Political hack Jason Ravnsborg is already stacking the Attorney General’s office with political cronies.
Ravnsborg says he’ll hire Timothy Bormann as chief of staff. Bormann is currently Faulk County’s state’s attorney. He also worked for Ravnsborg’s name-boosting Senate campaign back in 2014 and handled media relations for Ravnsborg’s A.G. campaign this year. Bormann poured $4,000 into Ravnsborg’s campaign in 2017, the most one can contribute to a statewide candidate in one year in South Dakota. Bormann also chipped in at least another $150 this year. Bormann’s daughter Tyler donated $150 to Ravnsborg’s failed Senate campaign in 2014.
Ravnsborg also announced he has chosen David Natvig to run the Division of Criminal Investigations. Natvig is currently state’s attorney for Brule and Buffalo counties. Natvig gave Ravnsborg $4,000 this year; so did Natvig’s wife LaRae.
Ravnsborg is letting Charles McGuigan remain as Deputy Attorney General. McGuigan briefly challenged Ravnsborg for the Republican nomination but backed out of the four-way race last March for health reasons. Now he’ll have to weigh the health impacts of daily covering for an incompetent Attorney General. McGuigan also moved $250 from his campaign fund to Ravnsborg’s after the primary. McGuigan gave equal amounts to Republican candidates Barnett, Brunner, and Sattgast, plus $1,000 to help his current boss Marty Jackley pay campaign bills.
Charlie will be torn between his need for a paycheck and his disgust working for an incompetent.
He will go down in history as the Gant of the AG’s office and the worst AG ever.
They’re buddies from USD…no brainer. “Yo, bro, wanna work for me in Pierre? It’ll be fun.”
Both are State’s Attorneys as you state so besides focusing on their donations (which isn’t illegal) how about looking at their credentials? Their jobs would at face value tell me they are qualified.
Amazing how you lefties decry “pay to play” when there are COUNTLESS examples on the Left. And typically people NOT qualified for said role(s). Or foreign influence.
Ravnsborg certainly isn’t qualified as a prosecutor. It is amazing how low wingnuts are willing to drop the bar for their cronies. The R behind the name is not a qualifier.
Pay to play is never good for government. However, Ravsbutt’s pals may have a some knowledge of the law. Maybe they’ll provide some balance to Ravsbutt’s complete and total incompetence.
SD would have been much wiser to elect the highly competent, experienced and wise Randy Seiler. Good luck SD, I fear you’re going to need it to fend got the gantification of the AG office.
for a statewide campaign 10k isn’t really much money. in terms of your average persons living expenses it’s a lot of money. I doubt they bought their jobs, but the optics of it aren’t the greatest.
Perhaps, Ms. Geelsdottir, despite the out-of-state name calling that reflects badly on our own Mr. H’s elections, Mr. Ravnsborg simply doesn’t know any better and that this could be viewed with some disfavor by the people in South Dakota, the state he serves. Remember, I urged people to vote against this fellow, so you must also admit that grudznick was right again.
I fear Mr. DaCola is righter than right.
B man gave 4 large but can’t manage to pay their bills
Look up the sheets as to judgements against them in last 5 years
Ravnsborg is Far from qualified Steve. Sadly the majority of South Dakotans had to mark the “R” no matter what.
https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/4157660-brule-co-states-attorney-removed-case-accused-filing-complaint-related-deer-stand
Grudz, the coward who hides his name, takes another cheap shot.
Debbo,
Why would SD elect Randy? He doesn’t represent the values of the majority of SD citizens.
Billie “represented” he did have the majority of the values of SD citizens and it became a close race.
Cory has pointed out that Billie has said some things that confirms that Billie doesn’t have the same values as the majority of SD citizens in another thread.
Jason, who seriously wants to have a corrupt crony gubmint except stoopid wingnuts, like yerself?
Hey, wait a minute: chief of staff? Does Marty Jackley have a chief of staff? What does an attorney general need a chief of staff for?
Hey, Monty! How did that Brule County right-of-way trial go?
What is this CIS salary going to be?
Values. Soap operas. Rednecks. Deplorable. Chief of staff. Dusty. Tony Van Huissen. Ravnsborg–“Warthog washer”. Our own Sarah Palin (Russian foreign policy experience). Kennedy. Cops with confederate flags. Sturgis silencers for preppers’ AR15. COS. This is getting very …. Good old common sense-SD, GOP owned (a wholely owned KOCH subsidary). nepotism. jfc. Free public money. Yippee.
And I still see no comments on the fact that those two are State’s Attorneys. Are they NOT qualified or if this just a bitch fest because of who won? The newest story today is ripe with “sore loser” syndrome.
All syndromes are on the table in communist SD. “AG grossly unqualified” seems to be the point.
OMG….
Whether an appointee was previously elected or appointed to the position of states attorney seems unimportant as a qualification for another position. Some states attorneys perform well and others perform badly, and sometimes even commit criminal acts or other misconduct while in office. See e.g., the Lance Russell case:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/sd-supreme-court/1564780.html
A more important issue showing a person to be qualified for an appointment is how that person actually performed in his or her former elected or appointed position – i.e. the person’s actual record. Simply claiming to be qualified based on an election or appointment, however, is a claim dependent on weak thinking or partisan bias.
Wapo 2.26.18 Kara-Murza “Putin’s Russia Becoming More COMMUNIST Everyday”. omg
Cory, Surat won a partial victory in the Supreme Court, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/sd-supreme-court/1879354.html , but I do not know when or if the case has come to a conclusion.
As to Mr. Pearson point about qualifications and Mr. Natvig – if the MDR story is accurate, Natvig allegedly used the coercive power of his office to prosecute someone, in part, to receive sometime of value to him – access to his deer stand. Natvig had control over the drafting of a complaint, Natvig then submitted the complaint under the name of a Brule County Deputy, then refused and delayed a response back to the Court when opposing counsel questioned who had in fact drawn up the complaint. Then after admitting to being the author of the complaint, Natvig asked to be removed from the case and claimed Mr. Surat was a client on the private side of his law practice, which Surat disputed! So, a trip to the Supreme Court and back at the expense of Brule County taxpayers and the Surat family.
I am very interested in hearing Natvig’s side of this story, as well as what he believes are his qualifications to head the Department of Criminal Investigation.
Pearson- what are Ravnsborg’s qualifications to be attorney general except the R behind his name?
If Natvig broke the law he should not have been appointed and needs to step down, which of course is not likely to happen in a red state.
Natvig and AG office DO NOT prosecute Criminal cops.
I know this from first hand experience.
Please tell us about this first-hand experience.