Entries Tagged 'Elections' ↓

As I joked with friends Monday night, no matter the results Tuesday, we will still be a heavily red state on Wednesday morning, or at least led by them.

But let’s focus on the positive to start out with;

Cameraman Bruce and I ran another successful campaign and got a Democratic candidate elected in a pretty conservative district. Another notch in the winner’s column for us. Woot! Woot! The candidate also busted their ass getting bi-partisan support. Democrats can win in this state, but they must follow a stringent strategy and keep it simple.

Congrats to Kelly Sullivan (House D13) who ran an amazing direct mail and ground game campaign, I also think the assistance of LEAD helped her defeat Rex Rolfing. A do nothing, two-term Sioux Falls city councilor. Hopefully we will never see his name on a ballot ever again. I joked with someone last night, “If Rex wins by only 35% of the vote, will he feel bad he didn’t get a 50+1 majority?” LOL. It’s time the SF City Council overturns his horrible idea.

LEAD also probably helped Erin Healy get elected, and Kasey Olivier get within 28 votes of beating Blake Curd. I expect there will be a challenge in that race. Curd needs to go bye bye.

IM 25 failed. It was a bad idea from the beginning. I’m hoping (but not holding my breath) that the legislature will find a way to fund Tech education thru a scholarship fund, funded by the industries that use and need tech workers. The Legislature also needs to work on making apprenticeships easier so graduating HS students can skip tech school all together and start working and training in a field right away without tuition debt.

Nothing changed on the Minnehaha County Commission with Beninga, Heiberger and Barth getting re-elected. Let’s see if they all serve out their new terms.

And now for the crap;

IM 24 passed. Which proves to me many voters are ignorant to our US Constitution. Money is free speech and it can come from anywhere. This measure will be challenged in court and will essentially be dead.

Amendment W failed, which surprised me. I guess South Dakotans like our ‘F’ rating of our very corrupt legislature.

As if we didn’t learn anything from Jason Gant as our SOS, we elected one of the most unqualified AG’s in the history of our State. Ravnsborg will clog our prisons with addicts, give little to no treatment to them and most likely run the office as a partisan hack. This will prove to be one of the worst decisions voters in SD made in a very long time.

Dusty winning the House race is no surprise. He ran a high energy, positive campaign. I think the Bjorkman campaign was positive to, but there wasn’t a clear message. As I told Dusty in an email before the election, while I appreciated the campaign he ran, I disagree entirely with his philosophies. On a positive note, for at least the next two years with a Democratically controlled Congress, Dusty will accomplish very little, but maybe he will get to witness a historic impeachment of a president.

As I am disappointed in Noem being elected, it shouldn’t surprise us. I voted for no one in that race. The GOP hate machine was in full swing from the Noem and Ravsborg campaigns, they proved negative campaigning works. Even if Sutton and Seiler would have been successful, we would still be living in a very red state.

South Dakota’s new motto should be ‘Two Steps forward, Three Steps back.”

I’m probably completely off on my predictions but here’s my best shot;

District 13 House

Peterson & Sullivan

District 9 House

SABA and Peters

Minnehaha County Commission

Heiberger, Barth and Gronoli

Attorney General

Seiler (While there hasn’t been any polling on this, I think it will be a close race. With all of the experience that Seiler has, I just don’t see how Jason can beat him).

US Congress

Johnson

Governor

Tie (I know that is cop out, but I’m having trouble calling this one. A few days ago I would have given it to Noem, but I just think it is too close to call).

Amendments and Initiatives

‘W’ Passes, all others fail (but I think all of the measures will be very close)

Hoorah! The SD ACLU is going to give you a ride to the polls. Yet, they have no intention to investigate those same polls.

We told the ACLU before the school bond vote that the election should be looked into, especially how district employees were using taxpayer resources to promote a YES vote.

No response.

We told them about having NO precincts in the Northern part of the SFSD.

No response.

We told them that the election could be held with the general election (which would save taxpayers money) and use all available precincts.

No response.

We told them that the E-Poll books don’t work and super precincts are a way to sway the vote.

No response.

After the election we discovered that IPC employees, mostly Finance Department counted the vote. NO independent volunteers, NO teachers and NO poll watchers.

No response.

If the ACLU wants to promote fair, equal and open elections, they would be investigating the school bond vote. But they haven’t.

Why?

My guess is because it is about the free public education of kids. Which I would agree. But this wasn’t about the education of children, this was about running an election above board. We don’t know if it was, because the key piece of evidence that the ACLU could pressure to get, the ballots, are being withheld from us for 60 days.

