Legislative petition on Ravnsborg impeachment distributed to Legislators

@SoDakCampaigns

From a petition sent out today by Legislative Leaders:

SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION ON IMPEACHMENT

Pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of Article III, § 31 of the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, I hereby petition the presiding officers of both houses of the Legislature to convene a special session of the Legislature for the purposes of investigating and evaluating whether the conduct of Jason Ravnsborg, Attorney General of the State of South Dakota, surrounding the death of Joe Boever, involved impeachable offenses, pursuant to S.D. Const., Art. XVI, § 3, and if so, to conduct further impeachment proceedings thereon and legislate on matters involving the attorney general’s office.

The South Dakota Legislature is being asked to convene in special session to investigate the South Dakota Attorney General in connection with the September 2020 accident involving the AG and Joe Boever which resulted in Boever’s death.

There is also an article in the Argus Leader this afternoon.

 

38 thoughts on “Legislative petition on Ravnsborg impeachment distributed to Legislators”

  1. Good. I wish Jason had resigned, but it looks like the legislature will need to act. Hats off to Speaker and Leader for getting this moving.

    1. I think this is far from a done deal….

      If they actually go down this road there will have to be hearings, witnesses, testimony, experts….this is not gonna be cheap or quick

      1. It would be good to make all the facts of the investigation public.
        Too many people still believe it was a hit and run, or that he was drunk, speeding or using his phone at the time of the accident.

  4. Anyone look at the records of the legislators? Any DUIs reckless or careless driving? Any illegal lane changes or excessive or frequent speeders?

    We all know the Governor has 25+ tickets with failures to appear, stop sign violations and excessive speeding herself.

    1. I would like to see the records of all of them. Any one of them that has an equal or worse violation needs to be removed from their position. If you are going to remove the AG for the two small misdemeanors then you should do the same for anyone in the office. That is the message this kangaroo impeachment process is sending.

      1. How about just the records of the legislatures who killed someone while driving on the shoulder of the road?
        There, that makes your job a lot easier.

        1. How about has anyone ever been impeached anywhere for misdemeanors or been impeached for non-intentional acts before?

          Nope—this is political only

        2. @LCL, the problem with you people is you can’t separate the two items. The AG did not kill someone on the road, it was ruled an accident by the prosecution. So then you have to separate a horrible accident from what the two charges were. Two misdemeanors do not warrant impeachment proceedings.

          The other statement of him driving on the shoulder is completely erroneous. That was never proven as it was a theory. And let’s ask ourselves, who has ever driven down a road completely on the shoulder other than if they were stopping for a reason. The plausibility of the AG being completely on the side of the road is laughable.

  5. I think the legislature investigated Matt Wollmann a few years ago and Kris Langer last year. Of course, I don’t think either of them were convicted of crimes.

  6. Impeachment over a couple of misdemeanors… you have to be kidding.

    This will set a horrible precedent

  7. Is this an impeachable offense. Absolutely not.

    Does anyone really want Noem appointing the next AG?

    Not a chance!

    1. You have to ask yourself why is a Republican governor so heck bent on putting someone of hers in as AG? One leads to the conclusion that is most likely trying to hide something or keep something from coming out.

      1. The thing is the House has not held any substantive hearings, arguably one member has seen any evidence and that is just the state’s evidence the defense has not been given the opportunity to present any evidence.

        You have to have witnesses to explain these materials. This is a disputed car accident as to what happened. If you call witnesses for the state, you then have to allow the defense to call witnesses. This is gonna drag out for months and that is just the house. Look at how much The US House Republicans criticized the House Democrats for voting in the house without giving the President a chance to defend himself and even there he was afforded more due process than Jason has received so far.

        If I was Jason…somebody tell him about this post…..I’d call Craig Price….I’d call Kristi Noem to the witness stand….I’d call lots of people who said they were in charge of this investigation. How do they avoid not being called after saying things like that and also questioning the outcome of the prosecution. I’d want to subpoena all their phones, texts, emails. There has to be time to do discovery since no one has any of the facts of all their involvement yet. What does Kristi do take the 5th that she was not abusing her power seeking to influence this process, that will look good for Kristi nationally.

        Then I’d call the prosecutors…all of them….how were you influenced to make these charges, was anybody calling you to make more or less charges……why did you make these charges….this is not a regular court, they have no protections here…heck the House has not even made ANY rules in this matter.

        Then they want to do this going into an election year??? that’s crazy.

  8. How do you not get this?

    It’s not about two misdemeanors, it’s about the AGs inability to do his job. He has lost the confidence of three law enforcement groups in SD. Groups he should be representing through his example. He has lost the confidence of his staff and that of the DCI.

