Since he killed Jospeh Boever on September 12, 2020, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s fundraising appears to have dried up. In all of 2021, Ravnsborg received another $1,000 from frequent donor Josh Brower of Sioux Falls and $25 in unitemized donations. Ravnsborg spent almost 15 times that much in 2021 on salaries ($7,120?!), event expenses ($5,225), campaign travel ($1,640), and other campaign items ($1,013.75).
Ravnsborg’s 2021 year-end campaign finance report, which shows donations received after his 2020 pre-general report in October, shows just three contributions totaling $3,300, not enough to cover the $5,000 in salaries (?!), $75 in advertising, and $17.25 in online fees Ravnsborg’s campaign incurred over that period shortly after his fatal crash on Highway 14. The Ravnsborg campaign’s sources of income during those two and a half months were his dad Richard, who sent $500 from Iowa; Brower, who sent $300; and retailer Aaron’s, which sent $2,500 from Kennesaw, Georgia.
Aaron’s also sent Ravnsborg $1,000 before the 2020 general election and $1,000 in 2019. Their $2,500 donation, made sometime between mid-October and December 31, 2020, indicates that someone at Aaron’s HQ in Georgia thought South Dakota’s Attorney General needed more financial help then than the company had seen fit to give him throughout its relationship with him.
This $2,500 post-manslaughter donation from Aaron’s catches my eye because Aaron’s chief lobbyist, government relations director Stephanie Kozol, appears in the Ravnsborg investigation file, ND Report 52, as one of the people Ravnsborg contacted after his fatal crash and whom the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. I can’t find any instance of Kozol or anyone else from Aaron’s registering to lobby in South Dakota. According to the interview conducted December 8, 2020, by North Dakota Special Agent Joe Arenz, Kozol met Ravnsborg during her interactions with the national attorneys general circuit. Ravnsborg called her on Sunday, September 13, before Governor Kristi Noem held her press conference announcing Ravnsborg’s deadly crash. Kozol said she did have a close relationship with Ravnsborg at the time of that call. She described Ravnsborg’s tone during that call as “shaken” and “emotional.” She said she spoke with Ravnsborg “a good number of times” in the following days about the crash. Kozol said she connected Ravnsborg with Mike Deaver, the Utah flack Ravnsborg hired immediately after the crash (ah, the salaries on his recent campaign finance reports?), “for crisis management” and fellow Georgian political consultant Heath Garrett. Kozol said, she, Deaver, and Garrett all spoke with Ravnsborg about the crash, but at the time of the December 8 interview, she said she hadn’t spoken to Ravnsborg on the phone “in probably two months.” Asked by Special Agent Arenz if she had anything to add, Kozol said of Ravnsborg, “…He’s my friend, and… he’s a good man, and my biggest hope is that this was just some terrible, terrible accident, and I’m sure that it was, but… I don’t have a lot of those specifics. I wasn’t there… My heart breaks for everybody involved in this and it’s been… terribly, terribly difficult… to watch this unfold in the media…. My hope is that it’s resolved quickly and that everybody can have peace.”
Even if Kozol didn’t speak to Ravnsborg during October and November, someone at Aaron’s must have at least kept a memo on the desk saying, “Send Ravnsborg cash for Christmas,” as he received that reported $2,500 donation from Aaron’s sometime during the criminal investigation in which Aaron’s government relations manager was interviewed.
The other people Ravnsborg contacted shortly after his September 12 crash and whom NDBCI interviewed in early December were Lincoln County State’s Attorney Thomas Wollman, Ravnsborg’s 2018 campaign advisor Matthew Samp, Representative Scott Odenbach (R-31/Spearfish), and Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen. Kozol thus appears to be the only out-of-state party contacted by NDBCI in its investigation of Ravnsborg’s behavior the night of his crash and in the weeks following the crash.
Mike Deaver seems to be associated in a big way with the traitor Senator Mike Lee of Utah. Senator Lee seems to have conspired with Rep. Chip Roy and probably many more traitors to destroy democracy. Aaron’s is kinda like Payday loans so it makes sense to have an attorney general in your pocket.
The young lady seems to have more class than to be hanging with a clod like Ravnsborg, but duty is duty.
When you’re in a serious bind, is the first person you call for assistance your old girlfriend?? The guy doesn’t have many friends, or options.
Everybody got peace, that’s all I’m saying.
