I followed this LIVE. Here are my observations;

• Pat is hell bent on revisiting the sales tax next year to pay for the events center, he blames the governor for the bill not passing, quote; “The governor killed the bill.” Mind you, it never even made it out of committee, it never even got voted on or saw the governor’s desk. He still says that a BB & B tax couldn’t pay for the events center. Boloney. It could, it would just take longer.

• Pat also thinks a rec center needs to be built for indoor swimming and hockey. He does admit that the SFHA is pursuing a private facility. So, Pat, what’s the point of a rec center?

• He talks about the healthcare industry and attracting workers. What he leaves out is that people in the healthcare industry in Sioux Falls are some of the lowest paid in the nation. My neighbor got a job in Tacoma, Washington last year that pays DOUBLE of what she was making here, doing the same job as a nurse. Another friend who recently moved out of state to be a nurse used to work for a private surgeon and also left for money reasons. How do we attract people to Sioux Falls? Pay better wages, even to those who make croutons.

• Pat talks about the city budget. He admits he knew about the recession in late 2008, yet ironically voted for bonds for things we did not need, like monkey crappers and football fields. If you ‘know’ we are in a recession, why do you continue to vote for fee increases and bonds we don’t need?

• The ED board asks how fiscally conservative Pat is, and they can’t resist to take a potshot at Kermit, one member says, “Are you like Kermit who thinks we should only spend money on streets and sidewalks.” What a crock. Kermit’s stand is not that, and the AL continues to parrot this crap. Kermit just believes in the value of tax dollars and thinks it should be spent on services to citizens like snowgates and tree trimmming and parks. I hope Kermit goes in there and hands them their ass on the topic.

• Pat blames low voter turnout for why the rec center vote failed (13%?) He also believes that the indoor pool would have passed to if the citizens were more informed. Really? The Rec center people and the indoor pool people spent quite a bit of money ‘informing the public.’ While the other side used only grassroots efforts. People knew it was a boondoggle, that is why they got voted down. Funny, he doesn’t bring up the fact that most of the council and mayor were voted into office by low voter turnout. He also fails to mention that Kermit HAD NO CHALLENGERS IN his last bid.

• He thinks neighborhood revitalization would be better if we invested in better street lighing and police presence. Try fixing the streets and sidewalks in these neighborhoods. They are in awful shape. Try deregualtion for people who are fixing up older homes. Pat admits they give TIF’s to downtown businesses but not to people who fix up these homes (which I think would be a brilliant way to spark revitalization). He of course doesn’t endorse that idea and kind of trails off talking about home loans or something.

• He admits that the city directors give less information now then they did when he took office in 2006. And says that is a bad thing. But doesn’t offer a plan to fix it. Just says they do a good job.

• Pat talks about customer service to citizens and says that there is room for improvement and says we need to inform city employees who pays their wages; citizens. I couldn’t agree more.

• They ask Pat about replacing any of the city directors. He kinda dances around the question and doesn’t say either way if there will be replacements.

• They ask Pat about campaign finances and admits he is NOT SELF FINANCING his campaign. He is asked if all of the money in his war chest is a turnoff to voters. He claims he has gotten small donations and a ‘FEW $1,000 checks’ BAHAHAHAHA. Actually in his first financial report, he received over forty $1,000 checks. Whatever Pat, you have had some the richest, most influential people and special interests donate to your campaign. You are being bought, and you know it.

• Pat thinks we need to develop more, but should have “planned orderly growth” and shouldn’t let developers build their own lift stations because the city would not be able to handle the capacity. What is wrong with allowing developers to build their own infrastructure as long as the city knows about it? Seriously? Kinda sounds like the city has had an iron fist on development in this town, and it is time to loosen that grip and push for some deregulation so that tax payers are not always footing the bill for these new developments. If developers want to pay for it – let them!