    The Office of the Attorney General, through the attorneys, the DCI, Law Enforcement training, Consumer Protection, and the South Dakota Forensic Laboratory, has the duty to hold people accountable for their actions. As the head of that Agency, Jason Ravnsborg, has avoided taking responsibility for his actions outside of Highmore for over a year. The best example is the conclusion of the criminal case. He pled no contest, instead of accepting responsibility and pleading guilty, he didn’t even show up to face the family, and he contested having to do presentations for 5 years about the dangers of distracted driving.

    Jason Ravnsborg is not an effective leader and cannot be an effective Attorney General because of his lack of ability to take responsibility for his actions in an agency that focuses on making people take responsibility for their actions.

    Mr. Attorney General, please do the right thing and resign. If you care about the office that you lead and not just about yourself, please do the right thing.

    1. You are the one the seems not to get it Mrs. Disgruntled. He has not lost the confidence of the law enforcement, that was a political stunt by the governor. Additionally, if this past week had shown us anything it is that the AG is doing his job and arguable a very good job.

      As to not taking responsibility, what responsibility? It was stated by the state attorney that looked into matters that it was an ACCIDENT, hence Ranvsborg was not the cause of death. Additionally, no one shows up for small misdemeanors at court.

      So once again your argument that you keep posting on every blog about the AG is inaccurate and carries no weight.

        1. Ok, Mary or one of Noem’s people. You stop trolling the webstie. See, I to can come up with random names.

      2. With all due respect, there is legal responsibility and moral responsibility. The Attorney General has taken no moral responsibility and at best his acceptance of the legal responsibility was a nolo contendere plea. Sickening

        Again, with all due respect, as a law enforcement officer, I’ve seen first hand that the Attorney General has lost all credibility with the law enforcement community, including his own DCI.

        The best example is a February 2021 article in USNews (and almost every local media outlet) that states four law enforcement agencies in South Dakota, the largest four, have requested he not review officer involved shooting. That’s a pretty big issue and also directly relates to the Attorney General not being able to do his job.

        If you cannot see that he has lost all credibility with the law enforcement community, you are failing as his Chief of Staff.

        We haven’t even talked about his bullshit story. You can’t have it both way, not being distracted and not knowing what you hit. Every cop that watched his interview knows it’s a bullshit story. Is this Governor Noem and Craig Price’s fault too?

        For the love of God, the man is a liar and has no credibility.

        Again, do the right thing and tell your Boss to retire before he does more damage to the Office of the Attorney General and Law Enforcement in South Dakota.

    2. Impeachmernt is not about what people think of your job performance…that’s what elections are for…. impeachmernt has specific criteria….and like Trump this is a witch Hunt.

    3. He seems to be getting quite a lot accomplished while this is all going on. Also, he has done several tours oversees while leading quite a large group; what have you done?

      I’m assuming if you were in Jason’s position you would ask for the death penalty for what you had done and not even hire a lawyer.

  9. You might want to take a look at the latest article from Ellis at the Argus—he gets it that this is all a Noem power play and has been.

    Ellis: Kristi Noem’s aggression at ousting Ravnsborg may have backfired
    “Noem is an executioner, preferring to stack up the bodies of her political opponents, a rapidly growing list. And it will cost her any leverage in ousting the attorney general.”

    Remember how she has treated legislators…cross her and you are dead to her forever. The AG is the only one willing to stand up to her and it is driving her crazy.

  11. AG needs to go. He pled guilty to crimes that resulted directly in the death of someone else. If that doesn’t disqualify him from office, what possible could?

    2. Again, a completely accurate statement. The AG did not plead guilty and he did not cause the death. It was ruled an accident.

  12. There are many great things about how people defend Jason. It was just an accident. It was just a misdemeanor. What about other peoples driving records. But the most delusional drivel on this thread is that impeachment will be like a trial with Jason being able to do anything he wants to defend himself. The House and Senate could decide he doesn’t get to speak or appear at all and simply vote to remove him after a few perfunctory steps. The constitution is clear the process is as the body decides.

    1. Once again that is inaccurate…it has been litigated in other states and he gets due process rights. Thanks for playing.

  13. There is only one person in this world who knows exactly what happened that night. Not Tuesday morning quarterbacks, not Noem haters, not Noem likers, not Ravnsburg haters, not Ravnsburg lovers, not Ms Fizgerald, not Col Price, not ANYBODY but one.

    The speculation, accusations, insinuations, allegations are all just that.

  15. You are truly a jackass and a despicable “human being”. Why don’t you move to China and you can help wipe out those you disagree with, Comrade.

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