thinking about the issues that were touched on in the attorney general’s investigation. His lack of openness toward the issue makes it so he should consider not running. If you’re going to live in the political eye, you don’t live under a blanket.”
Wasn’t McGowan saying he was going to run again? Even Jeff Barth, one of the more notable Democrat office holders sounds as if he’d be happy to see him go.
Good luck with running again after yet another damning media report.
I wonder if it’s time to leave this poor bossturd alone. Probably not, but I guess that dying Sioux Falls newspaper makes those calls.
He needs to resign
such an irony. Same thing happened with Glenn Brenner in Rapid City. Didn’t come to work in months, and was easily beaten by Mark Vargo.
Vargo can be beaten easily now too.
who is going to run against Vargo?
He can have an overworked staff and a drinking problem. Those things are not mutually exclusive. That said, he should probably consider stepping down. He has done too many inappropriate things.
The Argus won’t leave him alone anytime soon. He made the major mistake of insulting their journalistic ethics. He then compounded the problem by publicly refusing to speak with their reporters in the future.
Indeed. That Sioux Falls paper is not a journalist endeavor, it is a hack and hit job rag. I dare them to write bad about grudznick.
He needs to resign.
Jeff Barth is a stand up guy. If he says it’s time to go…then it’s time to go.
I’m with Wyland. Keep in mind most of what you know is from the Argus. Why would you believe them on this issue and not others? Especially when McGowan picked a fight with them. It would be really easy for a disgruntled employee to get this type of article printed. Argus is like CNN if the “story” fits their agenda, it gets printed.
Has anyone actually fact checked the article? Has everyone forgotten the Sideras case where Aaron led – and the Argus kept running as front page news? Would love for someone to fact check this.