We've been slogging through the seedling-hating shenanigans of Minnesota's Ag Mafia, and so only now are catching up with South Dakota's own malarky.
At the Associated Press South Dakota bureau, Stephen Groves reports in Prosecutors to testify at Ravnsborg’s impeachment hearing:
The prosecutors who decided against more serious charges against South Dakota’s attorney general in a fatal crash are set to testify at a hearing on whether he should face impeachment.
The South Dakota House Select Committee on Investigation reconvenes Thursday to hear testimony on whether Republican Jason Ravnsborg should face impeachment charges for conduct related to a 2020 car crash that killed Joe Boever who was walking along a highway.
Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanors last year and has said he didn’t realize he struck the 55-year-old man until returning to the scene the next day.
Investigators determined that Ravnsborg would have walked right past Boever’s body and the flashlight Boever had been carrying as Ravnsborg looked around the scene the night of the crash. The flashlight was still illuminated the next morning.
Hyde County Assistant State’s Attorney Emily Sovell, who led the prosecution against Ravnsborg, and the Beadle County State’s Attorney who assisted her in determining charges are set to testify, the Argus Leader reported.
Tim Bormann, Ravnsborg’s chief of staff who was at the crash scene near Highmore at the time Boever’s body was discovered, is also on the witness list as is state Division of Criminal Investigation Director David Natvig.
Gov. Kristi Noem has made it clear that she believes the misdemeanor charges were not enough, and wants Ravnsborg removed from office. She would also get to name the attorney general’s replacement if he is removed.
Friends speculated that she didn't really mean it, but Noem has endorsed a challenger for the attorney general race this year--and not just any stranger. Dakota News Now reported last week in Former political rivals Noem & Jackley endorse each other for upcoming elections:
Two Republicans who once vied against each other in the race for South Dakota governor are now supporting each other in their upcoming election bids.
Gov. Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Marty Jackley issued mutual endorsements Thursday, according to a joint press release from their campaigns.
Noem is running for reelection for a second term as South Dakota governor in the November election. Jackley is seeking to regain his former office against current Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
Jackley and Noem ran against each other seeking the Republican nomination for the gubernatorial race in 2018. Noem won the primary with 56% of the vote. She then went on to defeat Democrat Billie Sutton in the general election with 51% of the vote.
Ravnsborg, who is also a Republican, won the Attorney General position vacated by Jackley in the 2018 election. Jackley has worked in private practice since the election, and announced last year plans to run again for Attorney General in 2022.
Despite the confrontations in the 2018 gubernatorial primary, which included Jackley accusing Noem of running negative ads, the two appear to now have a shared political enemy in Ravnsborg.
Dakota Free Press has more on that in Jackley Endorses Noem! Noem Endorses Jackley! Ravnsborg Is Toast.
Beats reality TV any day, though we'd like to see less melodrama and more justice for Joseph Boever.
Photo: Ravnsborg's Taurus, via Rapid City Journal. From the New York Times' transcription: "“We know that his face came through your windshield,” one investigator said. The vehicle also had an imprint from at least part of the man’s body on the hood, an investigator said, adding that “at some point he rolls off and slides into the ditch.”
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