South DaCola’s ‘Ups & Downs’ of 2012

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(Found photo on FB)

Well, as I look back on the year, I suppose I could talk about all the politicians that died this past year and how great the SD GOP is and how worthless the Dems are, but I will leave that up to the other ‘bloggers’. I want to highlight some of the stuff DaCola touched on this past year (and trust me, most of it wasn’t good news)

With the help of Guest Poster we were able to uncover that the SOS’s deputy, Pat Powers, was running a campaign consulting business while working for the state. When he got caught, he decided to make a joke out of the business website, then play musical servers with the domain. Senator Adelstein asked the AG’s office to launch an investigation, and Powers and Gant were found not guilty (of something they were not doing anyway). While the investigation results were disappointing, we were able to get Powers to resign his position with the state. Unfortunately Gant remains.

In less then 10 weeks, community organizer and advocate, Theresa Stehly collected over 8,000 signatures to put snowgates on the ballot in 2013. Unfortunately, 5 city councilors decided that a Spring 2013 election wasn’t a good idea and pushed the election to 2014. As Stehly said to a local TV station, “We got Scrooged!”

The city continues to hand out TIF’s like candy, taking millions from the property tax rolls, the county and school district’s budget. Besides the Sanford Sports Complex receiving a TIF, the city gave a TIF to an apartment complex that the mayor’s wife is an investor in, Dunham’s COSTCO property (even though they already agreed to come to SF) And the multiple TIF’s Lloyd has received for luxury hotels and apartments downtown, because golly, gee, they just can’t scrape enough money together to clean up these developments themselves. Sioux Falls has become the model of corporate welfare with many of these TIF’s.

Dictator Pam Homan continues her reign of terror on the SF School District. Besides denying sub teachers a pay increase, she continues her practice of nepotism, school consolidation and hidden contracts.

The SF City council has also had a busy year. They were reprimanded for breaking open meetings laws after firing the city’s most valuable employee (which they had to replace with 3 separate employees). Council Chair MacErpenbach continues to limit free speech and advocates censoring citizens and even other councilors. Councilor Staggers tends to ignore her and mock her publicly, but I have a feeling it will take some other kind of citizen recourse to remedy her censoring ways . . . 2013 is going to be a fun one 🙂

Snowgates: Quote of the day

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From the Argus Leader;

“I’d rather do it myself,” said Destigter, who has lived in his home for 22 years. “I just don’t like the idea of one lady demanding all of this. The city should decide for themselves.”

I guess I don’t like the idea of living in a community with other residents that don’t understand how a petition drive and election works. Theresa Stehly gathered over 8,000 signatures to put snowgates on the ballot so YOU can decide with other voting constituents whether you want snowgates or not.

All of a sudden the Argue Endorser’s ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ Board is concerned about the bad decisions our elected officials are making

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I have often thought the ED board wakes up about every six months and goes . . . “Gee, uh, maybe we should write an editorial that shows the voting public that we open our 4th estate ears once in awhile.” Well, today they decided that they should say a little something about the school board not really doing anything except rubber stamping Dictator Homan’s policies;

That said, the board should enter the discussion and ask questions when administrators propose policies representing broad, substantive changes in providing educational services.

That is why it is puzzling to learn that some Sioux Falls School Board members seemed uninformed of a major change in the instruction of the district’s at-risk students who attend Joe Foss alternative school.

What information do they need? This is how it goes before every board meeting;

• They receive their $75 dollar check for showing up and keeping a seat warm (while breathing).

• Before they start voting on the agenda items, Pammy gives them all the look of death.

• They all vote yes, then go home.

Who wouldn’t want this kind of gig?

School district patrons trust their administrators to act in their best interest. But they also elect school board members to do due diligence on important decisions.

No, we don’t trust them, especially after they don’t even bother to read a contract before approving it. One of the reasons many people don’t bother to vote in a school board election is because they already know who runs the district, Homan. You could have polished turds as school board members and the results would be the same. Hail Homan!

This is why it is important that people run for school board, people who put cotton balls in their ears whenever Homan is addressing them.

This one should have received greater public scrutiny before the vote.

And where was our 4th Estate before that vote?

The House I Live in

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5W9idE5hqk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The American Civil Liberties Union and South Dakota Families First have partnered to host an exclusive film tour of the award-winning documentary ‘The House I Live In’ and panel discussion with experts about incarceration and drug laws.

Event details:

When: Friday Jan. 4th
Meet & Greet 5:30pm
Movie 6pm
Panel Discussion 7:45pm
(Featuring Judge Mark Bennett from Sioux City, IA who appears in the film)

Where:
The downtown Holiday Inn City Centre 100 W. 8th St.
Falls Event Room on the main floor

– – About the Movie – –

As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. Filmed in more than twenty states, ‘The House I Live In’ captures heart-wrenching stories from individuals at all levels of America’s War on Drugs. From the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside America’s longest war, offering a definitive portrait and revealing its profound human rights implications.

While recognizing the seriousness of drug abuse as a matter of public health, the film investigates the tragic errors and shortcomings that have meant it is more often treated as a matter for law enforcement, creating a vast machine that feeds largely on America’s poor, and especially on minority communities. Beyond simple misguided policy, ‘The House I Live In’ examines how political and economic corruption have fueled the war for forty years, despite persistent evidence of its moral, economic, and practical failures.

View the trailer and read more reviews at:
http://www.TheHouseILiveIn.org/

Learn more about the event sponsors at:
http://www.ACLUSD.org/
http://www.SDFamiliesFirst.org/