(Reuters) - A candidate who finished
fourth in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in South Dakota
was charged on Wednesday with violating campaign election laws,
prosecutors said.
Annette Bosworth, 42, a doctor from Sioux Falls, was charged with
six counts each of perjury and filing false documents and accused of
falsely claiming she was gathering nominating petition signatures in
South Dakota when she was really in the Philippines, the South
Dakota Attorney General's Office said.
Clayton Walker, 33, of Rapid City, also faces six counts each of
perjury and filing false documents. Walker had been running an
independent campaign for the U.S. Senate seat, but had been removed
from the November ballot after a challenge to his nominating
petitions.
"The election complaints received by the Secretary of State involve
conduct that is serious, deliberate and must be addressed in order
to preserve the integrity of our elections," South Dakota Attorney
General Marty Jackley said in a statement.
Mike Rounds, a former two-term governor, won Tuesday's Republican
primary with more than 55 percent of the vote. Bosworth finished
fourth with 5.75 percent. Rounds will face Democrat Rick Weiland in
the November election.
In a news conference posted on the Argus Leader newspaper's website,
Bosworth said there was no criminal intent to deceive. She said she
believed the charges were a "political prosecution" by Jackley, a
Republican, who had been appointed by Rounds.
Annette Bosworth, 42, a doctor from Sioux Falls, was charged with
six counts each of perjury and filing false documents and accused of
falsely claiming she was gathering nominating petition signatures in
South Dakota when she was really in the Philippines, the South
Dakota Attorney General's Office said.
