There’s at least one lawyer we can convince to come work in Pierre….
Holy cow—paint me wrong again! I thought that appointing Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo as South Dakota’s Attorney General might create an appearance of conflict of interest that would direct Governor Kristi Noem’s attention elsewhere for a replacement A.G. But a week after the Senate convicted and removed the impeached Attorney General, Governor Noem has appointed Vargo to fill the vacancy he made possible just one week ago with co-prosecutor Alexis Tracy:
Governor Kristi Noem has appointed Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo as Attorney General effective today.
“Mark Vargo returns integrity, experience and stability to the Attorney General’s Office,” said Governor Noem. “He is an outstanding prosecutor who has the respect of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors statewide. Mark will provide the leadership the office needs until the next Attorney General is elected in November and takes office in January.”
Vargo has more than 30 years of professional and public legal experience. He graduated from Princeton University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his law degree with honors from Georgetown Law Center in 1988. He has served as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Florida’s Dade County, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota and has been Pennington County State’s Attorney since 2013. He was nominated in 2010 for a U.S. Department of Justice’s Director’s Award and was named the South Dakota Prosecutor of the Year in 2015. Vargo has been active in the Rapid City area serving as an adjunct professor, high school debate coach and youth soccer coach.
Last week, Vargo was the lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial against the former attorney general.
“I am honored to have been asked by Governor Noem to serve as the Attorney General,” said Vargo. “I have worked closely with the Attorney General’s office in the past and have a high respect for the abilities of the staff. My goal is to provide office members the necessary support so they can keep doing their job and honoring the rule of law for the citizens of South Dakota.”
Vargo will serve as Attorney General through Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. The new Attorney General is scheduled to be sworn in Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023 [Office of the Governor, press release, 2022.06.28].
As I said last week, Vargo and Tracy achieved what I doubted was possible: convincing the Republican Senate to impeach a Republican Attorney General. In the impeachment trial, both Vargo and Tracy demonstrated exemplary prosecutorial skill and professionalism under unusual public and political scrutiny. Tracy might have been just as good a pick, but Vargo has more experience.
Appointing Mark Vargo Attorney General also makes political sense for Governor Noem. She could have put her thumb on the scale of the November election by appointing her endorsee, Republican nominee Marty Jackley. Instead, she has chosen an outsider, someone who is not aspiring to higher office who can focus on simply serving as an interim Attorney General, helping clean up the mess left by the bumbler he just impeached and clear the decks for whomever the voters choose in November (assuming, of course, that the South Dakota Democratic Party will seize this moment of tumult and offer voters a choice).
Vargo’s appointment also gives Noem cover from all the tomato-chuckers, including many in her own party, who said she pushed impeachment so she could “install a loyalist.”
I will vouch for Mark Vargo personally: he is no Noem loyalist. At the very least, he is no corrupt toady who will shred evidence to protect Noem from any credible allegation of lawbreaking. Mark Vargo—Attorney General Vargo, we should say now—is his own man, committed to seeking and telling the truth, enforcing the law, and serving the people.
Now, Attorney General Vargo, don’t let me down. Six months isn’t a long time to make a difference. But you can restore South Dakota’s confidence in the office by executing your duties with diligence and integrity… and firing any lingering Ravnsborg cronies.
Getting rid of Ravnsborg toadies who only hold their job because they were Ravnsborg campaign donors is job one.
Hey Cory, you should do a little investigating into how someone elected to fill one position (State’s Attorney) can serve in another elected position (AG) and then go back to his original elected position six months later. That doesn’t seem right to me.
Mr. Vargo, a fellow who sports a nice cut of a suit and fills it well, is the sort of fellow who probably needs to be treated to a few good breakfasts with grudznick so he can gather the lay of the land a bit more. Mr. Borman, I am rescinding your last two breakfast coupons to be reused for Mr. Vargo or his designee.
This is what an actual, factual, knowledgeable, ethical Attorney General says and does….
Attorney General Tom Miller issued a statement this afternoon saying he will withdraw from the cases citing “ethical reasons.”
He says he supports Roe v. Wade and that restricting abortion would undermine rights and protections for women.
“Our office is withdrawing from the case involving the 24-hour waiting period, or House File 594, for ethical reasons. I have made many clear public statements supporting Roe v. Wade and the rationale that underlies it. Those statements would be inconsistent with what the state would argue in court. I support the undue burden standard that the U.S. Supreme Court set forth in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The 24-hour case has now moved to a point in which I doubt that I can zealously assert the state’s position. The question now before the Iowa Supreme Court is whether the rational basis test should apply to abortion regulations. I believe that standard would have a detrimental impact on women’s reproductive rights, health care, and our society. Therefore, I am disqualifying myself pursuant to Iowa Code section 13.3.
