Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was apparently in the lone star state this week, and got a shout out from former President Trump at a rally in Texas:
SD Attorney General got a shoutout from former President Trump tonight at his rally in Texas: pic.twitter.com/a057gpU6Gb
— Austin Goss (@AustinGossSD) January 30, 2022
While I’m in Florida this week, here is the latest From Sanford Health for the latest Covid figures:
Monae Johnson of Rapid City has worked for the South Dakota Secretary of State on and off over the years, and apparently today she filed paperwork to form a campaign committee to run that constitutional office herself.
Currently held by incumbent Steve Barnett, this represents another challenge to an incumbent Constitutional Officeholder, and one that wasn’t expected. Steve has managed the office during his tenure without controversy, and has generally had high marks for his handling of what turned out to be an unusual 2020 election cycle where we were challenged by the circumstances of COVID.
Stay tuned. I’m sure there will be more to come on this.
Uh oh..
Sen. @LeeSchoenbeck released the names the House members who signed petition supporting special session on impeachment, despite efforts by Speaker @SpencerGosch to keep them secret. 49 House members signed.
— Joe Sneve (@Argus_Joe) December 11, 2021
Looks like some of those “delays” are being sidestepped. (Read the entire thread for the list)
An article from Christopher Vondracek this morning in the Forum News Service/Grand Forks Herald doesn’t exactly paint a bright portrait of how things are progressing in the House Select Committee for Impeachment in the case where they’re attempting to bring action against the Attorney General:
“This is way beyond the scope of anything we’ve done,” said Jensen, who added he was just “trying to figure out how to get things done in a timely manner.”
And..
Moreover, the Legislature’s select committee hasn’t been keeping the most brisk of calendars. After meeting more than two weeks ago, they’ve yet to meet since. On Tuesday, Nov. 23, Gosch told Forum News Service that “likely next week” would be when the team next meets.
And..
On Wednesday, Nov. 24, the committee’s vice-chair, Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, also said he’d yet to hear a meeting for next week confirmed. Asked if they’d hired the special counsel yet, Stevens said, “You’d have to talk to the speaker about that.”
Considering the AG pled No Contest to minor traffic offenses (a lane change violation and using his phone while driving a few miles before the accident) this whole impeachment business might be a lot more complicated than people think.
2014 South Dakota Democrat Congressional candidate Corinna Robinson is apparently a candidate for Congress again. Except, this time she is running in Florida’s 18th congressional district.
In 2014, Robinson ran as a pro-second amendment Democrat against incumbent Congresswoman Kristi Noem, and lost 66.5% to 33.5%.
Robinson is running for the seat currently held by Republican Congressman Brian Mast, who defeated his last Democrat opponent 56% – 41%.
The South Dakota Republican Party campaign school this morning with Leadership Institute has a great crowd, and a number of people that I’ve never seen before. That’s indicative of a high interest and very active campaign season!
Morning Consult just released a graphic showing Governor Kristi Noem is the 14th most popular governor in nation.
This follows a recent Morning Consult from 10 das ago story showing that Noem’s approval among South Dakota Republicans is sky high at 86%:
This leaves Thune roughly matching Noem’s popularity among GOP voters in the state (86 percent approval), though they are less likely to strongly approve of their senior senator than they are their governor (33 percent to 53 percent).
During the Second Special Session of the week, there was an interesting vote from conservative corners of the State House against moving forward with the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg:
HR 7001 – Establishing a select committee to investigate whether articles of impeachment should issue against Jason Ravnsborg, Attorney General of the State of South Dakota, and draft any resulting articles.
The question being “Shall HR 7001 pass as amended?”
And the roll being called:Yeas 58, Nays 10, Excused 2, Absent 0
Yeas:
Anderson, Aylward, Bartels, Barthel, Beal, Blare, Bordeaux, Chaffee, Chase, Cwach, Davis, Dennert, Derby, Deutsch, Drury, Duba, Finck, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, Lana Greenfield, Hansen, Healy, Hoffman, Jamison, Kevin Jensen, Chris Johnson, Keintz, Koth, Ladner, Lesmeister, May, Milstead, Miskimins, Mortenson, Mulally, Olson, Ernie Otten, Perry, Kent Peterson, Pischke, Randolph, Reed, Rehfeldt, Reimer, Schneider, Jamie Smith, St. John, Stevens, Thomason, Tidemann, Vasgaard, Weis, Weisgram, Wiese, Willadsen, Wink, York, and Speaker Gosch
Nays:
Gross, Haugaard, Howard, Phil Jensen, Karr, Marty, Mills, Odenbach, Overweg, and Soye
Excused:
Sue Peterson and Pourier
There were 10 “NAY” votes, mainly from strongly conservative quarters, with three of them Attorneys, and one outsider Congressional challenger in Taffy Howard.
What brought those Legislators to vote no on establishing a committee to review whether impeachment is warranted? A recent newspaper column from State Rep. Steve Haugaard in the Brandon Newspaper may shed some light on it:
What seems to be missing in all of this is any indication that there was any action on the part of the Attorney General that rises to the level of maliciousness, recklessness or even carelessness. That is why the ‘careless’ charge was dismissed in an effort to resolve the case. Anyone who has operated a motor vehicle knows that there are very brief moments when our eyes are not focused on the road ahead or something suddenly comes at us from the side, and that is apparently what happened that tragic night. If that happened to anyone else it would be found as tragic and the matter would be at an end.
Certainly, we should hold our elected leaders to a higher standard, but should one be forced to resign based upon an absolute accident? No one can seriously believe that the Attorney General sought to cause a death, or now, based upon the evidence, that the Attorney General was ‘reckless’ or even ‘careless?’ After an exhaustive review of the actual evidence, the State’s Attorney could not find ‘reckless’ behavior and willingly dismissed the ‘careless’ charge apparently due to the fact that the evidence would not ultimately be found sufficient.
When anyone reviews the work of AG Ravnsborg since his election, and especially since last September, it will be apparent that he has done an excellent job overseeing the Attorney General’s office and that he has continued to do his job, serve the state, accomplish victories for the State and developed relationships with the tribes that create a pathway for ongoing success.
Rep. Haugaard seems to tip his hand in the article, and gives the impression that he will be one of the chief forces arguing against impeachment of the Attorney General.
With popular opinion for impeachment inflamed by media coverage versus the minimal traffic violations the AG pled ‘No Contest’ to, it is interesting to see the degree of pushback on impeachment as well as where it’s originating from.
From the SoDak Governors Blog, Former Chief of Staff and member of the Board of Regents Tony Venhuizen eulogizes fellow former Chief of Staff Jim Soyer, who passed away yesterday:
Jim Soyer, a former chief of staff to Gov. Bill Janklow and longtime Governor’s Office staffer, has passed away.
Jim Soyer was, to my knowledge, the longest-tenured employee in the history of the South Dakota Governor’s Office. With only a couple of short interruptions, he served in the Governor’s Office in various capacities from 1979 to 2015.
and..
One rule in particular always stayed with me: “Always do the right thing, and don’t consider the politics. Once you’ve decided what to do, politics will help you decide how to explain it and achieve it. But never let politics stop you from doing the right thing.”
Please keep Jim’s family in your prayers.