In the run up to the Republican convention, apparently there were rumors swirling of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg staying on at the AG’s office if DCI director Dave Natvig was selected. But according to the Argus this afternoon, those rumors are not true:
DCI Director Dave Natvig, among two declared Republicans seeking the soon-to-be open attorney general position, told the Argus Leader this week that if his candidacy is successful, he will not hire outgoing Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
“He will not be employed by either the attorney general’s office or the Division of Criminal Investigation,” said Natvig in hopes of dispelling rumors to the contrary that have swirled in South Dakota political circles ahead of the convention.
and..
If he’s elected in November, Jackley said Wednesday that he has no intention of hiring Ravnsborg either.
As a delegate myself, I hadn’t heard those rumors, but apparently it’s a slow news day.
I had a personal conversation with Natvig in May and he made significant promises to me about attending an event. He did not attend the event and did not notify me that he would not, so I’d attach absolutely no value to his word. Marty Jackley is the best candidate for the AG spot and has always been a man of his word.
That’s OK John ” sell our” Santana. No one has any respect for you any more but your buddy Ed who also sold out.
Apparently you do not possess the courage to include your name so your remarks have no meaning…,to anyone.
John is a great man and dedicated public servant who served as a police officer. I think John is not the kind to sell out to anyone.
Didn’t John finish last in his race to even be a delegate?
Always good to go to the source and put out rumors.
Going to be quite a week, first impeachment trial and then a convention and then the Government Accountability Board is meeting about the Ag’s allegations against Noem the following week.
The whole impeachment process seems to be overblown when nationally Republicans are saying an attack on the capitol is not impeachable, but a class 2 misdemeanor is impeachable in South Dakota? That is why we have elections and if Ravnsborg is not running again, I do wonder what the point of the impeachment is at this point.
I also wonder what he said to the Government Accountability Board.
So is Jackley AG this time next week?
Not if people actually follow the constitution
An insurrection at the capitol is not impeachable but a class 2 is—- politically driven process from day 1
He was impeached for insurrection. And once before that.
I think the point was nationally the GOP is saying insurrection at the capitol is not impeachable but here in SD a class 2 misdemeanor is?? Come on
I had not heard that rumor. i haven’t met David Natvig, either, which I think is a bit strange since candidates for constitutional offices are usually like gophers on a golf course, popping up everywhere, introducing themselves to the party delegates. Not much of a campaign from where I sit.
$0 in the bank and an office in shambles… I guess that is what the crazy crowd supports these days. What the heck has she party become?
Talk about a misinformed voter
Do you know Marty left the office $1,000,000 in debt?
Go listen to the tapes in approps
Marty is the last thing we need as AG. He made a mess of the AG office. All I hear from employees is how Marty was off campaigning all the time. Never there to do the work. Getting home sign or address anything took days of not weeks.
The backlog Marty created during his tenure was crazy.
Natvig, you should get back to calling delegates. You and your team are really getting desperate to hold on to power. Everybody knows Jackley was actually trying cases and winning US Supreme Court cases- and prosecuting the bad actors in EB5 and Gear-up. Has the current even AG tried a case?
Marty lost both gear up cases
And gave joop Bolin a slap on the wrist plea deal
What alternate universe are you in?
Is Natvig planning to fund his entire campaign? How can he win anything with zero in his campaign account?
You are not very quick are you
Ravnsborg starts a PAC with the 50k he has left would be a good start…
Both defendants in the Gear-up case were found not guilty by the jury. Joop Bollen plead guilty to one of five felony counts and received probation and a $2000.00 fine.
I have met both Marty and Natvig.
I’d pick anyone over Marty.
Natvig will do.
#endsexualharassment
#endretalliation
Really? I have visited with him 3 times already. We visited at a Republican Women event, a delegate event and then I was surprised to see him at my friend’s graduation from the academy in Pierre. I kind of expected the Governor to be there. He’s a good man and I think he would make a great AG.
Marty Jackley the only candidate acceptable to the Democrats. Randy Seiler said so, that is enough for any Republican to vote against Jackley
Lots of crazy in the comments. Wow. Natvig has raised $0. Now we should nominate him.
If delegates vote Natvig we will likley elect the next Kermit Sandy.
Another lie—I thought it was genius not to file until he has to file a statement in October
You do realize this is a convention not a primary right?
Seems like you are grasping at straws
So if we aren’t nominating Jackley which democrat will be getting elected as AG and being a frontrunner for Governor or US Senate in 2026?
Kasey Olivier president of the trial lawyers?
Herseth would be a slam dunk.
At least we will end Marty’s 4 year run for Governor
Its amazing how far off topic some of these posts get.
I am not aware of Ravnsborg ever handling a criminal jury trial, and certainly not in the 3.5 years he has been AG. I am not aware of Natvig ever personally making an arrest in the same 3.5 years. (He is not certified as an officer, so probably not legally able to arrest anyone. And he had 3.5 years to GET certified…it only takes 13 weeks.)
Neither went to the state supreme court to argue even ONE case. I would have read about that. This despite the AG office having dozens of big cases in the state supreme court, every year. And countless arrests around the state, by DCI.
So, they had tons of opportunities to demonstrate their skills, but……NADA. They sat safely tucked away in their offices, apparently in recognition of the risk of screwing up, if they personally did court cases or personally made arrests like, well, you know….real law enforcement.
This, in contrast to prior Attorneys General reaching clear back to AG Janklow, in the 1970’s. Those AG’s personally handled cases in every court, all the time. Jumped at the opportunities to lead the way.
So if Ravnsborg and Natvig did not personally handle state court, did not personally arrest anyone, did not handle state appellate court, and did not appear in federal court, just what did they do?
They have been cleaning up Marty’s mess
1,000,000 in debt
Forfeitures backed up for like 6 years
— remember Brian Beihl from the Highway Patrol who stole like $70.000 it makes sense now why he could since no one was watching the program
Missing persons— clearly Marty did nothing there. Listen to some legislative hearings they couldn’t even tell the new AG how many were missing
Opioid case falling apart to the point it was about to be lost and they had to hire outside counsel to save it and now the state is going to get $50million
How about getting a law enforcement academy in Sioux Falls that the SFPD wanted for 10 years… talk to Chief Burns… he said Marty wouldn’t even consider it and these guys got it done in the first couple of years
They just got a pay raise for DCI agents, something Marty would never even ask for because it might make his budget look bigger when he ran for Governor
Pay attention and you would see these guys are hard workers and getting things done, not worrying about running for Governor like Marty.
Yeah maybe they don’t do it your way, but if you are walking in thinking you have a great office and find all these problems you get to work solving them.
Ouch, a lot of facts against Marty. He does not sound like he did well as AG, I am voting for Natvig.
Old. Timer– I have personally heard other AGs making fun of Marty for doing trials…too much to do to do those…especially when you lose them all like Marty did in Gear Up
Real AGs can handle a jury trial. Gear-up? Seriously- How do you prosecute a guy that killed himself? You call that a loss?
Marty lost both GEAR UP jury trials…a scandal the whole state knows about but apparently Marty supporters have a lot of memory loss at how poorly he handled things like that.
Look up
Stacy Phelps
Stephanie Hubers
Wasn’t Natvig making his DCI forensic expert look at Ravnsborg’s phone while he was under investigation?
Nothing to see here…
Again not accurate
Mr. Natvig, aka “Pay Attention:”
Speaking of $1,000,000, do the math. Ravnsborg, $120K per year. Natvig, $120K per year. Times 3.5 years = $840,000 plus retirement, health, autos, etc. Call it a cool MIL. And for that we got:
1. Zero cases argued in state supreme court
2. Zero cases argued in state circuit court.
3. Zero cases argued in federal court.
4. Zero arrests. (If you don’t count Ravnsborg’s Joe Boever arrest.)
Of course, if you never do any cases or arrests….you never lose any, right?
Question, what would our readers do, if their lawyers billed them $1,000,000 and never lost a case because they never brought one?
Here is the other math. 6+9……6 days left for Ravnsborg. 9 days for Natvig. Ba-bye!
Thanks grandpa simpson!
When you can’t argue the facts change the story old timer!
Let me guess, Old timer is on Marty’s team and desperate to make Marty look good when all the facts are against Marty.
I guess changing the facts and making it whatever you want is all you have in your corner. Truth is Marty did nothing but campaign for Governor when he was AG. Tax payers deserve someone who will work for them not for themselves. It will be Marty walking away when this is over! My vote is for Natvig!
Hey old timer— after a clear culture of retaliation against an employee that resulted in a $1.5 M verdict. You are saying Ravnsborg should have then picked another good old boy to run DCI? That is insanity.
