Sec Price Urges House To Impeach Ravnsborg

Craig Price

      South Dakota Secretary of Public Safety Craig Price has written the members of the State House, urging them to bring impeachment charges against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for his 2020 fatal car accident, but Speaker Spencer Gosh is upset about it

       Gosch, part of the 9-member special committee investigating whether impeachment is warranted, calls Price’s letter an attempt by Gov Kristi Noem to “interfere” in an investigation that belongs to the House. Noem has pushed for impeachment for more than a year.

       Price, former head of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, oversaw the accident investigation into the death of 55-year old Joe Boever near Highmore in Sept 2020 that eventually led Ravnsborg to plead No Contest to a pair of misdemeanors.

       Price writes that Ravnsborg was distracted, was untruthful during the investigation, and traded “disparaging and offensive” text messages with his staff about other state officials.

      If the investigation committee recommends to the full House that  the attorney general’s actions surrounding the accident and its aftermath justifies removal from office, the House would vote on formal articles of impeachment.

      If such articles pass, Ravnsborg would be tried before the State Senate on those articles. 

       Ravnsborg is running for a second term, but is challenged in the Republican primary by his predecessor, former attorney general Marty Jackley.