Ironically the $300 million in bond debt doesn’t educate one single child, it doesn’t even raise teacher pay. Almost 75% of it goes towards East Coast bond investors and the rest to contractors who build the buildings.

If the ACLU wants to promote equality during elections, I would agree. This is why they should use their resources to look into the school bond election.

Stehly says,

“Jeff Barth and Cindy Heiberger care about the average Minnehaha County residents. I have enjoyed working with both of them and appreciate their respectful attitude toward those they serve.”

PAID FOR BY VOTE SABA

Mike also has endorsements from former D9 Representative Tom Dempster(R) and Former CEO of Avera Health & Sioux Falls Chamber President, Dr. David Kapaska.

PAID FOR BY VOTE SABA

PAID FOR BY VOTE SABA

PAID FOR BY VOTE SABA

And how can we forget who is running against Saba?

And how about these headlines?

We don’t need more bigots and do nothings in Pierre. VOTE SABA!

I have been waiting for Rex to return from the Orange Juice state to actually campaign in person (still haven’t seen him). He is is relying on the ‘R’ behind his name, a few yard signs and this recent mailer to put him over the top.

Got a really good chuckle out of his ‘VISION’

Just go to sfmeetings.org and type in Rex Rolfing, and see his voting record for yourself.

Fiscally responsible. WOW! In the 8 years (2008-16) Rex served on the city council he voted for EVERY single fee and tax increase. He also voted for millions in TIFs and bonding, including the Indoor Pool, Huether Tennis Center ($500K), Administration building that we did not need and the The Denty that has never paid it’s mortgage EVER through revenue.

Rex wouldn’t know what fiscal responsibility was if it hit him like a Jesus snow plow.

He also did ZERO to improve workforce while he served on the council, except voting for an expenditure to put billboards of the former mayor’s face all over Minneapolis.

He also followed the marching orders of his former boss and police chief by ignoring our drug and crime issues for 8 years.

Besides the glaring hypocrisy of Rex’s vision, we also forget that;

• He trumped up false ethics violations towards councilor Stehly, in which he had a freak out session where the puck under the gavel went flying thru the air. He even made light of it later by pretending the bone above he is chewing on in the picture was a gavel and started rapping it on the table like a gavel after covering the end in tin foil.

• Rex said publicly he doesn’t want his contact information on mailings even though his city owned council email address and phone number are public information.

• Lastly, his only (non)accomplishment on the council was passing a silly ordinance about having a majority instead of a plurality in council races, which only makes elections more expensive for both taxpayers and candidates (hopefully the city council will overturn this soon, but I see they are waiting until after the election so they won’t make him look bad-chickensh*ts).

Let’s face it. Rex is NOT fiscally responsible, he is NOT ethical, he does NOT believe in government transparency and he is willing to throw anyone under the bus he doesn’t agree with.

There is whole host of other things I could say about this VOID of leadership, but I won’t. I will leave you with a paragraph from a postcard I also got today from his competitor, Kelly Sullivan;

She pretty much sums up Rex Rolfing and his ilk in one sentence. Living in a bouncy house.

Do as I did as a D13 voter, fill only one box out for the House Race. Kelly Sullivan.

One of my grandpa’s clocks from his collection.

I still remember him saying on November 4, 1980 how he voted for Carter, because “He was a good man.” I know, I was in first grade, and how can I remember this? Well, because my grandparents were opinionated. I know, hard to believe. They would tell you how they felt about their last sh*t, the food they had for lunch and the color of the sky, and they would wrap it all in a joke and a few ‘choice’ words. You knew what they were thinking. All of the time, and if they didn’t want you to know they would say it in Czech, then hug you while laughing at you.

I often think about how I have followed politics, and it always brings me back to the kitchen breakfast nook at my grandparent’s house, they were never shy about their opinions. Especially politics.

My grandpa Carl liked Carter for obvious reasons, he loved the earth. My grandpa was a certified green thumb, who could make anything grow, trees were his passion, but he could make anything work from his 70’s Caddie to his International Scout, to his passion of clocks.

I think he would look at Noem as a ‘fake’ and I would love to hear what he thinks of her right now. It would be colorful.

Both governor candidates have shared ‘traditions’ and ‘values’ but I often wonder if they know WTF they are talking about? The South Dakota I grew up in cherished these things, and if you worked hard, you may not become rich, but you were always rewarded with good friends, good food and a sense you were loved and valued for your beliefs.

