Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

What a beautiful viewing, for the 2nd week in a row. Apparently seven days isn’t long enough to fix a software glitch. And who are we kidding anyway? We’ve had over 5 years or more to move the RR tracks. How’s that working out?

Maybe not, but it looks like they are trying;

Since Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, S.D., merged with Fargo’s MeritCare in 2009, the organization has built itself into the largest nonprofit rural health care system in the country, with facilities spread across North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, and a market population of 2 million people.

Where to begin?

Most days blogging I get little grocery store samplings of issues concerning our city and a little light digesting. Not today. I just left the buffet and I am about to hurl.

I will say this, my sources are very reliable, and I have spent a fair amount of time before posting this backing some of the sources up. Unlike our non-free online newspaper, I don’t have to name my sources. And I won’t. If you have a problem with that, start posting your comments using your full name and address.

This information was given to me by a couple of different people, some of it is backed up by documentation, some of it is not. So for now, let’s just say this is speculation, and leave it at that. You be the judge. It is not to hard to connect the dots.

NAMING RIGHTS OF THE EVENTS CENTER

Let’s talk about the naming rights issue, I have a feeling that this will boil over in the public forum soon enough. You know that $60,000 we spent on the naming rights consultation? That is only about the interior not the exterior. Darrin Smith has taken it upon himself to handle the naming of the building. Guess how that is working out? Let’s just say if the events center remains nameless, it will be no surprise. More to come . . .

(how much money is this dude costing us anyway?)

HOW CAN WE PAY FOR A NEW EVENTS CENTER?

This was often a topic. We were promised many different things; a temporary increase in sales taxes, a 25% kick-in from private business. In the end we bonded for it. But what if we had a private business offer to give us revenue to make the bond payments for us every year, and they didn’t want naming rights, just permission to set up shop in Sioux Falls? Sounds like a pretty good idea? Doesn’t it? They might even offer to help us book acts and conventions.

The rumor is the city did get this offer and the mayor refused to meet with them. It’s a little more complicated then that though, the business would have had to get permission from the state and governor also to set up shop in Sioux Falls. But refusing to even hear the proposal and NOT letting the citizens of SF to vote on it seems ludicrous to me.

WHAT IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET WARREN BUFFET?

Pretty easy question, isn’t it? Just as an average joe why would you turn down the opportunity to meet one of the greatest economic minds of our time? Even for 15 minutes over coffee and some biscotti?

Let’s turn it up a notch. What if you had a dilemma, like moving railroad tracks from the downtown of your city you are mayor of said city, and Warren just happened to own controlling stock in the RR you were trying to get moved? Would you meet with him then?

Well, rumor has it that was the proposal on the table to our mayor, and he didn’t seem to find the importance in such a meeting. I hope this was only a rumor.

Mike have you ever played the game of ‘Monopoly’? What properties do you want to buy first?

UPDATE

In my crazy frenzy to post about all this stuff, I forgot another tidbit of information that just happened to drip off my bucket hat in the rainstorm. The Sanford sports complex TIF. Apparently the TIF started out at $700,000 to help pay for the road to the complex. Sanford had a good gripe, why should they pay for a road that also goes to city facilities? Fair enough. So the original TIF was to pay for this road. Overnight it turned into $9 million dollars. (well, not overnight, just when Darrin and Mike took over) And if you ask the city what this money is for you probably will hear crickets. In fact, nobody knows what it is earmarked for. My guess is to pay for the entire complex.

BTW, I have one more rainstorm puddle I am going to post about, but it deserves it’s own post.

WASHINGTON — When asked Sunday whether he would accept an invitation to run as vice president on the ticket with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that “you never rule out opportunities or options” in political life.

In this Sept. 15, 2006, photo, Thomas Kinkade unveils his painting, “Prayer For Peace,” at the opening of the exhibit “From Abraham to Jesus,” in Atlanta. (Gene Blythe – AP)

Oh, those hypocritical Christians get me everytime;

Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light” whose collectible works were beloved by fans and bemoaned by critics, died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. A combination of Valium and alcohol was the cause of the painter’s April 6 death, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.

However, the commercialization and kitsch of his work didn’t win him many fans among the art-world elite, or with critics. As the Style Blog wrote after his death, Kinkade’s legacy was deeply polarizing: For every art critic who called his art saccharine, sentimental or heavy-handed with its Christian imagery, there were a dozen fans who found beauty in his brushstrokes.

Like Redlin, I have often felt that Kinkade was a talented ‘Illustrator’ but not an ‘Artist’ though it seems he liked to drink like one.

“NOT ANOTHER POP QUIZ!”

From Helga;

How did Noem finish four years of college in a little more then a year?

Noem was sworn in January 2011. She says she juggled a full course load last spring (2011) while at the same time finding her way around DC and she finished her classes by the fall of 2011. Earned her degree by December 2011. “Kristi Noem who in December of 2011 received her college diploma while serving her first term in office.” Enquiring minds would like to know how a person earns 2 years of college credit from spring to fall of 2011 (6-7 months)? And at the same time being a full time congress woman (South Dakota’s only congress person) traveling back and forth from DC to SD and around to various states fund raising.

For now the real point is she says she went to college for two years, 1990-1992, so that means she had 2 years left before she could get a degree. Apparently it never dawned on her while she was running the farm, having children, and then getting elected to the SD legislature that she might finish her college degree. (I could be snarky and add racing around the state getting tons of tickets). So 20 years later when she gets elected to the US House she decides she needs that piece of paper? I wonder how the heck she can get 2 years of college credits in less then a year? The last Washington Post story says one way she earned her degree was to “rack up intern credits”.

