On Monday, we asked the question Ravnsborg impeachment committee report looming; will SD lawmakers vote to toss him?
It's old news by now, but the committee's answer is a partisan "No."
Last night the South Dakota House committee recommended no AG impeachment, Stephen Groves reported for the Associated Press. From his copy:
A South Dakota House committee recommended on Monday that the state’s attorney general face no impeachment charges for his actions surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash.
Gov. Kristi Noem had pushed for Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a fellow Republican, to be removed from office. But a Republican-controlled House committee voted on party lines to issue a report that found his actions did not merit impeachment. Individual House lawmakers may still bring impeachment charges against Ravnsborg, but the committee’s decision was a major setback for those trying to remove him from office.
The two Democrats on the nine-member committee issued a minority report that recommended he be impeached.
The committee’s announcement prompted tears from the widow of the pedestrian Ravnsborg struck and killed near a rural highway in September 2020. As the committee met behind closed doors for over four hours Friday, Jennifer Boever, the widow of Joseph Boever, watched lawmakers through a window into the conference room, expressing anger at times at lawmakers’ demeanor as they appeared to discuss the report.
The attorney general has cast Joseph Boever’s death as a tragic accident and pleaded no contest last year to a pair of traffic misdemeanors in the crash.
“It’s just really frustrating, and I’m disappointed that Attorney General Ravnsborg can kill a man and get away with it,” said Nick Nemec, Boever’s cousin who has publicly pushed for his impeachment.
Ravnsborg initially reported the crash as a collision with an animal and has said he did not realize he struck a man until he returned to the scene the next day and discovered his body. Criminal investigators doubted that account, but prosecutors said they were unable to prove that Ravnsborg realized he killed a man the night of the crash.
The committee’s 22-page report lays out an argument for why Ravnsborg’s conduct surrounding the crash did not meet grounds for impeachment, which are listed in the state constitution as “drunkenness, crimes, corrupt conduct, malfeasance or misdemeanors in office.”
House Speaker Spencer Gosch, a Republican, argued that the committee’s job was to keep its focus strictly on Ravnsborg’s actions in the crash and whether they were impeachable.
When he was asked by reporters whether he thought Ravnbsorg deserved to stay in office, he said: “Deserves has nothing to do with it. We’ve got to be clear and concise and the factual basis upon what the Constitution says that we can do.”
Other Republicans said they were still left with uncertainty after reviewing the crash investigation.
“I felt that there weren’t enough facts that were clear and convincing, which is the burden of proof that we had to follow,” said Republican Rep. Mike Stevens.
However, Noem, who has positioned herself for a run for higher office, quickly pushed for the House to impeach Ravnsborg when it convenes in two weeks. She took to Twitter to accuse Ravnsborg of lying to investigators and attempting to “cover it up.” . . .
Read the rest of the article at the Associated Press. In the Mitchell Republic, Christopher Vondracek took a different angle in South Dakota House committee votes 6-2 to not impeach attorney general, only Democrats opposed:
After three hours of waiting, on Monday, March 28, a House Select committee announced it would not recommend impeaching the state's attorney general for striking and killing pedestrian Joe Boever 18 months ago.
The committee voted 6-2 to recommend what it's calling the majority report, which finds that Ravnsborg — who pleaded "no contest" to two misdemeanors of distracted driving last August — "did not commit [a] misdemeanor in office, as he committed no crime or other wrongful act involving moral turpitude by virtue or authority of office."
House Speaker and committee chair Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham announced the decision, saying, "A majority of the select committee believes the attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg, did not commit impeachable offenses."
In the second row, Jenny Boever — the victim's widow — broke down as her mother consoled her. The verdict does not mark the end of the travail for Ravnsborg and state lawmakers. In two weeks, the full House of Representatives will return to consider any motion to approve House Resolution 7001, which first brought the impeachment charge to the chamber over a year ago.
But the report will prove persuasive with the GOP-dominated chamber, who'd largely appeared at various points hesitant to impeach one of their own party since last year.
A separate minority report received the backing of the committee's two Democrats, Rep. Ryan Cwach, of Yankton, and House Minority Leader Jamie Smith, of Sioux Falls, who is mounting a gubernatorial challenge of Gov. Kristi Noem.
After the announcement on Monday evening, a campaign spokesman for Noem — who has called repeatedly for Ravnsborg to step down — said the committee membership sought political protection for the embattled AG.
"The people of South Dakota deserve better," said Joe Desilets, a campaign spokesman.
Along with Boever's family, very few members of the public attended Monday's proceeding. One man who did, Pierre resident Doug Decker, said the ruling disappointed him.