Gotta hand it to Joel Rosenthal, he really has no idea what he is talking about (or maybe he does and is trying to manipulate voters – hey Joel, everyone knows that is my job);

Kermit Staggers has been actively going door to door for approaching three years. He has had signs on his car that simply said Councilman Kermit Staggers, and appeared in several parades as a Council member. While rationalized as just talking to constituents, though outside his Central District, it is in reality veiled campaigning.

Joel, when is your hate-fest for Kermit going to end? So what if he has been campaigning for the past 3 years? Kinda sounds like a good plan to me. In fact, Kermit talks about the 19,000 doors he has knocked on as a councilor on his website. And while you call it ‘veiled campaigning’ I call it ‘doing his job’. Kermit listens to citizens, something it seems our current city government cannot comprehend. Vernon just wants you to send him a postcard (at your expense).

Finances do demonstrate the degree of support a candidate has in the community.

Yes they do, if most of that money is coming from regular ‘joe-sixpack’ constituents and small businessmen and women. But when you read the donor list of the top contenders, it reads like a who’s – who of Sioux Falls (financially). They donate money because they are attempting to BUY the candidates. I’ll give Brown and Staggers credit for taking the small donations from ‘real’ people.

Most every political activist and / or junkie believes Staggers makes the finals. I do not agree. It is a close call between Vernon Brown and Pat Costello.

LMAO! Vernon and Peterson are gonna have a death match for 4th place. The top three candidates running neck and neck are Huether, Staggers and Costello. I still believe that Staggers and Huether will be in the runoff. They both have grassroots support. And BTW, Joel, I am neither a junkie or an activist, just a loudmouth.

The two At Large Seats will be won by, (At Large A) Rex Rolfing (though never rule out a Coach or former Coach in this case Clarence Kooistra) and (At Large B) Jim Entenman. Michelle Erpenbach will win the Central District seat.

I have no well formed opinion about the Southeast District seat. The candidates are Sue Aguilar, Bob Christensen, and Ryan White. Like giving some edge to a Coach (note: Dave Munson was a coach early in his career) give a little edge to Christensen who is a Barber, another very well networked occupation.

Rex Rolfing? You are kidding? Right? Who is Michelle Erpenbach?

While I still think it is gigantic pile of dog doo-doo that we are subsidizing the Feds by paying to raise the levees, I think this letter writer is incredibly misguided;

Brown knew the costs to raise the levees would need to be paid through the selling of revenue bonds.

First off, no that is not the best way to pay for the levees. The Feds regulate the levees (FEMA) and the levees (should) be maintained by the Feds (The Corp of Engineers) they are ultimately responsible for the cost, not the taxpayers of Sioux Falls. As councilor Litz said to me in an email, the Feds kind of had them between a rock and a hard place on this one.

The only “no” vote against the bonds was cast by City Council Member Pat Costello.

And, correct me if I am wrong, but I think all eight councilors voted for the bond? They really had no choice. I know that the Gargoyle Leader’s staff probably doesn’t have the time to FACT check every letter, but this one is questionable. Of course this is the same newspaper that just lets it’s editors print whatever campaign financial numbers they want to pull out of the sky.

I have to chuckle at the mayoral candidates, they all seem to think they are more qualified fiscal conservatives then Staggers, and they sure like to talk about it. The fact is that Staggers is the only one with a voting record of trying to stop wasteful spending, in the state legislature and city council. You can’t just be a Johnny come lately when it comes to calling yourself a ‘fiscal conservative.’ We know Vernon and Pat have a record of NOT being fiscally responsible. Mike of course doesn’t have a political record, but he does have a business record in the Credit Card industry, and his former boss, T. Denny Sanford didn’t become a billionaire by giving his customers a fair shake. So keep it up guys, you are fooling no one.

This letter writer seems to get it;

Too many candidates espouse fiscal prudence only when they are running for election. Staggers’ entire record shows he can be trusted to responsibly manage and allocate our taxpayer dollars.