When you vote on Tuesday, think about what is most important to you, like ‘Good People’ who care about you, the earth and your family, and want a better life for us all. To this day, I still think my grandpa’s vote for Carter was the right thing to do. Because we don’t have to mention the other guy, who Noem has presented as her hero in the latest debate. A man who put us down a path of the rich stealing the middle class and destroying a country who was modeled after people like my grandpa Carl.

He would be truly disgusted.

Hard workers who believed in this Republic, to take care of us, when we can’t, to defend our right to our opinion, and when we take up arms it is for the defense of our ideals, not to simply cause bloodshed. As Americans, we are better than this. We defend the right of others, we love those who don’t agree, and we embrace diversity and ingenuity. We simply are the Greatest Country in the world, and we don’t need props to remind us just leaders to hold our hands.

We can go down the same old path folks, but we can’t accept those results.

Vote for what you believe, because if you do on Wednesday you will have nothing to feel guilty about.

Forget the fact that IM 25 will probably become a slush fund for state government, it is a horrible way to fund Technical education.

Am I against increasing tobacco taxes? Not at all, if the money was directed at cessation, prevention, healthcare or even drug treatment programs, I would be all for it.

So the question remains, how do we fund Technical education? The first question we have to answer is “Why is South Dakota the highest in the region for tuition?” My educated guess (no pun intended) is because of high administrative costs and staffing. I know the teachers are NOT making highest wages in the region, in fact most tech teachers make less than K-12 instructors.

So after we get that part straightened out, how do we get costs down for the students? I think it is simple. First, make apprentice programs easier, and pay the apprentice. Many of these students could skip technical education all together and start in these jobs right out of HS.

As for the more technical skills for the medical field, electronics, engineering, etc. make the industries that need these positions the most pay into a scholarship fund that students can apply for with the agreement they will work in SD for so many years.

If we want extra money for tech schools, shouldn’t the employers who need these employees pay into a special fund or tax since they are the ones benefitting from reduced tuitions with skilled labor? Seems like an easy solution that makes sense.

Still don’t know how they linked tobacco to tech schools. Of course, we only have to look at the clown who cooked this up, Former Lord of the Lords, Mark Mickelson who wants to make money off of the backs of poor smokers. Some things never change in South Dakota, the business elite want handouts and welfare and they want the poor to pay for it.

And this is why IM 25 is Lame, just like it’s creator. VOTE NO!

UPDATE: If you watch the Rotary debate today, both Noem and Sutton voted against IM 25 and cited some of the same reasons I stated above for voting against it (and I posted this before watching the debate – HA!)

While I felt last week that Sutton didn’t have a chance, some things happened this past week which have me believe at this point the race is a tie. If the election were held today I think either one could win by just a few hundred votes.

I have felt that Billie needed certain stars to align in order to win this, here are some important factors;

• Mason Dixon poll puts them at a tie

• Many internal democratic polls and some unscientific online polls have Sutton ahead by 2-5 points

• Voter turnout is predicted at 50%, this helps to close the Dem/Rep voter gap

• Sutton has wide support amongst his party’s voters, Noem, not so much

• Some voters don’t want a woman as governor, and while that doesn’t mean they will vote for Sutton, they may leave it blank

• I think Sutton appeals to indy’s more than Noem, because Noem is taking a hard right conservative approach to the campaign

• Noem’s negative campaigning is NOT working because it is painfully false, unlike her ads against Jackley which were true. This postcard below if further proof of the gutter politics the SD GOP plays, which just piss off voters more than anything. It would be different if Sutton was being negative to, but all he does is show Noem’s true record of nothingness.

• Trump’s rating is way down at 49% in SD. This doesn’t bode well for a Washington Republican like Noem

• Billie performed very well in the last debate, even at one point laughing at Noem’s ridiculous claims about Bernie Sanders.

• Kristi can’t swim (well this isn’t a bad thing, I can’t either).

This is anyone’s game at this point. This next week will be crucial to both campaigns to sway those last handful of undecided.

UPDATE: I found this endorsement ad interesting. Besides the fact that it is very generic and you can tell that Dennis doesn’t really know diddle about Kristi except that she is a fellow Republican (He should have just said that, “Vote for Kristi, because she is a Republican like me”), I found it interesting they would film the commercial in a high rise office in Sioux Falls. If you were the current sitting governor and you were endorsing a governor candidate, wouldn’t you have filmed this commercial at the Capital or at least in front of the Capital instead of in an office building in Sioux Falls? FAIL.