Ethics Action Against MAGA GOP Gov. Kristi Noem (SD) Under Urgent Consideration

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The members of the South Dakota Government Accountability Board concluded action evidently disciplinary in nature could prove warranted against Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and set up further proceedings in the dispute. They were responding to a complaint originally filed by then-state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R).

The board is a state body and consists of four retired judges, and Monday, the members concluded based on accumulated info that Noem might have “engaged in misconduct” surrounding an attempt by her daughter, Kassidy Peters, to become a licensed real estate appraiser. The board also concluded taking “appropriate action” against Noem was possible, but the retired judges did not specify the possibilities. The matter will now move to a hearing process, where Noem will have an opportunity for presenting a public defense. Noem is up for re-election this year and is among the numerous, prominent Republicans considered potential contenders in the next presidential primary season, although whatever decision Trump makes about running — which he seems likely to do in 2024 — will no doubt affect the viability of almost any campaign.

In July 2020, Noem set up a meeting at the governor’s mansion involving a wide-ranging slew of participants, including her daughter and the then-head of a supervising state agency dealing with real estate appraisers, and a plan allowing another chance for Peters to obtain her license was apparently deliberated over that day and signed not long after the gathering. The plan included providing Peters with an extra chance beyond what applicants normally got at prevailing in a work review. She got a third try, but applicants normally receive two. Sherry Bren, who led the state real estate appraisal agency, testified to state legislators that she couldn’t recall the agency itself ever establishing a “stipulation agreement” with another prospective appraiser at that stage in the application process. Until her recent retirement under pressure, Bren led the agency since it was formed.

Bren filed an age discrimination complaint in connection to her departure from the agency. An agreement between the ex-official and the state includes a non-disparagement clause shielding state officials, but Bren told legislators of the July 2020 meeting: “Once I got there, I was very nervous, and, quite frankly, intimidated.”

Noem set up the disputed meeting a week after state authorities handling applications for licensing as a real estate appraiser indicated to Peters that her application for licensing would be denied. In defending her actions, Noem resorted in part to broad complaints about ostensibly overbearing regulatory procedures. “My administration started fixing that process and it was way too difficult,” the governor remarked of the certification procedure for real estate appraisers. “Appraisers weren’t getting certified and South Dakotans were having to wait much longer to buy a home than in other states.” As of last October, federal authorities were conducting an audit of the South Dakota program for certifying real estate appraisers. Federal standards govern the process of issuing such state-level certifications. Noem also more directly addressed the main issue. “There’s been a continual narrative that I did something to help her get licensed, which is absolutely false,” she claimed. What would’ve happened if Kassidy Peters wasn’t a daughter of the governor and that meeting never occurred?