Last week we posted about SDGOP Attorney Justin Bell, who is also a lobbyist for Summit Carbon Solutions, purchasing a $1.14 Million dollar slice of land in Marion’s Garden Subdivision in Fort Pierre. Lamenting at the time, that business sure is good for lawyers involved in our state government.
You can view that post here: https://www.rushmorerepublican.com/2024/09/06/sdgop-lawyer-summit-carbon-solutions-lobbyist-justin-bell-purchases-land-for-1-14m-business-must-be-good
Well, in the very same press release that listed this land sale, there was also one listed for Paul and Carla Bachand, who purchased land in the same area for $890,000. Again, just land here, not even a house!
Paul Bachand is part of the law team, Bachand & Hruska P.C.
You can view his BIO on their website https://pirlaw.com/our-attorneys/
If you scroll down on that BIO page, you find another attorney there, Edward S. Hruska III.
Katie Hruska, who serves as General Counsel in the Governor’s Office and is a member of the Governor’s executive team is married to attorney Eddie Hruska.
You can view her BIO here: https://governor.sd.gov/office/staff.aspx
Via Open.SD.gov, Bachand & Hruska have received 10 state contracts since 2022, totaling $1.13 Million. Two of those listed contracts do not provide a total, so certainly the total is much higher.
We aren’t sure how this is not a conflict of interest, but we live in a world where it’s all about money and power, so it must be OK, right? If there is this huge need for legal assistance, maybe the state needs to hire another lawyer? In the search of open.sd.gov for just this law firm and the firm Justin Bell works for, there are 18 contracts since 2022.
Life is good if you are an attorney working for the state swimming in taxpayer funded contracts worth millions of dollars!
