PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A board that investigates complaints against South Dakota officials is scheduled to take up a pair of ethics complaints against Gov. Kristi Noem in May.
Noem had until Friday, April 15 to respond to complaints alleging she misused state airplanes for personal use and that she improperly interfered in a state certification program for her daughter. Neither Noem nor members of the South Dakota Government Accountability Board will say whether Noem responded by the deadline.
The board is scheduled to revisit both complaints at its May 2 meeting in Sioux Falls.
Any complaints and related information would only become public if the board finds the complaints have merit and votes to hold a contested hearing. The board keeps the details of the complaints secret unless it decides they warrant a public hearing. In the past, it has dismissed complaints without requiring the targeted officials to respond to them.
Noem has insisted she has done nothing wrong.
Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, said the confidential nature of the board’s work prohibits him or the governor from answering questions related to the complaints.
Members of the Government Accountability Board, which was created in 2017, are appointed by the governor with consent of the state Senate. Noem’s lone appointment on the board, retired South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson, has been abstaining from voting on complaints involving her.
Noem is accused of repeatedly using state-owned airplanes for personal travel since taking office in 2019. She has also faced repeated allegations that she abused her authority to give an advantage to her daughter, who’d been struggling to become certified as a state real estate appraiser through the Department of Labor and Regulation.
Former director of the state appraiser certification program, Sherry Bren, abruptly retired in March 2021, months after a closed-door meeting with Noem and her daughter.