Heck, we even had Sweet Vernon ‘The Velvet Hammer’ Brown coming out saying he is a fiscal conservative. This letter writer is correct, just look at Kermit’s voting record, he has consistently voted against unneeded spending.

I think this photo says it all.

When you have one of the wealthiest, arrogant, big mouths in the community pulling for you, it tells you who Pat Costello would represent. NOT YOU. Don’t believe me? Just go to his donor list. Why would some of the richest movers and shakers and biggest developers in Sioux Falls be giving money to Pat? Because they like him? Because they care about us? BAHAHAHAHA! It’s called ‘Favors’. That is why there is NO universal healthcare or public option in the current ‘healthcare reform’ legislation. Big insurance and Big pharma bought off both Dems and Republicants. And that is what is going on with Pat, they are buying him. That’s what scares the shit out of me with these guys. Remember, the guy above (Dana Dykhouse, President of First Premier Bank) is the one that sent the threatening email to councilor Staggers accusing him of ‘Class Warfare’ and ‘Organizing Opponents’ when it came to the Events Center. Kermit never organized anything, Kermit is a listener not an organizer. He’s a leader not flamethrower. This is also an interesting twist. Why isn’t Dana supporting his fellow co-worker Mike Huether? And if Huether is in the run-off with Costello, what then? Or if Huether is in the run-off with Staggers, who will Dana support? Weird, Weird, Weird. As Mike said to me once (as I tried to control myself from not laughing in his face) “I won’t do the bidding of Denny Sanford.” Uh. Probably not, since he is paying Costello to do it for him. Why would he give you money? You already know he is a crook. I just wish Mike would come out and say it. Be a badass for once!

But besides Pat’s disgustingly top heavy donor list, he really doesn’t have the resume to be a mayor. He worked one year as a CPA, he invested his silver spoon money in a bar (that has some of the highest police calls in the city) and a hamburger shop and that is about all he has accomplished. It’s easy to be successful in business when you have a lot of money to begin with to invest. He also flip-flops a lot on his votes. Just watch the council meetings, no consistency, no strong stances. Nothing but a shaved face and a good smile.

So I say to Pat, “Shut up and go make some croutons!”

This was something Vernon mentioned in his Gargoyle Leader interview today, when talking about being publicly critical. I like FDR’s saying a lot better, “Walk softly and carry a big stick.”

Of course, if Vernon was talking about the below image, I’m all for him being Mayor.

I got this masterpiece in the mail today, as a person that has worked in advertising and direct mail, I don’t even know where to begin.

First off, it is obvious there wasn’t much planning done before mailing this out. Notice the smear at the top, red ink, if not dry, smears easily especially on gloss cover stock. This mailing was probably sent out right after the piece was printed. The text under his 3 p’s is way to small. He also seems to be taking credit for what ALL of the council did together. Also notice on the perforated tear off part, it is not a BRE, so you have to donate postage to Vernon’s campaign in order to send him his concerns. He should have made this postage paid and he would get a bigger response, I’ll be surprised if he gets any.

Like I said above, little planning went into this mailer, notice the barcode sprayed across it. There should have been a wider margin to accomodate for the barcode, looks very sloppy.

Here’s your chance to hammer the mayoral candidates, of course the Gargoyle Leader will probably edit your questions (like they did when I tried to question John Thune about healthcare reform) but let’s give it our best shot;

Two candidates for Sioux Falls mayor – Vernon Brown and Janoct Adja – will answer questions from readers and the Argus Leader Editorial Board in separate sessions Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

Let’s see if Janoct shows up. The other night while I was working he came into the bar at the restaurant I work at and I asked him why he wasn’t out campaigning, and the mostly whitebread bar all shut up and stared at him, and the bartender said, “Campaigning?” and I said “Yeah, Janoct is running for mayor.” You could have heard a pin drop. I love how people are sooooo shocked that we have the ‘Black Man’ living in our community. Give them Hell Janoct!