FILE PHOTO: Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. Credit: Patrick Callahan, South Dakota Broadcasters Association.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is under growing pressure to resign from office or face potential impeachment proceedings.
Lawmakers in both parties spoke to the South Dakota Broadcasters Association late Monday and confirmed that articles of impeachment are now seriously being considered should the Attorney General not voluntarily step down soon.
Some have termed the situation as “uncharted waters” for the State Constitution.
Article 16 of the state constitution details the impeachment process, but its powers have never been invoked.
Sources close to the discussion say lawmakers would prefer Ravnsborg “do the right thing” on his own and not involved the state legislature. But that option is quickly going away as a growing number of their constituents demand his immediate removal from office.
Republican Representative Tim Goodwin of Rapid City publicly called for Ravnsborg to resign Monday. He was joined later in the day by Sioux Falls Democratic Senator Reynold Nesiba who tweeted it was, “time for the attorney general to step aside and move on to civilian life.”
A Ravnsborg PR firm did not return calls to the South Dakota Broadcasters Association. The same spokesperson issued a release last week saying Ravnsborg would not be resigning.
Ravnsborg was charged last Thursday in Hyde County with three misdemeanor crimes following a September 2020 fatal crash involving a pedestrian on a state highway near Highmore, SD.
Should lawmakers invoke impeachment proceedings, current legislative rules require the first steps begin in the House by the end of this week.
(Patrick Callahan, South Dakota Broadcasters Association, contributed this report.)