“This decision is consistent with my disqualification in the fetal heartbeat case in 2018. In that case, I stated that I could not zealously assert the state’s position because of my core belief that the statute, if upheld, would undermine rights and protections for women. In my nearly 40 years in office, I have declined to represent the state in only one other similar situation. I do not take lightly my responsibility to represent the state.”
Jason Ravnsborg looked down at the speedometer as he was transitioning between speed zones, and Joe Boever entered the driving lane to commit suicide.
Jason didn’t commit the crime of illegal lane change because Joe’s impact with the extreme right side of the car is what angled it onto the shoulder. That means the first article of impeachment was false.
Jason didn’t make a direct misrepresentation to the 911 dispatch officer because the path of a vehicle near the middle of its lane is commonly called the middle of the road. That means the second article of impeachment was false.
Governor Noem has appointed an attorney general who’s substantially more authoritarian than David Natvig and nearly as corrupt as Marty Jackley, and I believe she should resign.
Two things:
Kurt Evans, you are science denier. If that works for you, so be it. Hope you’re ok with gravity, hate to see you float away (not)
Cory, you only like Vargo for your undisclosed conflict of interest. He’s a debate coach. You’ve been outed !
Fyi. Vargo is a great pick
I’d be careful. Lee, if I were you, in accusing ANYONE of being a science denier. Glass houses and such, you know.
Just because you happened to intersect with me on your opinion of Ravvensburg doesn’t mean we’re buddies.
WOW! Mark is a great pick to fill this post. And Mr. Schoenbeck, what is wrong with debate coaches? As liking people because they are debate coaches doesn’t really fit the category of “conflict of interest,” I have to believe you meant that as a joke. What stands out about Vargo is that while filling the job as Pennington County State’s Attorney, he gave up his free time to help the speech program at a local high school. Only a quality individual would do that.
Senator Schoenbeck, I have disclosed my respect for and past association with Vargo and my intent to forward the debatocracy on a regular basis in past blog posts. I would support your daughter’s candidacy for Attorney General in 2026 (in your party’s attempt to unseat the Democratic AG who will win this November) for the same nefarious reason, as I seek to place former high school debaters and debate coaches in every position of power.
Kurt, in describing Mark Vargo, I think you meant “authoritative.”
I agree with your statement that Noem should resign. As for the rest, well, you and Jason both need to stop arguing this settled case on distracting conspiracy theories.
Hey, Neal, is there any legal problem with an elected official taking a six-month leave of absence, then returning to the post?
SDCL 7-16-2 empowers the circuit court to appoint a temporary replacement for a state’s attorney who is “absent or unable to attend to his duties.” Vargo has been legally called by the Governor to perform other duties for six months. Judge Craig Pfeifle thus appointed Lara Rochelle Roetzel as interim PennCo SA yesterday. SDCL 7-16-2 also says, “Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to give the court power to permanently fill vacancies in such office.” The court thus has no power to appoint a permanent replacement. By law, when Vargo is no longer absent, he can legally return to fulfill his duties in Pennington County until his term ends on December 31, 2024.
Indeed. The state Republican Party denies the Anthropocene, the American Genocide, and the legacy of slavery while rich lawyers like Lee Schoenbeck scramble to cover up the crimes being committed against South Dakota’s catholics. A state that calls itself conservative depends on federal Social Security benefits to pay the property taxes that currently bankroll the bulk of South Dakota’s moocher state bills while video lootery drives poor residents even further into despair.
South Dakota deserves the legislature it suffers.
Kurt Evans:
What world do you live in?
I’d written:
Lee Schoenbeck writes:
My reconstruction of the crash implicitly affirms the laws of physics, and Lee Schoenbeck is a reckless liar.
I wouldn’t hate to see Senator Schoenbeck float away either.
The amputation on the shoulder happened when Joe’s body came off the hood. That’s why all of the blood from that amputation was on the bottom right side of the car, with none of it on the top of the car.
I’d written:
Cory writes:
That’s definitely not what I meant.
https://www.rawstory.com/kristi-noem-2650536372/
“BobJ” asks me:
The one to which Jesus Christ was sent.
There will come a time, blessed by Haysooce, when Kurt’s version of history will continue to carry as much thought salad as it has presented so far. I picture Kurt on a oark bench in Wessington Springs proclaiming to whomever wanders within range. “But he had two wheels inside the fog line.’
Bob Newland writes:
The collision on the shoulder happened roughly a foot from the edge of the pavement, where the investigators say it happened, with all four of the car’s wheels well outside the fog line and rumble strip. But it happened when Joe’s body came off the hood.
It didn’t angle the car into the ditch because Joe’s body already had westward momentum and because Jason was already swerving back to the left.
As I was saying….
Some comedian, I don’t remember their name, said you can’t fix stupid.
