Senator stripped of her committee assignments in rare rebuke

All parties remaining mum on why action taken

PIERRE — The South Dakota Senate’s leader disciplined one of its members Wednesday in a rare rebuke to a sitting member.

The announcement came at the start of Wednesday’s meeting that Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck had removed Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller from her committee positions on Senate Health and Human Services and Senate Local Government. No reason was given during the Senate announcements for why the Rapid City Republican was removed.

She’s also been suspended from the GOP’s Senate Caucus, per sources of The Dakota Scout at the state Capitol.

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