An Aberdeen couple who were at the center of the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary battle between then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem and Attorney General Marty Jackley have recently filed for divorce in Brown County.
A petition for divorce has been filed between Laura Zylstra Kaiser and former State Rep. Dan Kaiser. If you recall, Zylstra, a former DCI agent had won a $1.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit involving the Brown County Sheriff’s office, and was featured in campaign advertising by Kristi Noem during the campaign against Marty Jackley after claims by Zylstra that her settlement was delayed over payment issues, which the AG cited as being handled by the office of Risk Management.
Immediately after Noem’s primary win, Zylstra’s spouse, Rep. Dan Kaiser, was featured in e-mails and a campaign to delegates by State Rep. Liz May to draft him to be nominated for Lt. Governor:
Current conservative legislators join former conservative icons, in advance of the Republican state convention, in endorsing conservative Representative Dan Kaiser (R-Aberdeen) to be the Republican Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor.
On Saturday, Republican delegates will cast official votes to determine who is on the November general election ballot as the Republican Party candidate for Public Utilities Commission, School & Public Lands Commissioner, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Lieutenant Governor.
and..
Joining Rep. Liz May (R-Kyle) in her support and endorsement of Representative Dan Kaiser are some of South Dakotas most conservative current and past legislators: Rep. Sam Marty (R-Prairie City), Rep. Steve Livermont (R-Martin), Rep. Tim Goodwin (R-Rapid City), Rep. Drew Dennert (R-Aberdeen), Rep. Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids), Rep. Lynne Hix-DiSanto (R-Rapid City), Rep. Julie Frye-Mueller (R-Rapid City), Rep. “Chip” Campbell (R-Rapid City), Senator Phil Jensen (R-Rapid City), Senator Stace Nelson (R-Fulton), Senator Emeritus Betty Olson (R-Prairie City), Senator Emeritus Gordon Howie (R-Rapid City), and Representative Emeritus Don Kopp (R-Rapid City).
Read that here (via the wayback machine).
According to the UJS website, the status of the divorce is currently pending the recusal of the assigned judge.
I gain no joy at the dissolution of someone else’s marriage… But it couldn’t happen to a nicer couple.
They have been through a lot. I’m sad to read this. Their son was in a fierce battle with cancer for years. Now that so much of the worst is behind them I’m sad to see them breaking up.
Much of what was leveled against Jackley by Noem was exaggerated to the extreme.
Delegates also became tired of hearing it over and over from Laura Kaiser in 2022.
Very sad to see this.
Kaiser would have likely defeated Rhoden. Now Rhoden looks like he’s on the verge of being elected Governor.
Defeated Rhoden? It was not going to happen back then.
I was thinking it was ’22. He’d have had a better shot than Haugaard in ’22.
He is not on the verge of being elected Governor
I have nothing but good to say about this family. And any time a family breaks up it’s a tragedy. It seems anyone who claims to be a defender of the family should be reluctant to celebrate divorce. Prayers for all involved in this sad state of affairs.
Tragic.
Is that you Reverend Reich? I have met Dan before and he is a jerk.
Thanks to anonymous at 5:35. The Kristi camp grossly over-exaggerated that and put it out at the last minute. Marty, legally, couldn’t respond to the accusation as the case was still ongoing. A real shame that he lost the election on back-handed things like this. But what did we expect from Washington politics she brought back.