According to local press, one way the South Dakota Republican earned her degree was to rack up “intern credits.” We’re pretty sure her interning experience was vastly different than that of most fresh-faced college kids — she probably didn’t have to fetch coffee for the boss or subsist on a diet of 25-cent-wing nights and pitchers of beer at the Capitol Lounge.

The Post also points out;

She gets elected as a US Congress woman and she gets credit for that, at least that is the way it looks to me. Too bad everyone else that works one or two jobs and goes to college at the same time doesn’t get credit for their jobs. Everyone else has to actually go to classes, take tests, pay for the classes with loans that she voted NO on because she thinks doubling the interest rate is just fine. It really just boils down to what classes did she take and how many credits did she get from those classes.

She says she went to Northern in Aberdeen, SDSU and Mount Marty in Watertown. Often times schools do not accept all the credits of other schools. So how many credits did she start with?

She is the only congress person of the state and she gets college credit as an intern. So how did she do it as a first term US House Rep and can other college students do that too? Who did she intern for, (certainly not herself), what papers, projects did she have to write for the internship, who graded them and who decided and approved how many credit hours she got for interning. If she got intern credits just because she’s a US House rep then she received selective treatment.

Besides wondering where the money is going to come from to build an indoor pool (some estimates are at $22 Million) I will bring up again, my main reason I am opposed to a public indoor pool; we don’t need it. There are several private indoor pool facilities you can swim at for a membership fee, just like a public indoor pool would charge. Why compete with private industry? The only way I would be for a public indoor pool was if the city contracted the service (like they do with the city’s golf courses). If the ‘need’ is there, the city will make money from the pool.

We have an important election coming up in November. There are two major ballot initiatives, one has to do with raising taxes the other has to do with education. I have concerns about how our elections have been handled over the past couple of years. I have a lot of questions, and not a lot of answers.

Let’s start from the beginning;

• A Sioux Falls mayoral election in which Staggers was victorious in the general and mysteriously 6,000 new voters showed up to the polls a few weeks later in the runoff helping Huether to clinch victory.

• Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz proudly displaying Build It Now signs in his yard until chided by me, an Argus reporter and another concerned citizen to remove the signs, in which he conceded.

• Sioux Falls City Clerk Debra Owen terminated just weeks before the crucial Events Center special election.

• Record turnout for a special election approving the new Events Center.

• Rumors of registered voters living outside of the city limits voting in the Events Center election using old Sioux Falls addresses (I heard of at least two instances where a voter lived in Canton, and one lived in Minnesota – blatant voter fraud).

• Jason Gant getting elected Secretary of State campaigning on a faux issue about the Feds taking over our elections. (This has been proven to be unsubstantiated).

• Secretary of State Gant trying to change rules without the consent of his special committee.

• A move towards e-polling and super precincts in Sioux Falls (I am all for e-polling, but I do not agree with super precincts. We live in a democracy, voting should be as easy as possible and ‘saving money’ should never be used as an excuse to use super precincts).

• Recent municipal election ballots running out. A seemingly dismissive city clerk and a silent School District employee with no real explanation. There wasn’t even an informal investigation by the SOS’s office that I heard of anyway.

• SOS’s operations manager possibly moonlighting as a campaign consultant, and once revealed makes an internet link joke about it.

As you can see, a lot of questions, not a lot of answers. I am only a volunteer blogger, I can’t find the answers to these questions on my own, our MSM needs to start digging.

BANNING TEXTING

I also am suspicious of the recent coalition that is proposing an ordinance change concerning banning texting in Sioux Falls, side stepping the state legislature. Does anyone find it a coincidence that the Mayor is good friends with one of the coalition’s members (Rob Oliver). I speculate this is a move to test the waters of our Home Rule charter by the mayor himself. Why isn’t this powerful group of individuals organizing a petition drive to get it on the November ballot for a statewide ban. And when the group’s leader, Rich Lauer was asked about the state’s involvement during the public services meeting, he was clueless as to why the state has failed to pass a ban (in other words they didn’t even attempt to explore that option).

Chief Barthel had concerns about the ordinance, he also had SFPD Captain Steve Haney, chair of a safe driving task force in Sioux Falls speak about his concerns. Something that stuck out in his testimony was that ‘Distracted Driving’ isn’t recognized by the state when filling out an accident report (I think that is what he was referring to) and says that state law has to change to fix that (as I mentioned above, there needs to be a petition drive to put this on the state ballot).

So why do I think the mayor is testing the waters? This is a perfect issue that could easily pass the council. Everyone agrees texting while driving is idiotic. What the mayor and council need to do though is learn from history. The city has lost 3 cases already in reference to the Home Rule charter and it’s power. It’s not a constitutional document. Daily vs. The City of Sioux Falls, the red light camera case and the city trying to regulate video lottery are prime examples of why the Home Rule charter cannot trump state law. The Public Services committee needs to table this proposal and send a clear message to the mayor’s office that it is not within the city’s power to regulate traffic laws, as Haney pointed out, that should be the state’s objective.

southdacola (c) 5/11/12

Not only did we get a sweet naming rights contract, we also got a new location for the next Walmart.

(Notice the two birds flying above the place – LOL!)