🚨A South Dakota Republican state senator got arrested for allegedly forging his own party’s paperwork to pack local precinct positions and tilt the balance of power his way.
Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids) was charged with two felony counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing. If convicted on both, he’s facing up to four years in prison. He turned himself in, got booked at Minnehaha County Jail, and was released on his own recognizance.
The charges stem from 16 fake nomination forms for precinct committeeman/committeewoman — low-level party posts that come with voting power at county meetings and delegate status at the state GOP convention, where the party picks nominees for offices like attorney general and secretary of state.
The county auditor’s office got suspicious when one “candidate’s” address didn’t match their voter registration. A full review found suspiciously similar handwriting across all 16 forms, and most of the people listed “did not know what the form was for” when staff called them. None of the signatures matched the real deal.
Investigators traced partial plate numbers from surveillance footage at the Dell Rapids Post Office to a Chevy Impala registered to Pischke. DNA on the envelopes came back “consistent” with him too.
Pischke denied signing anything when questioned but consented to a DNA sample. He’s since skipped the state convention.
Local GOP chairman Korry Petterson said whoever filed the forms was likely trying to hamstring his ability to run the party. State party chair Jim Eschenbaum called it part of the ongoing fight over “who’s in control” of the county GOP, pointing to rival factions — with Petterson placing Pischke in the party’s “populist” wing. Eleven of the 16 forms were for empty seats, which would’ve padded the voting rolls and shifted power at county meetings and the state convention, regardless of whether the people named actually wanted the job.
Innocent until proven guilty — but “cooperating with the investigation” is doing a lot of work here.
The party of falsely screaming about “election fraud” sure is doing a lot of frauding.