"I believe he did commit an impeachable offense," Decker told Forum News Service, noting Ravnsborg broke the law the night his vehicle collided with Boever. "He forfeited his privilege to hold elected office."
And at the Argus Leader, Joe Sneve reported last night in Jason Ravnsborg should not be impeached, investigation committee says:
South Dakota's attorney general should not be impeached.
That's according to a formal recommendation by the state House Select Committee on Investigation, which Monday concluded a months-long probe into Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg after he struck and killed a pedestrian with his car nearly two years ago.
"After careful and comprehensive investigation and consideration of the facts and applicable law, a majority of the Select Committee hereby concludes Attorney General Ravnsborg did not commit an impeachable offense in his conduct surrounding the death of Joe Boever," committee chairman and House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, said following more than four hours of closed-door deliberations. "The Select Committee recommends that articles of impeachment do not issue." . . .
While crash investigators, as well as South Dakota's Public Safety Secretary Craig Price and Gov. Kristi Noem, called for serious charges against the attorney general, Hyde County prosecutors last year charged Ravnsborg with only minor traffic violations that did not amount to criminal culpability for Boever's death.
And the House Select Committee on Investigation, which began meeting in November and took testimony from investigations, prosecutors and members of both Ravnsborg's and Noem's administrations, also found evidence implicating any malicious wrongdoing by Ravnsborg that rose to an impeachable offense was lacking, according to a 22-page report issued Monday.
"The Select Committee finds under a clear and convincing standard that Attorney General Ravnsborg did not commit misdemeanor in office, as he committed no crime or other wrongful act involving moral turpitude by virtue or authority of his office," the report states.
The decision was not unanimous, however. The two Democrats on the committee, Reps. Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, and Ryan Cwach, D-Yankton, issued a minority report in which impeachment is recommended.
"A minority of the Select Committee finds that Attorney General Ravnsborg was, at a minimum, not forthcoming to law enforcement officers during the investigation," reads the final page of the report.
Argus Leader requests for comment to Ravnsborg nor his privately-hired public relations consultant, Mike Deaver, were immediately fulfilled.
The governor, pushing for the attorney general's removal since the crash occurred and has on multiple occasions been accused of meddling in committee's work, blasted the decision on social media, accusing Ravnsborg and the committee of attempting to cover up the attorney general's actions.
"Now, Speaker Gosch and his committee are covering for Ravnsborg and attempting to distract from their decision by blaming me for their inaction," Noem posted on social media Monday evening. "That is unacceptable. They should do the right thing."
In the room when the decision was announced, Boever's family, including his mother and widow, were visibly aggrieved.
The family's spokesman, Nick Nemec, said justice had not been served. . . .
Update, 3/29: It looks like it will be a while before we see the investigation file. Sneve tweeted a link to a new article this afternoon:
— Joe Sneve (@Argus_Joe) March 29, 2022
[end update]
At Keloland, Report: Ravnsborg’s off-duty offenses not impeachable we learn that the report might be one heckova birthday present for Ravnsborg:
. . . Ravnsborg turns 46 on April 12. Boever was weeks shy of his 56th birthday on October 1 when Ravnsborg’s car hit Boever as he walked along the shoulder of US 14 on the night of September 12, 2020.
The full House of Representatives returns April 12 to decide whether to impeach Ravnsborg.
According to the South Dakota Constitution, an office holder can be impeached by a simple majority of at least 36 representatives.
If he would be impeached, Ravnsborg must then give up his official duties, at least temporarily. The Senate then must wait at least 20 days to begin a trial.
The Senate would need a two-thirds majority of at least 24 to convict. If acquitted, Ravnsborg could return to office. If convicted, he would be permanently removed from office and disqualified “to hold any office of trust or profit under the state.”
Voting against recommending impeachment were six Republican representatives: Mike Stevens of Yankton, Kent Peterson of Salem, Jon Hansen of Dell Rapids, Kevin Jensen of Canton, Steven Haugaard of Sioux Falls and Doug Barthel of Sioux Falls. Voting to recommend impeachment were the panel’s two Democrats Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls and Ryan Cwach of Yankton. The committee’s chairman, House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, didn’t vote. . . .
Both Haugaard and Smith are running against Noem, a Republican, as she seeks re-election to a second term as governor. Noem’s campaign spokesman meanwhile issued a statement Monday night that concluded, “The full House will have the opportunity in the coming days to correct the failures of this committee and I hope that they take their duty seriously and do what is right in this matter.”
Smith told KELOLAND News after the vote Monday night that the panel members had reached a decision during the previous meeting March 10.
Here are the majority and minority reports:
South Dakota House Select Committee on Investigation Majority and Minority Reports uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
Screengrab: From the tweet by Argus Leader reporter Joe Sneve.
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