Candidates have been announcing since last Fall for today’s election. The mayor, the city council and the school board should have made an effort every week since then to promote the election. They have not.

They also have said nothing about early voting.

Poops apparently wasn’t looking into the mirror when he wrote this;

Polls been open 45 mins. I was voter #4 in my precinct. Absolutely terrible. No level of government impacts your day-to-day life more than local government. City council and school board seats are on the ballot today and are incredibly important in guiding our kids and our city. Please find time to get to the polls today.

Well I would agree it is terrible, but not a surprise. One of the reasons people are NOT engaged in city government is because they know very little about it, even the candidates.

Why is that? Because we have closed government. If the city was actively providing information to the citizens, they would be involved and would vote. Today’s low voter turnout (I’m predicting 14K) has been in the making for years.

Poops and his sidekick Lime Green Lambo are probably a little bit nervous, because a low voter turnout is good for the lesser known candidates because those voters tend to be informed. Two candidates told me after corresponding with constituents in various ways they were both told (separate races) by constituents they would get their vote because no other candidates in that race have reached out.

When you don’t inform the public, they stop showing up.

Speaking of elected leaders asleep at the wheel, our media has done very little to promote this election. A Dinkus over at the daily rag waited to the day before the election to write a story about candidate’s 1st Amendment rights when it comes to protesting, and he got it wrong. I want to see my candidates protesting in the streets, that means they are activists, and we need some of those peeps on the council. There was also the perjured forms by Bobbie Tibbetts that another media organization gave her a heads up on instead of running a story about it. Unbelievable! She is NOT qualified to serve. Besides the forms being doctored she is a plaintiff in the Title 9 lawsuit against the district. She will have so many conflicts it won’t even be funny. Where was the media on this candidate? Or what about councilor Selberg who hasn’t lived in their district for around two years? He is ILLEGALLY serving on the council right now.

I will say this, the Ethics Commission is going to be VERY busy after today. More to come.

Well, because in this state our legislature thinks unions are evil, so they created a state law so you don’t have to join the union to get the benefit of wage negotiation. In other words the Union and it’s paying members are helping you get better wages and benefits and you don’t have to join in South Dakota.

Besides it being unfair to the teachers who do pay in (I heard it is around 400 teachers that belong, but I may be wrong). I think the District has around 3,000 employees.

Curious why this didn’t come out during the candidate forums. Maybe the reason teachers are getting the shaft is because they have a weak union. Unions are great. My stepbrother became a union hardscaper/bricklayer right out of High School and made so much money he started his own business. Unions only work if everyone is signed up. We are so backwards in this state it is not even funny.

You can now watch online. As I have mentioned before, after my BFF died, I was tasked with doing ticket artwork for the Pomp, which turned into my most memorable times in my life. Miss this joint every weekend.

DEFFENBAUGH is the evident choice for At-Large. I will admit, I was skeptical of his race because it seemed like he decided to do this as an afterthought, but once the train hit the tracks he really has been moving. As you may or may not know Jordan has been deeply involved in our community and is very qualified to take on this job on day one. He is also the local founder of Strongtowns after I failed to start a local chapter many moons ago. As for his opponent, Mr. Thomson, he is running a boilerplate, Republican campaign, pro-business, pro-cop, pro-flag, blah, blah, blah. We have had enough of these people on the council, developers and business does VERY WELL in our community. We need people who want to help neighborhoods, that is why Jordan is the clear choice in this. Thomason even suggested a ‘public input’ vote on a new convention center bonds. What is it? Well, we did it with the Events Center. It is a non-binding bond election because in order for it to pass as a bond election it needs 60% of the vote, so they are going to try the same crap they did with the Events Center, do a fake non-binding election and have the council make the decision. I’m sorry, but if we are having an election over $300 million+ in bonds, that needs to be a legal bond election, not some ‘suggestion’. Another reason Thomason doesn’t deserve your vote, he thinks the public isn’t smart enough to make a $300 million dollar decision (or at least 60% of them).

As for Allison Renville, she should have ran for the school board. Her ideas are much more in line with state government or school board.

I think there will be a runoff between Jordan and Richard, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jordan gets more votes than Richard in the General, then he just needs to secure Allison’s peeps and he is in like Flynn for the runoff.

As for Northeast, not sure what to think. Neil and David would need to get 50+1 to force a runoff. If that were to happen, I would think it would be David vs. Miranda. The one thing that has disappointed me about Miranda is that she seems to be campaigning from her couch, someone needs to tell her that Covid ended a few years ago. No one has seen her at a public event. I’m sure they told her to keep her head down and she will be a shoe in running against the cowboy and the hippie.

STARR is the clear choice for School Board. I only voted for one, I thought about Gail Swenson, but I struggle with her bureaucratic tone and keeping teacher salary negotiations out of public reach. Marc voted for the gymnastics funding to be cut. Tibbetts is unqualified if she wins due to being a plaintiff in the lawsuit that Marc voted for, and there is that perjury thing, twice. Wade Willett, or is it Stuart, doesn’t know his real name and hasn’t been able to find a polling place since he rolled into town, but he wants to change the public school system from within. Also, who is funding this dude?

I think there will be a recount in this election, which I am sure the county auditor will be ecstatic over.

While only two of the races are really competitive, it will still be fun to watch! Now get out and vote, you can still do it today until 5 PM at the county courthouse, 3rd floor, in the janitor’s closet. And of course at your polling place from 7-7 PM Tuesday.

We know how much they are; $70 Million.

We also know the city council knows what is in there and are not talking (they get suckered into this ‘legal negotiation’ baloney even though taking out bonds doesn’t require anyone to be sued, so how is this active litigation? It is not. A couple of lawyers and accountants sharpening their pencils doesn’t justify a closed door executive session).

We already hired bond counsel to handle the sale of the bonds.

This current council MUST vote on this by their last meeting of May 21st.

The Parks Board will likely hear the details on April 17th or after.

So what’s the hold up?

These are probably your run of the mil quality of life bonds? Right? Building some indoor stuff here and a little outdoor stuff there. So why the big secret?

There is a rumor floating around that part of the bonds will be a ‘purchase’ of an existing facility. Trust me, when I heard the details I laughed and said, ‘Get the f’ck outta here.’ There are a lot of other details that are quite ridiculous, but to be clear, it is the normal players involved feeding at the trough of the taxpayer.

I think one of the reasons these bond details are sitting in the chiller is because the city has yet to ink a deal with this mysterious party (and trust me, they will be getting a heckuva a deal).

I still don’t believe it, and will NOT be surprised if the idea has already bottomed out. Not that the idea would lack support from the community or council, because I think it will, it is just so convoluted of the way it was cooked up, I think they see another Dead Animal presser on the horizon where they will have to explain to the public how they cooked up this deal, because if it is true, which I am still shaking my head, it is a real doozy.