Any good leader would bring someone in from the outside to make sure that has not occurred.. and as you say I have not seen any news paper reports of new cases.
Plus Marty has NEVER explained why his employees retaliated against one of their own female DCI agents or why he allowed it to happen… we are all listening.
Point to Retaliation, I would quit now old timer. You are losing badly!!
Why didn’t JR resolve this ASAP? 4 years in he wants to pay off Jackley’s debt? Yeah I doubt it. It can’t happen. A special appropriation would have been needed 4 years ago.
Ok let’s educate you. The current AG did go to the legislature and exposed this in 2019. A bill was passed to add a fee to tickets to go towards paying this down. Since we had covid people did not travel and it was not paid off as quickly. The numbers show that the AG has been cutting and it was down to like 700k in the latest appropriations process…go listen to the hearings for the AG.
You can’t just go in and cut that deep that fast. I know he was reluctant to ask for a fee increase and many legislators were informed of what he found and shown the books. Ask Sen Hunhoff or Rep Karr or any member of Approps.
PS– marty says he was fiscally responsible but it is simply not true. Marty was the candy man giving law enforcement everything on borrowed money and Ravnsborg discovered it and had to tighten the belt and they did not like missing out on the free stuff despite no money left in the till.
Where is the third option? Essentially, the two options represent business as usual going back to Marty first got up there in 2009. Plenty of good (forgive me if the pluralization is wrong) state’s or city attorneys like Daniel Haggar in Minnehaha County or Matt Roby in Watertown who would be a breath of fresh air in a place that could use a full reset.
Soon we will nominate Marty or elect a Democrat. it seems pretty straight forward to me.
We need to turn the page on JR’s tenure.
I’m glad I voted for Russell in 2018.
Ravnsborg has been overly shameful and (nothing against Natvig) but he needs to just let this saga come to an end or the odds we elect a dem go up even higher than for JR in 2018. No Republican donors will touch Natvig with a 100ft pole because of the Ravnsborg stain.
There is no drama, other than what noem has created. Shame on her for going after a good AG for personal gain. Had can she call herself a republican when she turns on her own.
If you dont think Democrats will nominate someone good like Kasey Olivier and invest $1 million in pro abortion money into our state you are crazy. Roe going down will give the dems unlimited resources in ’22 against unfunded, vulnerable Republican AG nominees.
The memo to donors, Democratic allies, and supporters announces that the umbrella group for attorneys general is increasing its spending budget for paid media and services to between $25 to $30 million “in support of Democratic AGs and DAGA-backed candidates in battleground states like Georgia, Arizona, and others to come.”
By comparison, in the 2018 campaign cycle, DAGA’s “record-breaking” fundraising was $16.3 million. In other words, the new spending plan represents a nearly 40 percent increase in spending on races that are often overlooked by voters locally and nationally.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/newrepublic.com/amp/article/166381/democratic-attorneys-general-abortion-plan
Sorry the Democrat attorney generals association has said the candidate must be pro choice to get any money
Thanks for the scare tactics though
Yeah dems are pro choice.
The desperation of the Marty people is out tonight
Remember Marty is acceptable to the Democrats
Randy Seiler said so himself, that speaks volumes
So if Marty left the office $1 million in debt, how much extra revenue came in after South Dakota v Wayfair?
Never seen a politician so proud to have raised taxes on every single American before– especially a state one.
How does that raise taxes? The tax was already there it just wasnt being collected by the businesses that were out of state. If you don’t want to pay it then a legislator should have repealed the law.
The fact that he won at the supreme court tells me he’s the one who should defend SD when Roe is overturned also.
You cant leave your office in debt 4 years after leaving office.
Anonymous at 11:17 a good lawyer always works hard for his client, no matter who that client is or how sleazy he might be. That’s why a lot of lawyers decide they would rather be prosecutors than defense attorneys.
Marty knows if that info comes out it would be negative for him.
This “marty left a million in debt” claim shows that Nattvig does not understand the AG budget, or the funding of the original LEOTF….Law Enforcement Officers Training Fund, later known as the Liquidated Costs fund. Of if he does understand it, he is lying. My guess? Not lying, just clueless.
It was started in the 1980’s by then AG Meierhenry. Then all sorts of other entities wanted to “hog-pile” on for their causes, for a share of the action….forcing the AG to defend the fund. Courts, schools, everyone wanted to “wet their beak.” (The courts do get some.)
