Ethics panel uses 'no exceptions' law to avoid charging Kristi Noem for ethics violations

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) will dodge accountability again as the state ethics panel decided to use a loophole in the law that says "no exceptions" to protect her.

The Daily Beast reported that votes approved a law that was on the statewide ballot in 2006 that “any aircraft owned or leased by the state may be used only in the conduct of state business.” The ballot measure text also read "no exceptions," calling it a Class 2 misdemeanor. But Noem is somehow dodging the law.

Noem was alleged to have broken the law several times in 2019 when she used the taxpayer-funded plan to fly to political events like the NRA convention or far-right Turning Point USA events. Even the Republican Jewish Coalition was a trip that Noem used taxpayer dollars to fund political travel. She also used it for personal travel, however, when she used the state jet to fly her to a family wedding.

Noem excuse is that she may have gone to the political events but it was in her role as an “ambassador for the state.” Even the wedding was a state visit because she had to attend two meetings with “hundreds of teenage future community leaders” who “would have been deprived of the opportunity to hear from their Governor and ask her questions.” If she didn't use the private jet to get to the wedding she wouldn't have made it to speak to the teens which were three days before the wedding.

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State Senator Reynold Nesiba, a Democrat who worked to get the ballot initiative passed before being elected, said that she was flouting the law that was written to ensure clarity. When he submitted a complaint to former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, it was amid his investigation for a fatal hit-and-run in which the lawmaker was driving home from a fundraiser when he hit and killed a man walking on the road. He claimed he thought it was an animal. So, Ravnsborg decided not to go after the governor.

“Rather than doing the investigation that he should have done in his office, he kicked it over to the Government Accountability Board,” Nesiba said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “The Government Accountability Board took a look at it and said, ‘You know what? This really should go to the Attorney General.’”

Ravnsborg was then impeached and replaced by Mark Vargo. The Division of Criminal Investigation agreed it was a law violation and sent its findings to the ethics board, but the board now claims there's a loophole.

“It is not felt that the board has authority to establish a definition of state business,” a board member, David Gienapp, claimed.

The board met in a closed-door meeting for 30 minutes. South Dakota's open meetings law requires that the public can view an official meeting if "1. A legal quorum of the public body is present at the same place at the same time; and 2) Public business, meaning any matter relating to the activities of the entity, is discussed," says the South Dakota Citizens' handbook from 2020.

"The open meetings law applies to all public bodies that exercise 'sovereign power derived from state statute,'" it also says. "This includes city, counties, school boards and other public bodies such as appointed boards, task forces, and committees (or those that are created by ordinance or executive proclamation) so long as they have authority to actually exercise sovereign authority. Although no court decisions have been issued on the subject, this probably does not include bodies that are not created by statute, ordinance or proclamation or that serve only in an advisory capacity."

A Class 2 misdemeanor in South Dakota could give Noem a penalty of up to 30 days in prison and a $500 fine. A law enforcement officer would have to make the arrest or a District Attorney could file charges.