Old girlfriend has her hand on the tiller of the corporate political action committee for a corporation whose motto is “Easy payments, no long term commitment.” Still glad she dumped him but feeling sorry for the soon to be toxic to donors Sad Sack Ravnsborg she sends $2500 of corporate money his way.
I find it interesting that Ravnsborg was dialing for dollars on September 13 prior to Gov. Noem’s press conference. On that day my brother Victor and I couldn’t find our cousin Joe Boever but knew there were rumors of a dead person on the edge of the road outside Highmore. Sheriff Volek had been notified but didn’t seem very interested in our missing cousin, he was busy redirecting traffic. At Noem’s press conference she offered her condolences to the family of the person Attorney General Ravnsborg had struck and killed. At the time of the press conference Joe’s family didn’t even know they were being consoled because we didn’t know Joe was dead because Victor and I didn’t identify Joe’s body until after 8 PM that evening. Ravnsborg was busy fundraising for his campaign fund which had suddenly turned into a legal defense fund.
Will the Senate subpoena Ravnsborg’s priest to testify? No doubt he knows more than the investigators do.
Jerry, I’d hate to think there’s any lady who appears to have sufficiently low class to be hanging around with Jason Ravnsborg.
Arlo, a lobbyist in Georgia does seem like a really unusual person for Jason to call in the 24 hours after killing a man. But note that “girlfriend” is not the word used at any point in the conversation. The audio of the interview uses no words clearly pointing to a romantic relationship. There’s just the her word “close”. When SA Arenz asks (3:40), “So you have a close relationship with him?” Kozol responds tersely, “I did,” with emphasis on did. Kozol controls her language, speaks professionally and carefully (“I can’t speak to what his intent was…”), with an eye toward the legal impact her words could have on the investigation. If there was a romantic relationship, Kozol does a good job of keeping that part of her life locked down, off the record.
Ravnsborg and Tuckee Carlson cn fight over this woman…. Madison Cawthorn as you have never seen it.
https://www.rawstory.com/madison-cawthorn-family-values-hypocrisy/
Serious stuff right here in this link.
Greetings from Yankton, S.D. a.k.a. Yankton County Mafia town or Yankton County Swamp…I have known Jason RAVENSBORG for many years along with his partner Wanda Fox…Jason R. Was my personal Attorney until he won the election …As you may already know all the local Lawyers / Attorneys STICK together …I know a lot about Jason personally, but I will only tell you right now about an incident when I rode in Jasons Red Taurus….car…We we’re going to a meeting for me as Jason was my Attorney representing me at the meeting for a retirement sellelment…..Jason R. Insisted we go in his car ….As soon as I closed the door we were off like Jack Rabbit… I Buckled up but, Jason did Not …As we approached a Stop light in Yankton it turned YELLOW..Jason gunned his car and the tires squealed around the corner …Jason then said. “Do not worry Gary the lights stay RED from both sides for a few seconds then Jason laughed” ..When Jason parked he took two parking spots, and Slammed on the Brakes really hard….Laughing again…It was not much better after the meeting going back to his office..….I felt like I had been riding with a 14 year old Kid …. FACT. Gary Swensen Yankton County Commissioner 2017-2021 Army Veteran from the Vietnam war First Infantry Division Big Red One 1970-1973 D.A.V. Service connected disability …Retired-from two Pipelines KANEB / Nustar 25 years 1974-1999 and Keystone Trans Canada Pipeline ….Born and raised in Yankton County on our Swensen / Svendsen family farm…. Gary Swensen ….
Which mental illness disqualifies a constitutional officer from serving in South Dakota? A brain bleed wasn’t enough to disqualify Senator Johnson and the absence of a heart didn’t disqualify Bill Janklow but a bad aircraft mechanic killed Governor Mickelson and his staff.
Is Jesus a war criminal?
Praying for Republicans to kill people to win statewide office is a horrible political strategy.
Gary Swensen, thank you for your first hand account of riding in the front passenger seat while Jason Ravnsborg is driving. Your account simply reinforces the fact that he is a dangerous driver with no regard for others on the roadway. He has been ticketed or warned many times and God knows how many times he has been stopped and talked his way out of a ticket with his “I’m the attorney general of South Dakota” or “I’m the commanding officer of the reserve unit” routine. Simply put the top law enforcement officer of the South Dakota thinks he is above the law.