May 2010

Mayor Huether; Only transparent when it is convenient?

Let’s go for a kayak ride Mike

Oh trust me, Mike isn’t the only politician guilty of this practice. Most politicians LOVE transparent government, when it benefits their agenda. Like I said a few days ago and throughout the mayoral campaign, TRANSPARENCY will be a tough concept for Mike to embrace, simply because he worked in such a secretive industry;

But it’s quite another thing to have quasi-official, unnamed transition team members whom you regularly consult to help you decide who fills those positions.

That’s exactly what it seems like Huether is doing, and it’s starting his tenure at City Hall off on the wrong foot.

Here’s where the ED Board (in all of their great knowledge) doesn’t get it. I don’t think Mike understands the entire concept of OPEN GOVERNMENT. I’m not saying he is stupid, just ignorant to what it means.

The new mayor has said he’s protecting those advisers from taking heat for their suggestions.

I can understand this concept in the corporate world, but not in the public sector. The taxpayer’s of this city are your board of directors and we have a right to know what kind of marketing schemes you are cooking up for this great city, and we have a right to the cook’s names and their recipes.

No one is helped by this lack of transparency, and Huether actually is undermining his own position by unnecessarily breeding suspicion that there’s something to hide.

This is where I disagree with the ED Board. Mike doesn’t think he is breeding suspicion, because this is how they operated in private industry, something he said he would bring to government (something I thought was a bad idea all along because private industry doesn’t have to deal with that pesky US Constitution).

Now that Huether is mayor, everything he does that affects the city ought to be as open and transparent as possible, and that includes the identities of the people on his transition team.

Making their names public would be a step in the right direction.

This was a guy who wigged out when the Gargoyle Leader published the name of his campaign consultant, do you really think he will give you the names of his transition team? Good luck with that. But you would think that at least one member would have enough integrity to reveal themselves . . .

Pothole City, USA

Of course the city denied the claims, they wouldn’t have it any other way. Don’t you know, the citizens of Sioux Falls are innocent until proven guilty;

Seven drivers asked the city of Sioux Falls to pay for vehicle repairs they said were caused by hitting potholes on city streets.

The formal claims to the city involved popped tires and damaged rims. The bill totaled $2,700 from the five drivers who listed the cost of their repairs.

The city’s risk management director, Regan Smith, said the city investigated the claims and decided it was not liable.

The city received four claims of pothole damage last year. Drivers whose claims are denied by the city can take their case to court.

Yeah, and spend $40,000 fighting the city in court for $2,700 in damages. There is only one reason these claims were denied; they would have set precedent.

South DaCola poetry & art club with Charles Luden & Mark Nielson

Art reception for Mark Nielson
Black Sheep NORTH
1309 East Benson Road
Friday May 21, 7pm to 9pm
oil paintings and oil enamel.
Nielson’s first solo show in the Midwest.
Reception will also feature
Ten-minute indie art-film “The Earl King / Faeriee Queene Project”
Special guest, Charles Luden reading selected poetry.

A Poem about the Horse Barn

Some guy got up
and read a poem
about reading poems
at the Horse Barn
when it was raining.
It was me.

Charles Luden
5-18-10
at the Horse Barn

Why the delay?

Something smells

I am still baffled why Judge Caldwell decided to delay the release of this verdict for so long?

Caldwell filed her ruling in November, but both the city and Dorothy found out about it only recently. Both parties said they asked the Minnehaha County clerk of courts office multiple times in the past six months and were told the judge had not made a decision.

“Quite honestly, that just blindsided our office. We had inquired before if there was a decision and had been told that there was not,” Tornow said.

WOW! I knew that Dan’s lawyer had asked for the ruling several times with no avail, but I was unaware that the city did the same. And while I’m no fan of Tornow, I truly believe he is telling the truth on this one, otherwise there would have been an appeal decision a long time ago.

Charles Fechner, Minnehaha clerk of courts, said normally the office doesn’t send such filings to the lawyers unless it’s requested.

“All I can say is we were never given notice to send them out. Unless we are told they want copies or to send them out, it’s not an automatic that we send copies to the attorneys,” he said.

HUH? Didn’t Tornow and Dorothy just say they asked for the rulings? While I think Luther is a decent journalist I’m curious why she didn’t pursue this a little more? I’m still clueless as to why Caldwell sat on this for so long. As I speculated before, I personally think it was an attempt to protect Munson, but who knows at this point. And was former SD Supreme court justice and city attorney ‘in the know’? Is there anyway to make a judge fess up?

This is all really fishy. You would think a decision as huge as city code violating the US Constitution that someone in the clerks office would have said something? Says a lot about our justice system, huh?

I would also like to give a piece of advice to Mayor Huether;

Mayor Mike Huether criticized the inefficiencies of code enforcement during his campaign and talked about consolidating the process, which spans multiple departments.

He asked the city attorney’s office to speak on his behalf regarding the lawsuit Wednesday, Tornow said.

While it was probably a smart move by Mike on such a delicate issue, I really encourage him to get directly involved. First off, fire everyone involved TODAY! Secondly don’t appeal the decision and thirdly change the city charter so it will allow due process, because as it sits now, you are violating the US Constitution and that isn’t very cool.

I would also like to thank Mr. Daily for his citizen advocacy on this issue and allowing South DaCola first hand access to the story. This was never about Mr. Daily, this was about you and your constitutional rights. Dan dropped $40,000 of his own money to protect your rights. At the least we owe him a ‘thank you’ at the most a contribution to his legal fund would be nice.