SD Gov. Kristi Noem summoned a meeting with an agency head as her daughter was struggling to get her real-estate license, report says

• Noem met an agency head as her daughter was struggling to get a license from it, the AP reported.
• The daughter eventually got her real-estate appraisal license, and the agency head said she was forced to retire.
• What happened at the meeting is not clear, and the governor and other officials deny wrongdoing.

South Dakota's governor summoned a meeting with the head of the state's real-estate appraiser certification program as her daughter was struggling to get her license from it, the Associated Press reported.

Gov. Kristi Noem called agency head, Sherry Bren, Bren's direct supervisor, and the state labor secretary for a meeting on July 27, 2020, alongside her daughter, the AP reported.

The AP said that what was discussed at that meeting was not clear, but that it involved conversations about how people get certified and that the fact that Noem's daughter, Kassidy Peters, did not have her licence.

The AP reported that Peters applied for her license in September 2019, but a letter dated July 27, 2020, showed that the Appraiser Certification Program had moved to deny Peters' license. The agency said this happens when someone's work samples don't meet the right standards.

Peters, who was then 26, got her license four months later, in November 2020, the AP reported.

Bren has also said that the state labor secretary, Marcia Hultman, called her a week after the meeting asking for her retirement, the AP reported. Bren made the allegation in an age-discrimination lawsuit against the state labor department, the AP said.

Bren, 70, left her job in March 2021, after the state of South Dakota paid her $200,000 to withdraw her complaint, the AP reported.

Insider has contacted the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation for comment.

Ian Fury, a spokesperson for Noem, told Insider: "The Associated Press is disparaging the Governor's daughter in order to attack the Governor politically - no wonder Americans' trust in the media is at an all-time low. South Dakota is open for business.

"We won't allow bureaucratic red tape to get in the way of South Dakota's sustained economic growth. Having more quality appraisers in the market will help keep our housing market moving and home prices down."

Noem tweeted on Monday, in response to the story: "Listen I get it. I signed up for this job. But now the media is trying to destroy my children. This story is just another example of the double standard that exists with the media... going after conservatives and their kids while ignoring Liberals #AskTheBigGuy."

Ethics experts told the AP that, even though the contents of the meeting is not known, the fact that Noem's daughter was present shows a conflict of interest.

Bren declined to give the AP more details about the meeting after talking with her lawyers.

But she did say she was shown a letter from Kristine Juelfs, who was Peters' supervisor, who was critical of the fact that Peter did not yet have her licence.

"In the past week I was notified that my trainee, State Registered Appraiser Kassidy Peters, was denied upgrade of her license to State Certified Residential Appraiser," Juelfs wrote. "This came as quite a shock to myself as she has represented the knowledge and skills necessary."

Peters told the AP: "My upgrade to become a Certified Residential Appraiser was very lengthy and I was expected to navigate through many obstacles from the very beginning."

Hultman, the labor secretary, declined to comment on specifics to the AP, but said: "Kassidy Peters went through the same process as other appraisers. There was no denial, Mrs. Peters completed the requirements to become licensed, and she was subsequently certified in November."