Two Wrongs Don't Make It Right--Except In South Dakota--Then It's Extreme Right With Noem & Ravnsborg Feud
The governor allegedly forced the state to grant her daughter a real estate appraiser’s license after she was first denied one.
BAFMnotes: Nepotism Versus Vehicular Homicide, Republican Versus Republican, Who Will Go Down First, Or Will They End Up Making Nice As La Familia Republican?
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota—Less than a day after the Associated Press reported that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem strong-armed the state into giving her daughter a real estate license, the state attorney general she tried to oust is on the case.
"I have been contacted by concerned citizens and legislators,” Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg wrote in a Tuesday statement. “I am actively reviewing their concerns and I will be following the steps prescribed in codified law in relation to those questions.”
The attorney general’s announcement extends the contentious professional relationship between Noem and Ravnsborg.
Noem demanded Ravnsborg’s resignation earlier this year after it emerged that he had killed a man while driving. He first claimed he thought he hit a deer before then arguing that the man was suicidal.
When Ravnsborg, who pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors and faced no trial, said he wouldn’t resign, Noem urged the state legislature to launch an impeachment inquiry. The legislature said it plans to consider one when it returns for a special session in November.
"My gut on the Noem investigation tells me Ravnsborg is talking a good game, but I have my doubts that a Republican in South Dakota will do a real investigation of another Republican,” he told The Daily Beast.
Ray Oines, 63, a Brookings office manager, said it might end up being a win-win. “Maybe they will take each other down,” he mused."