DOC SECRETARY KELLI WASKO RESIGNS EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 20TH
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota’s beleaguered secretary of corrections has resigned.
Gov. Larry Rhoden told South Dakota Searchlight that Kellie Wasko delivered the letter announcing her Oct. 20 departure on Tuesday, though the letter is dated Sept. 1.
News of the secretary’s resignation after 3½ years on the job came less than a day after a group of 20 lawmakers in the House of Representatives signed a letter calling on Rhoden to “clean up his Department of Corrections” before a Sept. 23 special session. That’s when lawmakers will be asked to endorse construction of a $650 million, 1,500-bed men’s prison in Sioux Falls.
The timing of the lawmaker letter was coincidental and “unfortunate,” Rhoden said.
“She had made up her mind, and she knew what she wanted to do,” the governor said. “She knew that this wasn’t getting better.”
Rhoden added that only one of the letter’s 20 signatories, Howard Republican Rep. Tim Reisch, had called him to express his concerns about Wasko in the past six months.
“I guarantee you, they all have my cell number,” said Rhoden.
The governor added that he had faith in Wasko in spite of criticisms of her management style and a wave of security incidents and controversies since 2023.
Despite that confidence, Rhoden said he recognizes that Wasko’s resignation will make it easier to convince the Legislature to back the $650 million project.
“You’re always looking for the hurdles that are going to give people a path to ‘no,’ and to remove those hurdles and give them more reasons to say ‘yes,’” Rhoden said.
Letter authors laud resignation
Reisch, the first lawmaker to call for Wasko’s resignation and a former corrections secretary himself, lauded the news as a step forward as the Legislature ponders a replacement for the oldest parts of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
“I just hope it’s a transition to a better way of doing things,” Reisch said.
None of the 20 lawmakers listed on the letter hold leadership positions in the House.
But House Speaker Jon Hansen, the Dell Rapids Republican now running for governor, said Wasko “needs to be fired” on his campaign’s Facebook page Tuesday morning.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, R-Canton, is Hansen’s gubernatorial running mate. She said she wasn’t asked to sign the letter. Even so, she said Wasko’s leadership is “what I think rises to the top” of her list of concerns about an expensive new prison.
Resignation letter lists accomplishments
Wasko, a nurse by training who spent years working in Colorado’s correctional system before coming to South Dakota in 2022 as an appointee of then-Gov. Kristi Noem, wrote that she’d spent the past few months discussing her decision with her family.
She’s leaving “to pursue other opportunities,” the letter says.
The two-page document has four paragraphs in total, reserving the bulk of its space for 22 bullet points listing “just a handful” of her accomplishments.
Among them are a 43% increase in correctional officer pay and a decrease in staff vacancies, creating a “comprehensive reentry program” for inmates leaving state prisons, curing 300 inmates of Hepatitis C, creating an Office of Inspector General to investigate crime behind the walls and a reduction in escapes.
“I have worked diligently for the last 3½ years to improve the Department of Corrections and I know I am leaving it far better than I found it,” the letter says.
It also points to a change in the DOC’s “insolence” and discipline policy, which was “highly controversial” with previous secretaries and ended the practice of placing inmates in disciplinary segregation for talking back to officers.
“It was necessary, and we have successfully corrected the process,” she wrote, noting that a 2022 operations review recommended housing inmates in “the least restrictive environment necessary to maintain safe and secure facilities.”
Critics: New policies made for unsafe facilities
The letter from lawmakers stopped short of demanding Wasko’s resignation – it doesn’t mention her by name – but Reisch said changes like that are why he’s called for her ouster.
“If inmates know what the rules are and that they’re enforced, the vast majority will comply with them,” Reisch said. “If word gets around that they’re not enforced, that word gets around pretty fast, and security goes by the wayside.”
Reisch said staff assaults are up, based on conversations he’s had with current correctional officers. The DOC’s annual statistical report for 2024 showed assaults on staff at a five-year low, but Reisch said that could be a matter of shifting definitions of assault since Wasko came to lead the agency in 2022.
“A lot of the definitions can change,” said Reisch, who also suggested that some assaults aren’t logged.
Attorney General Marty Jackley told the Dakota Town Hall podcast in mid-February that his office had more than 100 open assault investigations involving inmates.
THREE TEENAGERS DEAD FOLLOWING FIRE IN SIOUX COUNTY IOWA
SIOUX COUNTY, IA (KTIV) – Sioux County officials have confirmed that three people, all under the age of 18, have died after an early morning fire in rural Northwest Iowa.
Authorities in Sioux County say at about 5 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 1, firefighters were sent to a home on 430th Street, 2.5 miles northwest of the town of Granville.
When they got to the scene, firefighters reported heavy smoke coming from the home, and assistance was called in from nearby communities.
“Fire personnel discovered four persons inside the residence in critical condition; they were transported by ambulance services to Orange City Area Health,” stated the Granville Fire Department in a press release.
According to the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office, 16-year-old Kolten Hofmeyer of Alton, Iowa, died at the Orange City hospital due to injuries they received in the fire. The other three were sent to specialty units at other hospitals for further treatment.
While at the other hospitals, authorities say 16-year-old Bryleigh Koob and 17-year-old Ashton Koob died from their injuries. Both were Granville residents.
A fourth victim, an unidentified 16-year-old, remains in critical condition at a hospital burn unit in Minnesota.
What caused the fire is still being investigated by the Iowa State Fire Marshal.
“We are created for community—for relationships that strengthen and sustain us. I’ve come to you before, Sioux County, to ask that you rally around a hurting and broken family, school, and community and we are in dire need again. In this sad tragedy, there are several families involved and a large community affected. This is heavy, heartbreaking and overwhelming. Please stop and pray with us for everyone affected by this. Please continue to pray in the upcoming weeks.”
