The South Dakota Government Accountability Board, created in 2017 and comprised of three former or retired circuit court judges or state supreme court judges appointed by the governor, will not publicly announce its disciplinary measure levied on Republican Governor Kristi Noem for abusing her office to help her daughter get a state real estate appraiser’s license, the Associated Press reports.
After her daughter Kassidy Peters failed to meet the requirements for getting an appraiser’s license, Noem called the head of the state regulatory agency and the head of licensing to her office for a meeting, which Peters also attended, and pressured them to issue the license. Later, the head of the licensing board, Sherry Bren, reported that she was pressured to retire at the urging of Noem.
Though the accountability board found Noem had likely engaged in a conflict of interest and malfeasance in using her office to push for her daughter to receive special treatment, they gave Noem the option of accepting “appropriate action,” thereby avoiding a public hearing and public disclosure of the consequences. According to the lawyer for the Government Accountability Board, the issue has been closed.