Bipartisan group of lawmakers calling on AG Mark Vargo to recuse himself from potential investigation into Noem ethics complaints

Following the announcement the Government Accountability Board plans to send an ethics complaint against Governor Kristi Noem to the Attorney General’s office for further investigation, a group of bipartisan lawmakers have sent a letter to AG Mark Vargo asking him to recuse himself. The accusation is that Governor Noem used the state owned plan for personal, political events. The three lawmakers sending the letter includes her Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith, sitting speaker of the House Republican Spencer Gosch and Republican Representative Scott Odenbach of Spearfish. Vargo himself released a statement on the matter saying there are no plans in place to move forward with an investigation because the AG office has yet to receive a formal complaint from the accountability board. Candidate Smith is also calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the matter further.