Mike Huether

Mayor’s Lack of Transparency is Astounding

As you can see, the council meeting was almost 3-1/2 hours long. You can watch the 3-Ring circus yourself,  it was a doozy.

I find it ironic the mayor likes to whine about how long the meetings are and tries to limit public input, even taunting us and making off-hand remarks after we testify. But guess who comes up with the agenda? Yup, the mayor’s office. The meeting could have been shorter.

Throughout the meeting, all the agenda items I commented on encompassed the same message, transparency, anti-corruption, working openly with the council and keeping taxes and fees low.

The mayor just doesn’t get it. I have often wondered if in his early professional career he was very truthful and open with his superior and that superior used his honesty and transparency against him. It only takes ONE good burn to have lifelong scars.

Transparency and Openness is the Hallmark of Good Government and a Healthy Democracy. Mike doesn’t get, he still thinks he works in the very dark world of schlumping subprime credit cards.

UPDATE: It’s going to get worse before it gets better

I was just thinking about this after the vote on Tuesday night;

It took Mayor Mike Huether’s tie-breaking vote this week to make it harder to win City Council elections.

The city’s top executive rarely casts votes on City Council matters, but it’s been happening at a greater clip since four new members were voted onto the 8-member legislative body last year.

And I guarantee you are going to see more of it. I suspect that since Mike, Michelle and Rex are lame ducks* they are going to be proposing ‘wish-list’ legislation all the way until the end of their terms, especially with Rex’s  success on Tuesday night, it will only embolden them. They have been salivating for awhile to get rid of public input and I also know that they are not fans of transparency. It will be interesting to watch what other crazy ordinances they propose, or what crazy ones pass. I suspect that many of them would be overturned by the next council, like the recent election threshold.

I told several councilors to prepare themselves for the onslaught.

UPDATE: It’s interesting Munson used his ties on budget or procedural issues primarily. Huether has used his in retribution, anti-citizen or plaything spending. Spreadsheet from 2006; Mayoral-tie-2006

*While Rex and Michelle have probably put death nails in their future plans for elected office, there is still a scenario for Huether. While I strongly feel that Huether really needed to announce his candidacy for governor last month, he may be looking at another approach. The primary isn’t until June. Could Huether think he really doesn’t need to officially jump into this until he absolutely has to? You never know.

Why would we want to make it harder for people to run for city council

I got an up close experience a few months ago with how big money corrupts local elections. Randy Dobberpuhl who placed 2nd in the school board election was out spent over 6-1 by Cynthia Mickelson who won the seat. The other two candidate who spent nothing or very little were creamed.

The rumored proposed amendment by Sioux Falls city councilors Rolfing and Erpenbach to garner 51% of the vote in a general election for city council or go to a runoff is a ruse to eliminate the grassroots candidates that don’t have deep pockets.

What is astonishing is that just less than two years ago, Mayor Huether, in a press conference with former city councilor Kenny Anderson Jr., he was begging for people to run for city council;

“I would like to encourage our citizens to get involved in public service. It will make a wonderful difference for our town,” says Mayor Mike Huether.

At the time it seemed MMM was concerned there would not be any candidates for council. We should be doing everything possible to make it easier for regular people to run for office instead of making it more expensive not only for the candidates but for the taxpayers. If we want to make real change, the city needs to do a better job of educating people about upcoming elections instead of playing this game with money.

I’m hoping Kenny Anderson and Randy Dobberpuhl will attend this Tuesday’s council meeting to speak out against the money grab, and all other candidates considering a run this Spring.