Meet Don ‘Hearst‘ Jorgensen

The propaganda wing of city hall, and now apparently Mike Huether’s campaign, Stormland TV news attempts to make Kermit look like a spendaholic because he spent $2,375 a year attending conferences that the city requested him to attend because none of the other members on the council wanted to go;

Sioux Falls mayoral candidate Kermit Staggers has been accused of saying no to a lot of different things as a member of the city council, but he surely doesn’t say no to travel.

According to these public records, Staggers has spent more of your tax dollars on travel than any other city council member.

Kermit Staggers, who wants to be mayor of Sioux Falls for the next four years, has been campaigning on responsible spending. But when it comes to traveling on taxpayer dollars, Staggers admits he spends.

Yeah, Don, why don’t you just say that you are voting for Mike Huether in your opening statements? After a few calls to the station by city clerk Debra Owen and a Staggers supporter, the 10 PM news changed there tune and admitted that Kermit attended these conferences AFTER they requested him to. But there is a lot of other information missing. First off, the council is allocated $16,000 every year for these travels, it is a POOL of money, there is no limit what one councilor can spend, Kermit chose to represent the city more at these conferences, which is a good thing, because the rest of them didn’t have any interest. Secondly, I heard when ‘Jorgie’ was investigating this story (that was handed to him on a silver platter from the Huether campaign) he was told by a city representative that this is common practice and about the pool of money but he ignored those facts and ‘Jorgie’ couldn’t resist to do a hit-job on Kermit.

So who handed this info to ‘Jorgie’? No other then, sore loser, Darrin Smith. You remember Darrin Smith? Don’t you? He was the last Democrat to fail in the mayoral election (I think he got 4th place, even Sweet Vernon the Velvet Hammer beat him). He was such a sore loser, he quit the council, and we got Bob Litz appointed. I can’t believe that the Huether campaign would use someone like this, a loser AND a quitter. Double whammie. But that is normal with Dems, when the going gets tough, they bail. When the Feds deemed First Premier Bankcards fee-harvesting schemes illegal, what did Mike do? He bailed. If Mike finds the job of mayor too hard, what will he do? Bail?

Lastly, I find it ironic that ‘Jorgie’ would get such a problem with Kermit’s travel expenses when the city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consulting fees, and travel expenses for the several task forces we have adopted for a new events center who have failed to deliver us a solution.

21 Thoughts on “Stormland TV News editorialized government travel story, with the help of sore loser, Darrin Smith

  1. I found out the City Clerk was actually pretty mad about the story.

    City Councilors are encouraged to go to conferences to learn about city government, and the Clerk is now afraid now that they’ll be afraid to go now.

  2. l3wis on April 23, 2010 at 9:35 pm said:

    I heard the same thing.

    Darrin Smith, the ‘Loser and then the Quitter’ that dug this up should be ashamed of himself. I actually supported him on the smoking ban, then he does something partisan like this to get a fellow Democrat elected.

  3. Pingback: Mike Huether attacks Kermit Staggers for doing his job « Not 'my man' Mike Huether

  4. anominous on April 23, 2010 at 11:47 pm said:

    Oh my!

  5. kermit the frog on April 24, 2010 at 3:34 am said:

    Thanks for enlightening about Kermit. I was almost ready to vote for him, and then I found your whining web site and your stupid conspiracy rants. Guess my vote now goes to Mike.

  6. l3wis on April 24, 2010 at 8:33 am said:

    You were never going to vote for Kermit, give me a break. The only conspiracy that exists in this race is happening at Mike’s campaign headquarters.

  7. sidestreets on April 24, 2010 at 1:08 pm said:

    Well if Huether feels this way about attending these conferences that will create a more abrasive situation between him and the council. I just wonder how many of them will stop enjoying the gig and either resign, fight, or demand raises. I can personally say under Kermit’s office I would be so happy to serve my time but yet not be afraid to differ on issues.
    After hearing how Mike’s harsh cold nature stirred the pot at The Banquet.. ahhh that is one office I would stay clear of.

  8. Hey Scott,
    Jorgie is just a polished refined egomaniac boozehound vestige of Steve Hemmingson. Half-ass style over incredibly underwhelming substance. At least Daschleland
    storm chasers have been consistent over
    the years

  9. l3wis on April 24, 2010 at 7:26 pm said:

    The station gets more pathetic by the day.

  10. Sidestreets:
    Please enlighten us on how My Man Mike stirred the pot at The Banquet. That’s one we haven’t heard.
    Stan

  11. sidestreets on April 25, 2010 at 1:58 am said:

    Stan, a woman was going to do a youtube interview with us on that subject and began to cry and backed out.. The details I can’t post here without potentially causing harm but all you have to do is call them yourself (or Kermit) to see and get the authorization we failed to get. The woman did start to cry and said “You can’t let him become Mayor.” There is more info in another blog which coincidentally was posted by someone else who wanted to tell more.

  12. kermit the frog on April 25, 2010 at 3:51 am said:

    Let’s keep the conspiracy theories going. Nothing like garbage in, garbage out. You can’t polish a turd, and that’s what the conspiracy nuts are trying to do with Staggers. Everyone is out to get him.

  13. Plaintiff Guy on April 25, 2010 at 3:20 pm said:

    KELO did little coverage of pending litigation versus the city. It seems, they and the Argus support Home Rule tyranny. Real truth comes from the internet. When the KELO broadcast license comes up for renewal, there should be major objection.

    Likely, ‘Kermit the Frog’ (above) is a city propaganda plant.

  14. Actually, if the city had done half the suggestions Kermit learned at those conferences they would have paid for themselves multiple times over.

  15. kermit the frog on April 25, 2010 at 5:00 pm said:

    Thanks plaintiff guy for proving me right. I have no affiliation with the city, or with either candidate or even with any political party. Just a citizen who votes. But apparently when one post a comment against your candidate, he must be part of some secret organization trying to stop your candidate from winning, You are a typical conspiracy nut. You can’t even see through your own BS.

  16. l3wis on April 25, 2010 at 6:58 pm said:

    And you have no clue how city politics work, that’s why the same dipshits get elected over and over again.

  17. LOL! “Same dipshits get elected over and over again.” You must be talking about Kermit! 8 years in the state senate, 8 years on city council.

  18. Yeah, pretty funny considering Kermit did not have any challengers the last time he was up for re-election. That’s right, not one single person challenged him when he ran for his second term.

    Says a lot, doesn’t it?

  19. skybluesky on April 26, 2010 at 8:28 am said:

    Would like to clear up the “Quitter” accusation thrown at Darrin Smith. Darrin resigned as a member of the City Council because his employer, the American Heart Association, changed their personnel policy about being elected to public office. It was either stay on as a Council member or lose his position with the Heart Association.

    I do agree with you that the travel expenses story is ridiculous. If Kermit wanted to further educate himself about issues affecting the City, more power to him.

  20. “the American Heart Association, changed their personnel policy about being elected to public office. It was either stay on as a Council member or lose his position with the Heart Association.”

    While I believe that to be true, it would seem that Smith would be grandfathered in. In other words, they could have let him finish his term. I think he used it as an excuse.

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