December trial date set for South Dakota lawmaker facing election-related felony charges

SIOUX FALLS — A judge in Minnehaha County set a December trial date on Tuesday for a South Dakota state senator facing election-related felony charges.

Dell Rapids Republican Tom Pischke, 44, is charged with two felony counts of filing a forged or false instrument for allegedly signing and submitting candidate nominating petitions for county party precinct positions without those candidates’ knowledge. 

Minnehaha County election officials noticed some discrepancies in the petitions and turned them over to investigators, court documents say. The candidates did not appear on the June primary ballot. 

The Minnehaha County Republican Party chairman told South Dakota Searchlight earlier this year that he believes Pischke was trying to hamstring the chairman’s ability to conduct party business by adding precinct representatives and making it more difficult to get a quorum for meetings.

South Dakota state senator facing election-related criminal charges ends his reelection campaign

Pischke was first charged in a criminal complaint, which entitled him to a preliminary hearing at which prosecutors would need to show they had enough evidence to proceed with those charges. 

When the time came for that hearing last month, Pischke waived his right to contest the charges. That cleared the way for a jury trial and set up Tuesday’s arraignment hearing.

At the hearing, Judge Doug Barnett advised Pischke of his rights, told him each criminal count is punishable by up to two years in prison, accepted a not guilty plea from Pischke and set a Dec. 7 jury trial date.

Pischke and his lawyer, Ryan Kolbeck of Sioux Falls, declined to comment on the case after the hearing. Attorneys for both sides said during Pischke’s first appearance earlier this summer that they were discussing a plea agreement.

Pischke ended his reelection campaign in July, saying the ongoing case would make it too difficult for him to be transparent with constituents.

No Democrat is running for Pischke’s state Senate seat, but former Republican lawmaker Bryan Breitling, of Dell Rapids, had been running against him as an independent candidate in District 25, which includes northern Minnehaha County and all of Moody County.

Breitling will now face Bart Sample, of Flandreau, who was chosen to replace Pischke by the Republican Party. Sample finished third in a three-way primary race on June 2 for two Republican nominations for the district’s state House seats.

On the other side of South Dakota, a Republican state representative pleaded no contest last month to a misdemeanor road damage charge in a case that began as a felony. Travis Ismay of Newell regraded the gravel road that runs by his property himself, forcing Butte County to redo the work at a cost of more than $1,700.

Ismay’s no contest plea was not an admission of guilt, but rather an acknowledgement that the state had enough evidence to convict him of the misdemeanor charge. The reduced charge was offered by the Butte County state’s attorney as part of a plea deal, as was a requirement that Ismay repay the county for redoing his work.

Ismay has no general election competitor and will return to Pierre for another term in January.