Monday's headline at the Wrangler Network, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Will be Keynote Speaker at 2021 PRCA Convention, might be one of the media highlights for the first-term governor from Castlewood. A speech in Las Vegas.
South Dakota's media ecosystem is bursting with stories about her daughter's retirement from the real estate appraisal industry following a nepotism investigation about how she got her license.
And there's a new Republican primary challenger.
Since we're liberal/progressive, we'll defy natural order and start with the second item. In Rep. Haugaard will challenge Gov. Noem from the political right in primary, Mitchell Republic based Christopher Vondracek reports for the Forum chain:
Rep. Steve Haugaard, a Republican from rural Minnehaha County and former speaker of the House, has filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office portending a run for governor, intending to primary Noem.
The statement of organization filed by the "Haugaard for Governor" statewide candidate committee arrived to the Pierre office on Friday, Nov. 12.
Haugaard stands in the political far-right of South Dakota politics, attending a rally in Sioux Falls last Januarythat also featured a speaker aligned with the alt-right Proud Boys group and becoming known in Pierre as a frequently outspoken advocate of conservative positions on a range of social issues, from abortion to college curriculum to LGBTQ rights.
Haugaard served as speaker of the House between 2019 and 2021 and is part of a group of ultra-conservative legislators in the South Dakota Legislature who have been at oddswith Noem during the last year, typified by a fight over her style-and-form veto of a transgender sports ban.
Last week, the House of Representatives narrowly overcame a protest from its most conservative members -- including a vote of opposition from Haugaard -- in approving the Sparrow redistricting map, which pits some rural Minnehaha County legislators in a primary against one another.
The 65-year-old attorney was first elected in 2014 and is term-limited from running again in the House. . . .
While we're tempted to argue his looks resemble those of a generic villain from a Taylor Sheridan project, he seems nice. Maybe not that nice.
At Keloland, Bob Mercer has more in Haugaard files to challenge Noem:
Another area where Haugaard and Noem clearly differ is the future of state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
For months Noem has called for Ravnsborg to resign, and for the Legislature to remove him from office if he doesn’t, in the wake of the death of pedestrian Joe Boever after being struck by the car Ravnsborg was driving on the night of September 12, 2020. An attorney representing Ravnsborg pleaded no-contest to two misdemeanors facing Ravnsborg related to the crash. Last week Haugaard voted against the House opening an investigation into the possible impeachment of Ravnsborg.
On Wednesday, South Dakota Public Radion reported in Haugaard officially announces challenge to Noem:
State Rep. Steve Haugaard announced today that he intends to challenge Republican Gov. Kristi Noem in the June primary election.
“We need a full-time governor who puts South Dakotans first. Period," Haugaard said in a written statement. "Kristi Noem has been beholden to special interests, from the NCAA, to big business, to corporate lobbyists. We need leadership that focuses on serving the needs of our people, not using the office as a stepping-stone.”
It's not exactly Coya Come Home, but maybe she'll cancel that out-of-state December 1 rodeo convention speech.
We were most entertained by this Dakota Free Press report, Sources to KSFY: Haugaard Challenging Noem in 2022 Primary:
Yesterday I reported that the Senate-loved Sparrow map piles five Republican incumbents into the three-seat Moody-Minnehaha District 25. One of those crowded incumbents, Representative Steven Haugaard (R-10/Sioux Falls), may be taking my advice and easing the new District 25 tension by taking himself out of the running for Senator Marsha Symens’s (R-25/Dell Rapids) seat. Instead, he appears to be going after the Governor’s chair . . .
We can only hope more South Dakota Republicans can follow Cory Allen Heidelberger's advice. We'll lead off with his take on the other item dominating Noem News this week, Noem’s Daughter Quits Appraising, Joins Labor Secretary in Smokescreen Attack on Press and GOAC:
Sister Kennedy must need some help directing Mom’s campaign finances….
In a vituperative letter, Kassidy Peters, daughter of Governor Kristi Noem, announces to the Department of Labor and Regulation, Legislative leaders, and the public that she is quitting real estate appraisal and releasing the remediation plan the Department approved in August 2020 to help her complete her “long and difficult path” to appraiser certification. Seething with “disappointment and anger” at press for investigating her mom’s nepotism and at the Government Operations and Audit Committee for actually looking into the scandal, the second daughter of the most powerful woman in South Dakota plays the victim, blaming GOAC and the media for doing “irreparable damage” to her business and saying that she has “nothing left to fight for nor hide.”
Hmmm… maybe if Peters had studied harder in the first place, not complained to her mom, and not gotten involved in the star-chamber chewing out of the appraiser certification chief in July 2020, the media and GOAC wouldn’t have had anything to look into. But there I go again, suggesting that Republicans acknowledge personal responsibility….
Read the rest there. Straight news reporting on the professional withdrawal? At Keloland there's Gov. Noem’s daughter will give up appraisal activities by Bob Mercer:
The daughter of Governor Kristi Noem wrote Tuesday that she plans to shut down her real-estate appraisal business and will surrender her license at the end of the year.
Kassidy Peters made the declaration in a letter to the state secretary of labor and regulation and to three legislators. . . .
Her decision came one day after the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee voted to subpoena the plan that had been been reached between Peters and the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation.
In the Argus Leader, Joe Sneve reported in Appraiser training plan for Gov. Kristi Noem's daughter happened after meeting at Governor's Mansion:
A training plan outlining what Gov. Kristi Noem's daughter needed to do to earn her appraiser certification wasn't agreed to until after a closed-door meeting with top decision makers at the Governor's Mansion.
Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman told lawmakers last month that Kassidy Peters was not given preferential treatment while enrolled in the South Dakota Appraiser Certification Program, which falls under her department. And at the time, she said that a "possible plan forward" was developed for Peters prior to the meeting in question.
But a day after formally issuing a subpoena for the document, members of the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee received a two-page "stipulation agreement" entered into by the Department of Labor and Peters.
The stipulation agreement was released to GOAC at the request of Peters, who notified the Department of Labor earlier in the day that she intends stop working as an appraiser by year's end due to "irreparable damage" she has sustained due to the legislative and media scrutiny around the nepotism allegations. . . .
We sincerely hope Ms. Peters is able to find work.
Photo: Governor Noem on horseback.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments