Political advice? Not even going there.

A guess this is why the business community in Sioux Falls trusts Jodi, she makes wise decisions even when it comes to her own business model;

This Labor Day signals the start of another season: election season. The campaign talk, asks and advertising in local, state and federal races will increase from here.

I’m excited to see interest from so many varied individuals in running for office. It’s going to be interesting to watch many of these races unfold.

I’ll mostly observe from the sidelines, though.

You won’t see SiouxFalls.Business carrying candidate announcements, debates or political advertising. There is a lot to be said in business for knowing who you are and what your role should be in the marketplace and then fulfilling that role the best you can.  For us, it’s covering Sioux Falls-area business. And there is plenty of that news to cover. While I don’t rule out addressing issues of relevance to business that come up in the course of a campaign, that’s about the only minimal coverage I anticipate doing.

You may say that Jodi will be missing out on a potential lucrative revenue stream, but in the business she is in, content marketing, that may be the LAST route she wants to go. I applaud Schwan staying out of politics this election season.

As I look back on all the years I have been blogging (I was actually a blog contributor going back almost 20 years) I sometimes wish I wouldn’t have picked art, editorial cartooning and politics to blog about. They are all highly controversial topics. No matter what you say, you will have people either hate half the things you write about 100% of the time or only like 50% of things you write about 100% of the time, or something like that. I get it, not everyone will agree with your point of view. When you blog about politics, it’s much easier to make enemies than allies. But hey someone has to do it, it’s just not going to be Jodi Schwan. Good for her.

I wish Jodi luck in whatever she pursues!

March 3 is my final day as editor of the Sioux Falls Business Journal, and soon after I plan to launch my own business.

I have NO idea what Jodi plans on doing (Gossip around town has her in about a dozen different business ventures) but she has the connections and the experience to tackle about anything. Should be interesting to see where she pops back out of the water.

Out with the new in with the old?

Jeff and Mutt over at the Argue Endorser’s 100 Eyes show do a segment called ‘wild speculation’ that I always enjoy. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are completely wrong. Well I have some of my own today. I had a long convo with one of my chief South DaCola foot soldiers this afternoon, and they are a long time watcher of KSFY and a fan of former anchor Katie Taube (who just recently left the station).

The speculation? Who is replacing Taube? They think it will be none other then Munson’s chief lapdog Jodi Schwan.

What do you know?

Either she isn’t very bright or she has got accustomed to the nice paycheck;

Jodi Schwan went to City Hall to solve a problem. Four years later, she thinks she solved it. Her thanks for that is the sinking feeling that after Tuesday’s election, she might be out of a job.

I guess I have never really had a personal problem with a chief of staff position and it’s pay, if that is what Schwan was hired to do. It was always Munson’s poor judgement in hiring her that bothered me. He hired her to be a puppet for him not a COS. And apparently, I am not the only one who thinks that;

But she’s never been able to get past the impression that she’s more of a high-priced press secretary than a top-tier executive. Half the candidates to succeed Munson say they will eliminate the position she holds, and some community leaders have found her role bewildering from the start.

“If you ask me what does Jodi Schwan do, I still have no idea,” said businesswoman Linda Barker, a longtime supporter of city projects.

Bob Jamison, a former city councilor, thought the term chief of staff would imply chief over the staff. He found otherwise.

“I like Jodi, but I think she has been utilized more as a public relations person,” he said. “I think it degraded the position, for lack of a better way to put it.”

Bob Good, managing partner of Management Recruiters of Sioux Falls, said it’s common for people to switch careers. Munson previously was a teacher, insurance salesman and banker. But to make such a jump in pay and responsibility as Schwan did is uncommon.

“It’s very rare somebody would hire somebody for that high level position that wouldn’t have the requisite experience,” Good said. “That almost never happens.”

She came in with no experience in government and a salary of $98,000, more than twice what she made as a news reporter for KELO-TV.

Twice? BAHAHAHAHA. If Jodi was making $49,000 a year as a beat reporter at Stormland TV News you better not let the rest of the reporters know that. Everyone knows TV journalists are some of the lowest paid reporters in Sioux Falls.

I think the city clerk nails it when it comes to what Jodi has accomplished;

“I think she’s doing exactly what the mayor wanted her to do,” said Debra Owen, the city clerk.

Maybe I am reading too much into this quote, but it kinda sounds like to me that Jodi has been an effective puppet for Munson. I still remember when South DaCola called out the city on their $30,000 calendar. It only took one day for Schwan to go crying to Stormland TV News (City Hall’s propaganda wing). Most COS wouldn’t mess around reading ‘blogs’. It was clear that Jodi was hired to be ‘damage control’ and Chief ‘Information suppressionist’ for the mayor. Not a chief of staff.

As with Munson, she will not be missed by South DaCola.

“Who needs a sandwich?”

A city hall mole told me last night that Munson fired COS, Schwan yesterday. Which seems a bit odd, since she will probably be looking for a new job coming May anyway. I asked him if they could get any details as to why it happened so suddenly. He said that Dave told him;

“I just couldn’t figure out what she did. I know it was the end of my term and all, but it just kinda frustrated me. Besides going to lunch with me once in awhile and handing out sandwiches at the Event Center task force meetings, I was really couldn’t see what her purpose was. Heck, I even caught her on FACEBOOK one day chatting about Falls Park!”

Well, I hope Jodi got her resume in order by now.