SUSPICIOUS?

South Dakota Guv Summoned Agency Head After Daughter’s Real-Estate License App Was Rejected

Gov. Kristi Noem’s daughter was present at the meeting with the state employee who ran the agency. Her application was approved four months later.

Days after her daughter’s application to become a certified real estate appraiser was rejected by a state agency, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem brought the state employee in charge of the agency, as well as the woman’s supervisor and the state labor secretary, to her office. Noem’s daughter was also present at the meeting, AP reported on Monday. Her application was approved four months later. Government ethics experts consulted by AP agreed that the events constituted a clear “conflict of interest and an abuse of power.”

A week after the license was granted, the labor secretary allegedly called the 70-year-old agency employee to demand her retirement. An age discrimination complaint the employee subsequently filed was withdrawn after the state paid her $200,000; she left her job in March. The terms of her settlement also bars her from disparaging state officials, and she declined to discuss details of exactly what went on in the meeting. A spokesperson for the governor’s office, in declining an interview request, told AP the outlet “is disparaging the Governor’s daughter in order to attack the Governor politically—no wonder Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low.”