A member of the South Dakota Democratic Party’s executive board ousted in a recall vote last week says he’s likely to appeal the decision.
Sheldon Osborn was until Jan. 27 one of the SDDP’s regional representatives for Region 3, an area encompassing legislative districts 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15 — much of the area in and around Sioux Falls.
In an interview Friday, Osborn said he was surprised when he was informed about the petition to remove him, and said he believed the move was largely tied to his defense of Jennifer Slaight-Hansen, who was ousted as SDDP chair during her own recall vote last year following allegations that she had created a hostile work environment and violated the party’s constitution.
“Known efforts to prolong Jennifer Slaight-Hansen’s fight against the State Central Committee in public and private” was indeed one of the reasons cited in an email sent by Sharon Schulz-Elsing and shared by Osborn, outlining “the foundational reasons” that petitioners had submitted regarding his recall, alongside “continuous defaming and undermining credibility of Democratic Party officials at local and state levels, as well as the South Dakota Democratic Party as an institution” and “documented instances of homophobic statements and misconduct that has previously resulted in reprimand by local and state Party officials.”