It is funded by fines on crime, and the high volume fines are the misdemeanors. (Thus Ravnsborg would have contributed to it on his misdemeanors for killing a man on the shoulder.) The fund continually runs long, AND SHORT, as crime revenue is a moving target every year….it does not always match known, regular, legislatively approved expenditures. Court costs revenue goes up, and down, each year. Thus the fund goes red WITH the knowledge of the appropriations committee, and has done so, periodically, for more than 30 years. Look it up.
Naturally, from time to time, the legislature would RAISE the liquidated costs portion, to bring the Liquidated Costs fund back into the black. Over time, it inevitably goes red, and the AG is forced to come back to raise court costs. That said, the legislature has always been reluctant to push the court costs high enough to always stay in the black, lest the school systems file a constitutional challenge. Look that up.
So, that fund has been in red AND black ink over MANY years. If Nattvig were to get nominated….and elected….both seemingly highly unlikely, you will one day read that HIS liquidated costs fund is in the red. And HE will be in asking for higher court costs.
You never read a story 3 years ago about the current AG cutting a MILLION BUCKS out of his training budget, to make the fund balance. You didn’t read it because he didn’t do it. That means HE TOO RAN THE FUND WHILE IN THE RED. And if he did make cuts, it means he too did not understand the history, and the legislature smiled and said nothing. I don’t know if crime revenue went back up to rebalance the fund, or they raised the court costs, or both, but we could ask Mr. Ravnsborg. I doubt he will answer as he is currently preparing for trial, and trying to crawl out from being tossed under the bus yesterday by his great and loyal friend Mr. Natvig.
The current AG did tackle this ask appropriations
But you can keep lying
When do we talk about Marty’s conflict with TDenny
Check out page 26 of the opinion as the judge cautions against Rule 11 sanctions for unnecessary delay
If I was Dave, I wouldn’t waste time posting hourly Marty attacks, I would be dialing delegates like Marty is doing. Friendly advice.
Not 1 in a 100 delegates are reading these. And the ones who are reading, have already decided. So folks, all we are really doing is amusing ourselves and others. Feels good but will not make a difference.
Here we go! You gotta love the convention process…..it brings finality and a fair measure of entertainment.
Mark Barnett would probably be dialing the video lottery bosses for cash to spend linking his opponent to the gambling industry.
Barnett and Jackley both seem to think this is all just a game. Who dragged their corpses out of the political graveyard?
From 2002:
Barnett points out that Kirby ran the first negative television ad, which accused Barnett of waffling on a promise not to increase taxes. Barnett has since responded with ads that knock Kirby for investing in firms that create jobs in other states and investing in a company that obtained donated skin for cosmetic surgery…
“Some politicians will do anything to win. Unfortunately, Mark Barnett is one of them,” Kirby says. “Five years from now, no one will remember any position in my campaign past, but they’ll remember whether we acted with integrity.”
What does it say when I post my name, and the other guy DOESN’T?
John Santana was right. (about 50 posts, above. And yes, John was a straight up righteous investigator; I was there.)
Dave, cmon. Start dialing delegates, man….these posts are spending precious time you don/t have. Friendly advice.
Mark I am not Dave Natvig….but someone extremely tired of the food Ole Boys like you
Shall we talk about Doug Lake coming in to you to prosecute a dentist and you said no way he is a political contributor….and he quit the next day be abuse he was disgusted by your corruption
Maybe we don’t want retribution like illegal billboards against us
I’m not Dave, and your repeated claim that you’re offering “friendly advice” clearly shows whose word has no value.
You Marty supporters don’t want to talk about $1M in debt…. How about the fact that forfeitures were backed up to 2013 when Marty left office.
The current AG required mandatory meetings to clean it up and bring everyone together to share orders, get everyone on the same page and hold people accountable for their inaction.
Look up Brian Biehl, SD HP trooper of the year, stealing money from drug control fund—$70,000, how? Because there was no oversight by Marty. Google him.
An actual insider who is very happy with how things are running now and hope to God Marty does not come bsck. All he cared about was running for Governor.
It sounds to me that Marty ran the AG’s office very poorly. The sad part is that we have an AG, Ravnsborg, that has spent the last 3 + years cleaning up Marty’s mess and making the office run smooth. It is a shame we are loosing him.