The daughter of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem got an unusual third chance to successfully obtain her real estate appraiser’s license, according to a former state employee.
Kassidy Peters was given an opportunity to correct her application, said Sherry Bren, formerly the executive director of the state’s appraiser certification program, according to CNN. Bren testified to lawmakers that the state’s process of handling the application was unusual and came as Peters faced a denial because of deficiencies in her work.
Noem previously said that Peters’ experience with the licensing process was only briefly mentioned at a meeting in July that included Bren, Peters and top state officials. The governor said the event aimed to fix an appraisers program that had “long been broken” and resulted in a shortage of appraisers.
Bren testified that they discussed Peters’ application in detail, including how an agreement could be made to allow her to complete the program. That included various appraiser classes that Peters could take as well as outlining the process to “correct and rewrite” reports in her application, Bren said. An agreement was reached several days later, according to documents provided by state officials.
That gave Peters a third shot at her application, one more than applicants typically receive, Bren said.
Noem’s spokesperson, Ian Fury, said in a statement that such agreements weren’t unusual. “Noem did not seek special treatment for her daughter,” he said.
Bren said she was forced to retire several months later “at the behest of the administration” and contended that her work had never before been negatively reviewed.
She filed an age discrimination complaint after her retirement and agreed to drop it after receiving a $200,000 settlement.
[CNN] — Dennis Lynch