South Dakota and five straight governors managed to get by with the same real estate appraiser certification chief for 28 years. But then South Dakota gets one governor with one daughter who struggles to launch an abortive career in appraising, and suddenly we burn through two appraiser certification chiefs in three years.
Coincidence? I think not.
Scott Amundson, the guy Governor Kristi Noem moved from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to the Appraiser Certification Program in June, has left his post:
Scott Amundson, who took over the state’s Appraiser Certification Program last summer, told The Associated Press on Monday he had resigned but declined to publicly comment on his reasons for doing so.
…The Department of Labor and Regulation, which oversees the Appraiser Certification Program, confirmed the resignation, but spokeswoman Dawn Dovre said she could not comment further on a personnel matter [Stephen Groves, “South Dakota Agency Head Resigns Amid Scrutiny of Gov. Noem,” AP, 2022.01.04].
Noem put Amundson in charge of appraiser certification to clean up the mess she made when she pushed capable 30-year chief Sherry Bren out of the job. There’s no evidence yet that Noem booted Amundson, too, but his poor performance suggests she’d have been right to do so. In maybe seven months, Amundson let his office break the law, wrecked communication and good relations with South Dakota’s appraiser industry, infuriated appraisers with really bad rule changes. He also never managed to update the state’s appraiser roster, which as of my quick check this evening still bears the label “As of March 23, 2021” and still says Kassidy C. Peters, the Governor’s older daughter, is an active appraiser, even though Peters said in her grouchy November 16 open letter to Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman that she planned to “turn in my license and dissolve my business by the end of the year.”
We can’t tell whether Amundson is leaving because his employer was displeased with his poor performance or if he’s just one more red welt in the ongoing rash of staff turnover that has plagued Team Noem.
But watch out: while Peters says on LinkedIn that she’s just taken a position as fundraiser for anti-trafficking outfit Call to Freedom, her mom may think that Peters is the perfect person to finally fix everything she and her mom think is unfair and broken in South Dakota’s Appraiser Certification Program.
Ms. Kassidy Peters may not have decided to “turn in my license and dissolve my business by the end of the year.”
Deflection and misdirection are family traits, you know.
So is “Lying Like a Trump”.
The young fellow blamed the media witch hunt.
“Witch hunt”? More specific information is required.
Oh my. Btw, what has Noem been doing lately? Haven’t heard much.
Did Kennedy apply for a license and get rejected too? (snipe)
Grudz, the young fellow maimed the media bitch hunt.
Hop a long Peters is gonna be the next appraiser certification chief. That is a possibility that could become a reality. Nothing surprises with this crooked bunch of trumper republicans. Ol Kassidy will be looking for a second in command and that would be another dummy, Alan Hanks. Boy, the conversations those two could have. Beavis and Butthead are baaaack…
It seems to me this is all becoming a tragic comedy of errors?!?
Noem’s administration reminds me of the Keystone Cops!
There certainly is a high churn rate in Noem’s high-level appointees and staff. Something is really lacking in her administration, and I suspect the wrong starts at the top.
Ms Peters could assess campaign givers and hand them gubmint positions if the gives are up to Mommy’s standards.
Noem is certainly South Dakota’s most incompetent governor intellectually and emotionally in at least the last 100 years. I’ve talked with several people who’ve known here through the years in Hamlin County, Watertown and Huron. Not one person claims she is smart. All of them have been surprised by her immense ego and untethered statements and actions, especially since she began preening and pandering herself as presidential material.
What’s unusual about the Sherry Bren scandal is how ham-fisted and wrong-headed Noem has been at every turn. She found a patsy to take Bren’s place, and now Mr. Amundson is abandoning the post without explanation. As they said at Nuremberg, we were only following orders. Such was the case for Mr. Amundson’s very brief stay. But he now realizes that you can’t placate the implacable.
The Snow Queen just can’t wipe that self-inflicted dung off her face and hands. Blame Bren. Blame the press. Blame liberals. Blame her SDGOP opponents in Pierre. Blame Mr. Amundson. Blame … oh, I dunno … the chief of staff!
Keep wiping, Snow Queen. We’re all getting the picture.
Well…the young man will move on with his life. He was what we used to call a “politico”. They came and went within the administration because they were dependable “Party guys” not
because they had any skills or abilities. He probably didn’t know much about Appraisal to begin with but was willing to keep the chair warm. He’ll land on his feet, if not in government, somewhere within the vast Republican infrastructure.
COVID-19 in South Dakota: 2,183 total new cases; Death toll rises to 2,520; Active cases at 14,355
Death toll was 2507 yesterday. WTF is Noem doing besides nothing?