South Dakota Legislators Push For Investigation into Alleged Democrat Residency Fraud

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Jan 1, 2019

South Dakota state legislators are moving toward an investigation into whether two elected Democrats, one in the State House and one in the State Senate, fraudulently obtained candidacy status by lying about their residency in the state.

“Lawmakers in the South Dakota House of Representatives are pushing for the formation of a committee to investigate whether two newly elected district 27 lawmakers were eligible to run for office under the state’s Constitutional residency requirements and to explore the chain of events that led to their entrance in the state election,” according to Emmy-Award winning investigative journalist Shad Olson.

“Upon convening January 8th, sources say adoption of Mason’s Rules of Order for the 2018 legislative session will include the formation of investigative committees to explore this matter and make a decision regarding Pourier and Foster’s status,” Olson continued.

Olson, a South Dakota resident, has been following the case from the beginning. He previously reported for Big League Politics: 

An independent investigation by Emmy-winning investigative reporter and author, Shad Olson and others, showed evidence supporting allegations that State Senator-Elect Red Dawn Foster and Representative-elect Peri Pourier did not meet South Dakota constitutional stipulations regarding in-state residency for prospective statewide office holders requiring two years of uninterrupted residency within state boundaries to be eligible to run.

“Given the evidence gathered, there is every reason to suspect that these individuals engaged in a deliberate effort to mislead state officials, voters and their fellow legislators that they were legally qualified to run for state office in South Dakota, when documentation shows otherwise,” Olson said.

Pourier and Foster, who both claimed in sworn candidate petition filings to be residents of South Dakota’s poverty-stricken Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, now face affidavit challenge of their swearing in when South Dakota’s bicameral legislature convenes in early January.

Now, state legislators want to take a closer look into whether the candidates violated the state’s Constitutional requirements to run for public office, which dictate that a candidate must reside within the state for two year in order to hold statewide public office.

“Mounting evidence suggests Representative-elect Peri Pourier and Senator-elect Red Dawn Foster were only recent residents of South Dakota after living in Nebraska and Colorado respectively, prior to being recruited and groomed by Democrat handlers in District 27 to seek office in the November 2018 election,” Olson’s report said.

In his previous Big League Politics report, Olson provided property and tax documents showing the candidates’ residencies in states other than South Dakota. Foster allegedly paid property taxes in the Denver area in 2018, while Pourier allegedly claimed residency in Rushville, Nebraska through January of 2018.

Olson said it is unclear whether the pair will be seated in the legislature while their colleagues investigate the matter.

“The Secretary of State, Attorney General and local authorities in multiple jurisdictions have also been apprised of evidence in this case, with formal complaints filed by citizens in Bennett and Jackson Counties,” Olson said.

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