- Sioux County Sheriff Jamie Van Voorst
In their press release on the fire, authorities stated MOC-Floyd Valley Community School District faculty and staff members, along with clergy and pastoral support, will be available at the high school through this week for anyone affected by this tragedy.
The Granville Fire Department was assisted by the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office, Hospers Fire Department, and ambulance services of Alton, Orange City, Granville, Hospers, Paullina and Sheldon.
JUDGE BLOCKS SOUTH DAKOTA FROM ENFORCING EARLIER BALLOT QUESTION PETITION DEADLINE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Seth Tupper / SD Searchlight) – The state of South Dakota cannot enforce a new law that would shorten the window for circulating ballot question petitions by three months, a judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Camela Theeler filed a written order Friday that says the law is a violation of First Amendment rights. As a limitation on political speech, she wrote, moving the election-year deadline from May to February “arguably goes beyond merely inconvenient and enters the realm of severe.”
The filing deadline dictates the amount of time petitioners have to gather the required number of signatures to put a statewide question on the ballot. Petitioners need 17,508 signatures from registered voters to propose a law, which is known as an initiative, or to put a bill passed by legislators on hold so voters can consider it, which is known as a referendum. The number of signatures required to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot is 35,017.
A ballot question committee that has worked on numerous campaigns, Dakotans for Health, filed the lawsuit in April after the Legislature and Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden approved the shorter deadline in March. Dakotans for Health’s leader, Rick Weiland, praised the judge’s decision Tuesday in a news release.
“Once again, our state’s Republican supermajority tried to rig the rules to keep everyday South Dakotans from having a voice in their own government,” Weiland said. “And once again, a court sent them packing.”
The law shortening the deadline started as legislation from state House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, who is one of several candidates for governor next year.
In a statement to South Dakota Searchlight via text message Tuesday, Hansen said Theeler “got this wrong,” and he called her a “Biden appointed federal judge.” While Theeler was appointed during the Democratic presidency of Joe Biden, she was confirmed 90-4 by the U.S. Senate, with yes votes from South Dakota’s Republican U.S. senators John Thune and Mike Rounds.
Hansen said elected legislators should have the authority to set petition submission deadlines, not unelected federal judges.
“This law is a reasonable step to safeguard our process and ensure the validity of petition signatures,” Hansen said.
He also referenced last year’s fight over an abortion-rights ballot question sponsored by Dakotans for Health, which Hansen opposed in his role as a leader of the Life Defense Fund. That group’s lawsuit challenging the validity of petition signatures was not resolved prior to Election Day, and Hansen has repeatedly cited that example as a reason why an earlier deadline is needed to allow more time for legal challenges. The lawsuit against the abortion measure was dismissed after voters rejected the ballot question.
The state Attorney General’s Office — which defended the state in the petition-deadline litigation — did not immediately respond Tuesday to South Dakota Searchlight’s questions. If the state chooses to appeal the ruling, its deadline to file an appeal is Sept. 29.
The legal battle is part of a broader struggle between ballot petitioners and Republican legislators over citizen lawmaking. During this year’s legislative session, for example, Hansen also prime-sponsored a successful bill adding justifications for the secretary of state to reject petition signatures. He cosponsored a bill vetoed by the governor that would have required constitutional amendment petitions to have signatures from registered voters in each of the 35 state Senate districts. Existing law allows signatures to come from registered voters anywhere in the state.
Those and other Republican-led efforts to restrict citizen ballot questions in South Dakota have come in response to the passage of ballot measures that many Republican lawmakers opposed. Examples have included ballot questions that raised the minimum wage, expanded Medicaid eligibility and legalized medical marijuana.
GOVERNOR DEPLOYS SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
PIERRE, S.D. (Joe Sneve / The Dakota Scout) – A team from the South Dakota Air Guard has been deployed to the nation’s capital to aid in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in U.S. metropolitan areas.
The governor’s office on Sunday announced that Gov. Larry Rhoden has authorized a 12-member unit out of the Rapid City-based 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment that is on the ground in Washington, D.C., at the White House’s request.
“South Dakota stands in solidarity with President Trump and his efforts to Make America Safe Again,” Rhoden said in a statement provided to The Dakota Scout. “With the National Guard’s help, President Trump has restored law and order to our nation’s capital – and our guardsmen will help keep it that way. We will not sit on the sidelines while crime threatens the safety of our families.”
According to the governor’s office, the 12 public affairs guardsmen are serving in a public affairs capacity within the joint information command center. The deployment was not made public until their arrival in Washington, D.C., due to security reasons, the governor’s spokeswoman said.
The deployment is under the command of the D.C. National Guard, is expected to last 30 days and will be fully federally funded, the governor’s office said.
It comes as part of Trump’s broader “law and order” push in the nation’s capital. Earlier this month, the president authorized the use of U.S. military forces to supplement local policing efforts in Washington.
The announcement also follows comments by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who on Sunday warned that additional military deployments to U.S. cities could be forthcoming in response to high crime.
“We do intend to add more resources to those operations,” the former South Dakota governor said while appearing as a guest on CBS’s Face the Nation. “But we will continue to go after the worst of the worst like President Trump has told us to do, focusing on those who are perpetuating murder and rape and the trafficking of drugs and humans across our country.”
But former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem took a decidedly different view in 2024 on militarizing the National Guard when she said there would be “war on our hands” if former President Biden federalized South Dakota’s National Guard and stopped them from performing duties at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If (Biden) is willing to do that, and to take away my authority as governor as commander in chief of those National Guard (troops), boy, we do have a war on our hands,” Noem said Feb. 4, 2024, on Fox News.
Noem tweeted Feb. 6, 2024, that federalizing the Guard would be a “direct attack on states’ rights.”
