Judicial elections don’t usually draw much interest. But Judge Kevin Krull’s withdrawal from the ballot has drawn lots of interest to the Fourth Circuit bench he’ll leave open.
Noem-appointee Krull pulled out of the Fourth Circuit election on July 5. At the time, Krull was one of four candidates for four positions in that Circuit, which keeps lawful and orderly the northwestern quadrant of the state—Butte, Harding, Butte, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins, Corson, Dewey, and Ziebach counties. Krull and the other three sitting Fourth Circuit judges—Michael W. Day, Michelle K. Comer, and Eric J. Strawn—all filed for another term, and no one filed petitions to challenge any of them, so there was no need for a primary or a general election.
Judicial elections are non-partisan, so when a candidate withdraws, no party has a right to name a replacement for that ballot slot. Aspiring jurists have until the second Tuesday in August to file nominating petitions with at least 50 signatures from voters in the circuit to take over ballot slots vacated after the primary.
And aspire they have! Magistrate Judge Chad R. Callahan, the judge who tried to keep Senator Gary Cammack’s drunk driving secret, filed to run for Fourth Circuit position D on July 7. Then this week, three more candidates filed: Jennifer Tomac on July 25, David V. Natvig on July 27, and Tina M. Hogue on July 29.
Jennifer Tomac practices law with her husband Jerad in Rapid City. Tina M. Hogue practices law solo as Monument Law in Rapid City. And David Natvig is the guy who got fired June 29 by Attorney General Mark Vargo because his only qualification for directing the Division of Criminal Investigation was kissing the keester of now-impeached killer Jason Ravnsborg. Radical Republican convention insurgents came within seven votes of nominating Natvig for Attorney General instead of GOP mainstay Marty Jackley. Now apparently to find work, Natvig has to move from Pierre and Kimball out to West River to rally his radical right-wing crony base to give him a judgeship.
Natvig appears to be leading his three opponents in campaigning for the job. He’s purged and retooled the Facebook page he used for his unsuccessful A.G. campaign in May and June, and he already has a photo of himself up sitting in Vale talking up voters on Thursday. Casual Googling produces no immediate hits for Callahan, Tomac, or Hogue.
That early campaigning could easily pay off: judges, like everyone else on the November ballot, are elected by plurality. In a four-way race at the bottom of the ticket, Natvig just has to get a few partisans who think scumbags like Ravnsborg should have been left in office to help rig the next election for Trump to keep his name at the top their minds when they get to the bottom of their ballots and move his cote count up a few ticks from the default 25% of chance to win the black robe.
If Hogue, Tomac, and Judge Callahan aren’t crony-partisans, if they want the Fourth Circuit to have judges more honest than a political climber who lied to legislators to protect a killer Attorney General, they might want to have a confab to decide which two of them are going to withdraw and endorse the remaining candidate to keep Natvig from carpetbagging his way onto their circuit’s bench.
Cory writes:
Jason Ravnsborg looked down at the speedometer as he was transitioning between speed zones, and Joe Boever entered the driving lane to commit suicide. Joe’s impact with the extreme right side of the car angled it suddenly onto the shoulder, and Jason reflexively swerved back to the left before he could even process what was happening.
The collision ten feet outside the white line happened when Joe’s body came off the hood. That’s why all of the blood from that collision was on the bottom right side of the car, with none of it on the top of the car. 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.
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.
Those are the reasons Jason should have been left in office. They have nothing to do with rigging the next election for Donald Trump, and they’re the biggest reasons Governor Noem should withdraw her 2022 candidacy and resign.
It’s too bad Ravnsborg didn’t have Evans representing him, he would have gotten off scott free. Oh well, too late now, there are no do overs in impeachment. Just chalk it up to another brilliant legal decision by our former attorney general.
Nick’s irony, sarcasm, and caustic wit used to attack or expose human foolishness or vice is exemplary. #Huzzah :)
Ravensborg remains a politician in search of a constituency. He’s adrift on a sea of indifference but may yet find a beachhead on the Isle of Trumpist Desperation.
Why did Kevin Krull withdraw from the race for re-election?
Kurt keeps changing even HIS story about what happened to Mr Boever, the victim. Evidence be damned.
Mr Evans, your friend Jason Ravnsborg got away with alot. You and he should be tickled pink that he had a weak prosecutor that refused to file appropriate criminal charges. Not allowing a case to go before a jury of South Dakotans? Ravnsborg should thank his lucky stars.
I can’t explain why Kurt continues to ignore evidence, but……… Just let it go, Kurt. Let it go.
Patrick, I don’t know. The KELO article I linked at the top was the only article I saw on the withdrawal, and it didn’t feature any comments from Judge Krull. I would love to know why he withdrew and why so many people are interested in succeeding him.
Four people running for a judgeship, including one who just got fired from DCI—that’s the main story here.
Fitzgerald is running.
I’d written:
Nick Nemec writes:
*scot-free
Dana P. writes:
Jason isn’t my friend. We’ve never even met, and you’re a pathological liar.
Is this THE Patrick Ginsbach, of Farrell Farrell & Ginsbach Attys, 441 N. River Street, Hot Springs, SD 57747, 605-745-5161?
Pedantic, a word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.
Swellheaded: a word used to describe a conceited person or one who has a swollen head, especially someone who ends roughly half of his complete sentences with comma splices.
Fitz will win in a landslide.
LOL! Kurt and Nick, stop it you two Go sit in your corners and do not say a word to each other.
Dougie appears to be referring to Lawrence County State’s Attorney John Fitzgerald, who ran against Ravnsborg for the nomination in 2018 and who has prosecuted more criminals this year than Ravnsborg did during his entire law career. The SOS has not posted Fitzgerald’s candidacy, and Fitzgerald has not yet retooled his 2016 campaign FB.
Rep. Fitzgerald just told me on twitter that John is near a decision.