Since breaking the law and killing a man isn’t an impeachable offense in South Dakota, the Legislature figures it has to at least keep killer Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg busy while they wait for Kristi Noem and Marty Jackley to beat him at convention. So since they also lack the strength to override the Governor’s veto of their budget compromise, they’re giving Ravnsborg a project: get the Supreme Court to do what the House couldn’t with vetoed House Bill 1281 and take away the Governor’s slushy spending authority over certain federal funds.
In February, Republican House members got the Attorney General to issue a memorandum* to State Treasurer Josh Haeder and Auditor Rich Sattgast saying the Governor needed Legislative approval to disburse certain American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Treasurer Haeder ignored that legal advice; Governor Noem ridiculed it and wrote $32 million in Legislatively unauthorized checks to daycares around the state.
Yesterday, House Republicans asked Ravnsborg to press their case again, this time in court:
Joint Appropriations Committee co-chair Representative Chris Karr (R-11/Sioux Falls) is the lead signer of the bill. He explains the basic fiscal conflict that he wants to court to resolve:
“They (the governor’s office) came to us and asked for the authority to spend these dollars in the supplemental bill, then the governor and the Executive branch sent these dollars out prior to the supplemental bill being signed, and claimed the authority came from last year’s budget,” Karr explained. “The issue is the daycare grants came from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, we did not receive those until late last year, well after the budget process of last year wrapped up.”
…Given the stark contrast on the issue between Noem and the House, Karr believes it is time for the judicial branch to step in.
“I think we’re outside the lines here and this needs to have another look at it from a legal perspective,” Karr said [Austin Goss, “House Leadership Asks AG Ravnsborg to Review Noem’s Spending Authority,” KSFY, 2022.03.28].
Ten Republican colleagues also signed this letter to the Attorney General: Speaker Spencer Gosch (R-23/Glenham), Speaker Pro-Tempore Jon Hansen (R-25/Dell Rapids), Rep. Marli Wiese (R-8/Madison), Rep. Kevin Jensen (R-16/Canton, Rep. Taffy Howard (R-33/Rapid City), Rep. Liz May (R-27/Kyle), Rep. Randy Gross (R-8/Elkton), Rep. John Mills (R-4/Volga), Rep. Steven Haugaard (R-10/Sioux Falls), and Rep. Tina Mullaly (R-35/Rapid City).
Reps. Gosch, Hansen, Jensen, and Haugaard recommended against impeaching Ravnsborg yesterday. Rep. Haugaard is running against Governor Noem in the Republican primary. The Governor dismisses these legislators as conflicted and their letter as “irrelevant“:
Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury called the effort “irrelevant.”
“Four of the co-signatories to today’s letter are members of the House Special Committee on Investigation, tasked with weighing the impeachment of the Attorney General. The conflict here is beyond obvious,” Fury said in a statement. “The Noem Administration will continue to act according to the law and longstanding budget procedures” [Goss, 2022.03.28].
Ravnsborg’s chief of staff Tim Bormann tells Goss that the AG’s office has received the letter. Maybe they’ll do something about it when Jason gets done recruiting candidates for precinct committeepeople and convention delegates to help him keep his job at the GOP convention in Watertown in June.
You can read Ravnsborg’s February 10, 2022, memo to Treasurer Haeder and Auditor Sattgast here:
Ok so hear me out. First, I absolutely think that Jason Ravnsborg should be impeached and in jail. What happened was disgusting and I think that R by his name saved his ass. With that being said, I have to wonder if they left him in his job to prevent the governor from picking a replacement that she could use as sort of a shield.
After all the robo-calls, billboards and other ‘interference’, the Republicans in the legislature have another teammate in what seems to be a more adversarial beef with the governor. She is being investigated for her use of the state plane and her role in the appraisal meeting with her daughter. She complained about him getting and extra 1.5 million in money for his office saying he doesn’t have to say what it’s even for. What if it’s to investigate those calls and billboards? What if it’s to do a little more digging into the governor’s political life?
Yes, AmyB, it is obviously an in-house dog and cat fight. The Republican Party in South Dakota has declined into chaos with only a few State Senators trying to hold the ship on its erratic course. The Governor is obviously moving on after this term. Can you imagine what a second term would be like??? Right now, it’s a poorly written soap opera.