South Dakota Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller Benched in 'Suckling' Advice Scandal - The Daily Beast

PIERRE, South Dakota—The authorities legislature has been consumed by a bizarre ungraded aft a lawmaker allegedly stepped mode implicit the enactment and gave a staffer unsolicited proposal connected COVID vaccines and breast-feeding, including a proposition that she suckle her husband.

State Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, a Republican from Rapid City, was suspended from her committee assignments past week and stripped of the quality to ballot aft the incidental was archetypal reported to Senate leadership.

Frye-Mueller, who belongs to a far-right caucus, is present suing to get her voting rights restored—even arsenic the unnamed staffer released jaw-dropping caller details astir their speech connected Monday.

In a statement, the staffer, who works for the Legislative Research Council, said Frye-Mueller and her hubby came into her bureau connected Jan. 24. She said that aft discussing the draught of a bill, the legislator asked astir her babe lad and whether she had been vaccinated.

“I told her ‘yes.’ Without allowing maine to elaborate further, she proceeded to constituent her digit astatine maine and aggressively accidental that this volition origin him issues,” the staffer said. She said added that Frye-Mueller told her radical are being utilized arsenic “guinea pigs for Big Pharma,” warned that was she was “taking distant God’s acquisition of immunity from your son,” and falsely claimed the kid could get Down syndrome oregon autism oregon “die from those vaccines.”

The staffer went connected to accidental that the lawmaker asked if she was breast-feeding, and erstwhile she said was feeding with formula, she got much unwanted advice.

“I was told by Senator Frye-Mueller that my hubby could ‘suck connected my breasts’ to get beverage to travel in. She indicated ‘a bully clip for that is astatine night.’ She proceeded to supply manus gestures to her thorax country and question to her hubby to spot if helium agreed. He smiled and nodded,” she wrote.

The staffer said the legislator past became adjacent much affectional and aggressive, and with tears successful her eyes, told her to halt vaccinating the infant. She said she knew of twins who were harmed by a vaccine and asked if the pistillate wanted that to hap to her child. The staffer told her she would deliberation it over.

“I did truthful successful the anticipation that it would extremity the speech and not upset her further,” she wrote.

Although the enquiry into Frye-Mueller’s behaviour became nationalist past week, the afloat details of the allegations did not travel to airy until Monday. The staffer is scheduled to attest Tuesday down closed doors earlier the Senate Select Committee connected Discipline and Expulsion.

Republicans are successful full power of South Dakota’s authorities government, holding a 31-4 borderline successful the Senate and a 63-7 supermajority successful the House. Republicans person served arsenic politician since 1979. Senate leaders named 7 Republicans and 2 Democrats to service connected the committee.

While they seldom request to conflict with statehouse Democrats, the South Dakota GOP has a lengthy past of household feuds. Last year, it impeached and removed Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican, aft a lengthy probe into a 2020 fatal clang that killed a pedestrian.

During the 2022 session, Gov. Kristi Noem battled with chap Republicans implicit Ravnsborg and different issues, with then-Speaker Spencer Gosch saying the politician was utilizing hardball tactics to get her mode successful Pierre.

Frye-Mueller, serving her 2nd term, is simply a subordinate of the South Dakota Freedom Caucus, which says she was denied owed process.

That aforesaid statement was made by Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, a Republican, connected Thursday arsenic the Senate moved to suspend Frye-Mueller. Rhoden’s law duties see presiding implicit the Senate, but Sens. Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown and Casey Crabtree of Madison pressed on, saying the Rapid City lawmaker had crossed a line.

“I don’t person a statute successful beforehand of me, and I don’t request one,” Schoenbeck said. “The rules, arsenic LRC has explained to me, is that we person the quality to support the decorum of the body.”

The Senate voted 27-6-2 to make the peculiar committee, and past voted 27-7 to suspend Frye-Mueller.

Frye-Mueller has vowed not to resign. In her lawsuit, she is represented by erstwhile South Dakota Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard, a Sioux Falls blimpish who challenged Noem successful a gubernatorial superior successful June.

The suit lists Schoenbeck, a longtime Republican insider successful authorities authorities who controls the Senate arsenic president pro tempore, arsenic the defendant. Schoenbeck removed Frye-Mueller from the Local Government and Health and Human Services Committees connected Wednesday.

Frye-Mueller said this is much astir authorities than due procedure. She and Schoenbeck are some Republicans, but helium opposed respective blimpish candidates, including Frye-Mueller and her Senate seatmate and state Sen. Tom Pischke of Dell Rapids, during the 2022 predetermination cycle.

Frye-Mueller said she considers the LRC staffer a person and thought they were conscionable engaged successful a conversation.

“It has travel to my attraction that the contented whitethorn impact a speech I had with staff, wherever I promoted my well-known stance of aesculapian state and the quality of individuals to take aesculapian attraction for themselves,” she said past week.

South Dakota legislators person investigated 1 of their members for antithetic behaviour before.

In 2017, state Rep. Mathew Wollman, a Republican from Madison, resigned aft admitting to having enactment with 2 pistillate interns during his archetypal word successful office.

In 2007, authorities Sen. Dan Sutton, a Democrat from Flandreau, was censured by the Senate aft a antheral intern and longtime household person said the legislator fondled him portion the 2 shared a furniture successful a Pierre edifice country successful 2006.

Sutton near the legislature aft being term-limited. He aboriginal was elected politician of Flandreau, and successful 2020, another antheral made allegations of inappropriate intersexual interaction 2 decades earlier. No charges were filed and Sutton remains successful office.

Frye-Mueller is inactive a authorities senator, but without committee assignments and the close to vote, she is fundamentally powerless. She is trying to alteration that by taking connected the state’s long-entrenched Republican leadership.