South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defends daughter’s licensure

Kristi Noem on Friday defended her administration’s handling of her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license, attempting to brush aside questions about a meeting she held last year that included her daughter, Kassidy Peters, and the state employee who was overseeing her application. In the video, the governor said that since her daughter’s certification, she has made “changes to the process to streamline it for the future.” The certification program no longer requires people looking to get an entry-level license to take a test. “Appraisers weren’t getting certified and South Dakotans were having to wait much longer to buy a home than in other states.” However, the governor’s ability to change the program is limited because the state must meet federal standards for certifying appraisers. However, Johnson, the appraiser from Watertown, said that the governor’s “apparent interference” in the licensing of her daughter has worried other appraisers in the state.