Child rapist and incestophile Joel Koskan appears to have returned all of the campaign contributions he received in 2022.
Koskan entered the 2022 campaign with $2,004.11 in his campaign account. On October 25 and October 26, he reported receiving the following donations:
- Unitemized: $35
- B.R. Hoffman, Sioux Falls: $200
- Missouri River Dentistry, Fort Pierre: $250
- Mellette County Republicans, White River: $250
- Brule County Republicans, Chamberlain: $500
- Senate Republican Campaign Committee, Sioux Falls: $10,000
- Six PAC, Pierre: $250
- SODAK-D-PAC, Pierre: $250
- Convention of States SD PAC, Indianapolis: $500
These $12,235 in contributions would have brought Koskan’s campaign fund to $14,239.11. With only $2,850 reported in expenditures, Koskan’s cash on hand during the last week of the campaign would have been $11,389.11.
When Koskan’s long-time rape and abuse of his adopted Indian daughter hit the news days before the election, Senator Lee Schoenbeck said the Senate Republican Campaign Committee would stop payment on its $10K check to the rapist’s campaign. The SRCC appears to have made good on Schoenbeck’s declaration. In an amendment filed November 15, Koskan’s wife and campaign treasurer Sally Koskan puts negative signs in front of that GOP contribution and every other income line, indicating that the Koskan campaign either never received those funds or refunded the donors whose checks cleared. Koskan still reports $2,850 in expenses—$350 for events and a puzzlingly high $2,500 for travel. To make up the difference, the November 15 amendment adds an $845.89 donation from Joel and Sally Koskan. Koskan reports an ending balance of $0.
The rape charge should not have caught the movers and shakers in the Party flatfooted. The case has been going on since August…Republicans sleeping at the switch.
It’s been going on since May when the crimes were first reported. There was an earlier investigation by DSS years before that. People knew.
Indeed: with Koskan working all summer with the state to work out a plea deal before any charge was even filed, it seems surprising that word wouldn’t have leaked from the Republican AG’s office to the Republican Party and prevented the party from dumping $10K into Koskan’s campaign at the last minute.
Had Koskan read the writing on the wall he could have resigned his nomination in sufficient time to allow the Republican Party to appoint some other candidate as a replacement. Had the Republican Party not been in denial about one of their next generation of golden boys they might have prevented this political embarrassment. Sadly preventing the crime of rape and incest is a much deeper seated problem.
Nick, the fact that the South Dakota Republican Party was willing to ignore rape and incest tells me all I need to know about them. Anything, anyone is tolerable to maintain their super-majority.