They were right.
Ron White, a.k.a. Tater Salad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQv7Tr8HbGE
Thank me later.
I’d written:
Nick Nemec replies:
You’ve repeatedly suggested that your independent investigation of the crash makes you some kind of expert, Nick, but you only seem to contradict yourself and stack insults upon insults without ever explaining anything.
Why would you say the collision on the shoulder didn’t angle the car into the ditch?
Kurt–aren’t you running for some office in the next election??? Why don’t you focus your energies on that???
Cory had written:
I’d written:
Arlo Blundt asks:
Triage.
Why would you say the collision on the extreme right side of the car roughly a foot from the edge of the pavement didn’t angle it into the ditch, Arlo?
Vote against Kurt Evans for Secretary of State.
Nothing Kurt says relates to the fact of the original post: Kristi Noem has legally appointed Mark Vargo to serve as Attorney General for the next six months. Jason Ravnsborg no longer holds that office and can never hold that office again. South Dakota law enforcement is definitely in better hands than it has been since January 2019, arguably since 2010, maybe since the 1980s.
There, you can debate that claim without resorting to physics, real or imaginary.
That public schools still hire people with beliefs like Mr. Evans clings to is nothing short of terrifying.
Cory writes:
Your suggestion that nothing I say relates to that fact is absurd, Cory, and your suggestion that it’s the only fact of the original post is also absurd.
Your suggestion that state law enforcement is “definitely” in better hands under Vargo is absurd.
Your suggestion that the physics to which I’m “resorting” may be imaginary is absurd.
You say Governor Noem has appointed Vargo to fill “the vacancy he made possible.” If Joe’s impact with the extreme right side of the car is what angled it onto the shoulder, Vargo apparently made that vacancy possible by jumping to conclusions and telling reckless, aggressive lies regarding both articles of impeachment.
Why would you say the collision on the extreme right side of the car roughly a foot from the edge of the pavement didn’t angle it into the ditch?
Mr. Evans says:
Mr. Evans, why do you not understand that everything you say is mostly viewed as absurd by a vast majority of the bloggers on this blogging site? Are you daft, or are you like grudznick? (spoiler, I appreciate both)
EVANS is the Lyndon LaRouche of South Dakota. Nothing but conspiracy theories are their trademarks. Oh, and daft, seems to fit them both nicely.
Drop the bone, Kurt. Drop it.
Mark Vargo is definitely a better leader for law enforcement in South Dakota than the incompetent, inexperienced political brownnoser Jason Ravnsborg. He is more of an outsider than Marty Jackley and thus inherently more trustworthy. He is not part of a political dynasty like Mark Barnett. I thus feel very confident saying Vargo is a better person for the job than three of the last four AGs. I am open to debate about his merits against those of Larry Long. Roger Tellinghuisen and Mark Meierhenry seem to remain pretty esteemed jurists, against whose credentials Mark Vargo may be comparable… but I welcome that debate, which would require far less dogged distortion of fact than Kurt’s unproductive hobbyhorse of turning Ravnsborg’s crime scene into another faked lunar landing.
I’d written to Cory:
Cory writes:
I’m not your dog, and you posted two articles today criticizing Governor Noem for refusing to answer questions:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2022/07/05/let-her-talk-and-talk-noem-inhuman-incoherent-on-cnn/
https://dakotafreepress.com/2022/07/05/paid-family-leave-state-funded-child-care-noem-evades-direct-answers-on-practical-pro-family-policy/
Vargo argued during the impeachment trial that Jason steered onto the shoulder, knew his car had struck a person, and lied to the 911 dispatcher rather than seeking medical attention for Joe. You seem to suggest that Jason’s status as a “political brownnoser” would be more relevant to leading law enforcement than his status as a deceitful, cold-blooded killer. It’s as if you know Vargo was lying.
Yes.
No.
That seems like a very bad analogy. The six manned lunar landings weren’t faked, and unlike Vargo’s claims about the crash, they weren’t dependent on any obvious violations of the laws of physics.
So what “fact” are you accusing me of distorting, Cory? And why would you say the collision on the extreme right side of the car roughly a foot from the edge of the pavement didn’t angle it into the ditch?
I’d written to Cory:
Make that three:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2022/07/05/cant-trust-kristi-20-minutes-on-cnn-gives-only-one-direct-honest-answer/
Mr. Evans blogs something along the lines of:
It’s become very difficult for grudznick to read Mr. Evans’ bloggings carefully.
I would tell you, Mr. Evans, that I have proof there were only 5 moon landings. That conspiracy is partially true.
I’d written to Cory:
“grudznick” writes:
Maybe that’s why it’s difficult for “grudznick” to write anything other than an off-topic, barely coherent, ad hominem response.