Martin Jackley

Former South Dakota U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley (R) on Wednesday filed with the secretary of state’s office to officially enter next year’s race for South Dakota attorney general, The Associated Press reported. Jackley, who was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Bush in 2006, resigned earlier this year to become the state’s attorney general. The office became vacant following Gov. Mike Rounds’s (R) move to name then-state Attorney General Larry Long to be a circuit judge.

Brendan Johnson (from South Dakota Watch blog via Facebook)

Jackley said he is seeking a full term because he enjoys the responsibility of representing the state in legal matters, working with state lawmakers and defending those accused of crimes, The AP reported.  ”My goal is to continue to keep my nose to the ground and do a strong job as attorney general and at election time emphasize experience both in the private sector and as U.S. attorney and my litigation experience,” Jackley told The AP.

No other candidates have announced their candidacy for the office.

Brendan Johnson has been nominated to become the state’s next U.S. Attorney. He has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but has yet to be voted on by the full Senate.

Brendan Johnson (from South Dakota Watch blog via Facebook)

As the Senate prepares to consider the nomination of Brendan Johnson for U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, the son of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is pulling double duty, The Sioux Journal reported. The younger Johnson continues to practice in his private law firm in Sioux Falls while also bulking up for his expected new job. He’s been traveling across the state meeting with “different constituency groups and learning about the state,” Johnson told the newspaper.

Johnson’s nomination is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “There is no timeline yet to get out of committee and onto the Senate floor,” he told the newspaper.

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.)

And the nominee can’t turn to his father for help. The senator has said he won’t’ intervene in any manner in his son’s confirmation process, The Sioux Journal reported.

If confirmed, much of  Johnson’s job will focus on tribal justice, the newspaper reported. The senior Johnson sits on the Committee on Indian Affairs.

South Dakota U.S. Attorney nominee Brendan Johnson, 34 years old, is the son of Sen. Tim Johnson, the South Dakota Democrat.  (Johnson, you’ll recall, underwent emergency brain surgery in 2006, creating a political drama over whether his illness would threaten the Democrats’ newly earned majority in the Senate. He made a full recovery.)

Brendan Johnson (from South Dakota Watch blog via Facebook)

Sen. Tim Johnson 2002 family photo (senate.gov)

You may be tempted to draw a parallel between Brendan Johnson and Strom Thurmond Jr., who, as a doe-eyed 28 year old, was recommended by his father, the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, to be South Carolina’s top prosecutor. (Junior was confirmed and served for three years.)

Johnson says he beat a different path, soliciting support from South Dakotans of both political parties and sending his application directly to the Obama administration. His father says he is staying out the process, but the whiff of nepotism has stirred controversy in South Dakota. While Johnson-the-younger has many supporters in the state — he is a rising star, for sure — his resume is rather skimpy compared with the others in his cohort.

Have a look:

• Johnson (University of South Dakota, UVa Law) was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, in 1975. (His middle name was changed from “Vandel” to “Van” six months later.)
• Since 2005, he’s been at Johnson, Heidepriem, Abdallah and Johnson in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was made partner in 2006. His handles civil and criminal cases.
• Johnson wended his way through several high-powered firms as a summer associate, including Baker Hostetler; Howry; and Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Handin.
• After working on his father’s Senate campaign in 2002 as a surrogate and a legal adviser, he left law and politics for a position as a substitute teacher in the Boston public school system. He taught for two months before joining the Minnehaha County State’s Attorneys Office, where he handled hundreds of cases ranging from court trials on traffic tickets and other petty offenses to the prosecution of a defendant charged with attempted murder of police officers. (He ranks the latter as his most significant case to date.)
• Johnson estimates he has participated in “40 jury trials and a significantly higher number of court trials.”
• He was an intern in then-Vice President Al Gore’s office in 1998.
• He’s probably one of the few members of the American Constitution Society who’s also a member of the National Rifle Association. (Go Second Amendment!)
• He belongs to the Minnehaha Country Club.
• Johnson sits on the boards of several organizations, including for the Twelve-step Living Corporation, which treats substance abuse; the University of South Dakota (trustee); and the Husby Performing Arts Center. He is also on the South Dakota Region Advisory Committee of the American Cancer Society.
• Johnson worked on State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem’s 2006 and 2008 camapigns, though he held no official title.
• Two of his children are adopted from Ethiopia.
• Johnson lists a net worth of $512,200. He lists two personal residences worth about $1.3 million, and his listed securities total $285,700.

Click here for his full questionnaire.