‘UNDER GOD THE PEOPLE RULE’

Kristi Noem’s Nepotism Called Out in New South Dakota Report

As the governor’s daughter kept falling short in her efforts to get an appraiser’s license, her mom’s administration stepped in to change the rules.

Gov. Kristi Noem’s daughter, Kassidy Peters, got special treatment as she moved through a state licensing program for real estate appraisers, according to a draft report from a South Dakota legislative panel obtained by the Argus Leader. The five-page draft report found that Noem’s cabinet stepped in as her daughter repeatedly struggled to obtain her appraiser’s license, with the Labor Commissioner eventually getting a training requirement removed for Peters—“the first time the DLR Secretary inserted herself into any disposition agreement,” according to the lawmakers’ report. When Peters’ license application was nonetheless rejected, the head of the appraiser program, Sherry Bren, was called in to the governor’s mansion and told to bring specific examples of what the governor’s daughter had done wrong and specific instructions for her “so she is able to pass” in an unprecedented third bite at the cherry. Bren later sued for and won a $200,000 settlement for wrongful termination after testifying that she was eventually forced to retire. Peters, for her part, is no longer a certified real estate appraiser in South Dakota according to the Argus Leader.