Brown gave back lobbying credential amid concern he didn't wait two years

Corey Brown said he returned the credential to the Secretary of State Office, amid a concern he might be breaking a state law.

"I voluntarily turned my badge in Monday morning (Jan. 22)," Brown said.

The Legislature decided last year many former state government officials including legislators must wait two years before starting work as private lobbyists in South Dakota.

Brown retired from the Legislature at the end of 2016. He began work Jan. 8 for Sanford Health as senior legislative specialist for South Dakota.

"The confusion comes because there are different interpretations of the law," Brown said.

The matter reportedly came to light Friday, Jan. 19, from House Speaker Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls.

Brown said Sanford's intent is that he remain in Pierre and continue attending legislative committee meetings and watching the House and Senate chambers.

"We have two contract lobbyists. I'll be there to listen in on committees. I won't testify. I won't talk to any legislators. If that's needed, I'll have those two do it," Brown said.

The company is not looking to "inflame" the situation, according to Brown. He plans to lobby at the 2019 legislative session for the provider of health care services.

Some legislators and lobbyists showed mild surprise when they saw Brown working the Capitol's third-floor halls Jan. 9 on behalf of Sanford Health as the 2018 session opened.

The feeling metamorphosed somewhat into disbelief in recent days.

What happened isn't simple to explain.

Brown wasn't eager to talk about it. He had little to say on the record about the matter when contacted for this story.

His tone was guarded in an email exchange with this reporter Friday. He answered some questions for the record in a telephone call Saturday.

A violation of the two-year ban is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

The waiting period had been one year. That changed Nov. 8, 2016, as South Dakota voters approved Initiated Measure 22. One provision was the two-year waiting period.

IM 22 took effect Nov. 15, 2016, after state officials completed the official election canvass.

Brown acknowledged Saturday that IM 22 hadn't been a consideration in the deliberations about his eligibility to lobby.

He said Sanford's focus was on the two-year ban the Legislature passed later.

The IM 22 restriction might, or might not, have applied to Brown and to any other legislator who left office at the end of 2016 and has since registered as a lobbyist.

The question hasn't been taken before a state judge.

One who might be affected is former Rep. Brian Gosch, of Rapid City.

The National Rifle Association registered Gosch as a lobbyist for the 2018 South Dakota legislative session.

Then-Gov. Mike Rounds originally appointed Gosch to a vacant House seat in 2007.

Gosch worked his way up to House speaker in 2013 and 2014 and then won a caucus election to be House Republican leader in 2015 and 2016.

Another who could be affected is former Rep. Don Haggar, R-Sioux Falls.

Haggar resigned June 27 from the House to take a job as state director of Americans For Prosperity, a conservative organization.

The move was timed to occur before July 1 when the new two-year waiting period law took effect. Haggar said he wanted to avoid the longer ban affecting his ability to lobby.

Brown served eight years in the Senate from Gettysburg. He was elected Senate president pro tem for 2011 through 2015. In 2016 he was Senate Republican leader.

Brown and Gosch sometimes clashed representing opposite wings of the Capitol.

Passage of IM 22 in the 2016 election led to an immediate backlash from many Republicans lawmakers. They filed a lawsuit in Hughes County challenging the law's validity and won a bench ruling Dec. 8, 2016 declaring it invalid.

The next step was to take the case to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Before that could happen, many Republicans in the Legislature organized to throw out the entire chapter of state law that IM 22 created.

Rep. Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center, was prime sponsor on the repeal, HB 1069. House Speaker Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls, assigned the bill Jan. 20, 2017, to the House State Affairs Committee. The House of Representatives approved IM 22's repeal four days later 54-13.

Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, was lead Senate sponsor for the repeal. Senators voted 27-8 for the repeal Feb. 1. The next day Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, signed the repeal into law, two weeks after its introduction. The repeal took effect immediately.

Only Republicans voted for IM 22's repeal. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the repeal.

Meanwhile Senate Republican leader Blake Curd, of Sioux Falls, introduced SB 131, duplicating IM 22's two-year waiting period, on Jan. 26, 2017.

Curd's bill sailed through the Senate 34-1, drawing a nay from only Sen. Jeff Partridge, R-Rapid City.

Curd's bill didn't have any House names on its sponsor list but House members voted in favor 51-17 on Feb. 28. Only Republicans voted against it in the House. The governor signed Curd's measure into law March 10.

The law now says: "No elected officer, department or agency head, or division director, or the highest paid employee reporting to such person may be compensated, act, or register as a lobbyist, other than a public employee lobbyist, during a period of two years after that person's termination of service in the state government."

Fast-forward 10 months to Friday, when another Sanford Health official issued a statement on Brown's behalf.

It came from Tim Rave. He is a company vice president who oversees government relations in the states where Sanford Health operates and at the federal level.

Rave, like Gosch and Brown, had been a long-time Republican legislator. Rave served 2003 through 2010 in the House. He rose to presiding officer as House speaker for 2009 and 2010.

Rave, having four consecutive House elections and therefore terms-limited, moved to the Senate in 2011. He became Senate Republican leader in 2013 after the resignation of the previous leader, Russ Olson, of Wentworth, who stepped down to become chief executive officer for Heartland Consumers Power District in Madison.

Rave served as Senate Republican leader until March 31, 2015, when he resigned so he could accept an executive post for Sanford Health. One of the people Rave oversees is Brown.

Brown previously managed, with his father, the family's crop-insurance business in Gettysburg.

Rave's statement said Brown wouldn't represent Sanford Health's positions to legislators any further this year.

"Although Sanford does not agree with the interpretation of SDCL 2-12-8.2 as asserted by legislative leadership, in the interest of not creating unnecessary distraction, Sanford has requested of the Secretary of State that Corey Brown be de-registered as a lobbyist this year," Rave's statement said.

"Corey will not participate in any lobbying activities for the remainder of this legislative session," Rave's statement continued.

One day before Rave resigned at the end of the 2015 session, then-Senate Republican assistant leader Dan Lederman stepped aside. Lederman didn't specify why. He didn't appear to know Rave planned to resign the next day.

Lederman won election last winter as chairman of the South Dakota Republican central committee. He defeated the incumbent chairwoman, Pam Roberts of Pierre, who had Daugaard's open support.

While Brown prepared last weekend to turn back his lobbying credential, he also traveled that weekend to Sioux Falls to buy a home in the area for his wife and their children. They plan to move from Gettysburg in May.

Secretary of State Shantel Krebs' office issued lobbyist credentials weeks ago to Brown and Gosch for the 2018 session.

Krebs previously served as a legislator with both Gosch and Brown. She was in the House in 2009 and 2010 and was in the Senate from 2011 through 2014. She won the secretary of state office in 2014.

She declared her candidacy last year for the Republican nomination for South Dakota's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The nomination will be decided in the June 2018 primary.

While the rumor about Brown proved true, a related rumor about Krebs wasn't true. She said Friday in an email exchange that she didn't revoke the lobbying credential for any former legislator. She also didn't reveal that Brown had returned his.