I ran across this little tidbit in Stupendous’ article in the AL today about Steve Hildebrand;

When asked if they will work together again or if he sees Huether as a future force in the state Democratic Party, Hildebrand offered a harsh assessment.

“If Mike were to change his ability to let citizens participate, to let longtime friends participate, to let neighborhood organizations participate, he might gather a lot of support, but he has been very much an individual leader who doesn’t really involve anyone else in his decision-making,” said Hildebrand. “He’ll have a hard time getting support from anybody if that’s the kind of person he continues to be.”

Well Steve, I could not have said it better myself. If Huether thinks he is going to run his governor campaign like he has ran Sioux Falls, he might have a rude awakening.

As for Huether’s contention that being mayor of Sioux Falls is his “dream job,” his former campaign manager disputes that characterization and says they had conversations about him running for governor before the mayoral push.

“Mike has wanted to be governor of South Dakota since he was a kid,” says Hildebrand. “It was never about being the mayor of Sioux Falls, it was always about being governor. He came back from San Antonio (where he worked for Citibank) with a big fat file that said, Huether for Governor.”

Steve is 110% correct on this assessment, I have heard stories about the famed 3-Ring Binder. I also was appraised of a story from two leading Democrats (before Huether announced he was running for Mayor) of a little road trip they were on when Huether popped the ‘governor run’ question on them, and they responded by saying he should aim a little lower first and suggested running for the mayor of Sioux Falls. (I still hold this advice against them).

Which brings me to something that has been in my craw for awhile, Huether using city resources to run for governor. He has not formally announced yet so he has been walking a fine line with traveling all over the state ‘talking about Sioux Falls’ malarkey in which he is really campaigning. I could care less if he runs for governor, that is not my issue. My issue is using tax dollars to pay for his traveling expenses in the guise it is ‘city business’.

hildebrand_steve

Steve Hildebrand was the guest on SuFuStu’s show today. He was talking about the evil fake homeless people and payday lenders. When Steve was asked to do word play, Stu asked him to reply to ‘Mayor Huether’, his response?

‘Self Obsessed’

LMFAO! Steve, better be careful talking about the mayor that way in the media, he may just send you a couple of cussy word text messages, but he would never do anything like that, would he?

My cameraman asked Steve if we could come this morning and film and interview some of the people harassing him, and he didn’t want us to, then he calls a press conference and invites the ‘real’ media;

Hildebrand says for the last two weeks, his business has been visited by large groups of people who’ve disrupted staff and other customers.  Hildebrand believes the missionaries behind movement are connected to the payday loan industry.

Floyd Pickett is the organizer and says he’s here to do homeless outreach.  He says the people he’s bringing in are paying customers who aren’t doing anything wrong.  He has plans to bring in even more people.  On Wednesday, he says he’ll bring in a bus of 150 people.

Hildebrand says he believes Pickett works for the man who owns North American Title Company.

Of course there is ‘obvious’ reasons why this is going on, Pitty Patt Powwers couldn’t resist to spin this being about helping the homeless and elitism;

It seems more than a bit elitist and snobbish to complain that these paying customers are being hauled in by his political opponents who are buying them food there.

So Patt, how many bumper stickers your campaign store business sold to Planned Parenthood and The Freethinkers? You know the business you were ‘unethically’ running while working for the SOS on the taxpayer’s dime. That’s right, you are Republican, you’ll take money from a dead guy as long as the check clears, doesn’t matter if you earned it or not.

This is truly hardball politics that have nothing to do with helping the homeless or missionaries. There is a part of me that feels sorry for Steve, but I also believe in KARMA. Steve’s political sins of the past may finally be catching up with him (you know, like getting Huether elected). BTW, why don’t you give your old meal ticket a call and see if you will help you out, or better yet your pal Barry in the White House.

I also find this ironic on another level, it doesn’t hurt to have a homeless shelter a few blocks away from his establishment for easy access to them, I have always felt that was a bad location for the shelter, and I bet Steve is thinking the same thing now.

At the end of the day, I will admit, this is fun to watch, gutter politics at it’s best.

Steve is no stranger to local politics, he helped with getting Huether elected, he was the force behind the BID group and he helped get President Obama elected as his deputy campaign manager. Steve is no fan of Huether and once said to me,

“I will do anything I can to make sure Huether is not re-elected.”

No love lost between the two I guess.

I received an email this afternoon that Steve may be considering running against the mayor in 2014 from a reliable source. I hope Steve commits, it could make for an interesting campaign season next fall.