I guess that would be a matter of law, and which laws you decide to follow. We noticed last week that after the reports were not filed by Friday at 5 PM that on Monday that the clerk’s office was modifying (auditing) the original financial documents.

Nothing wrong with auditing and amending the original, but they should never be audited on the original document, they should be posted right after being received in original format (Wed at 5 PM), and amendments can be made and posted later.

The city clerk’s office has a different opinion on the matter.

I wasn’t going to post these emails, but since Pitty Patt Powwers decided to only show one side of the emails, I would show both.

From Bruce;

 

Tom Greco & Lorie Hogstad
Clerks of the City of Sioux Falls, SD
Inconsistencies have come to my attention as I look at the 2016 filed financial disclosure forms. Please supply me with copies of all submitted financial and organizational forms with certificate of actual date of submission and acceptance of each document for all candidates and PACs. Our understanding each of the 2016 candidates filed the required forms by the deadlines required. Based on your comments to me, there are no candidate filing issues, so this request is directed to the actions of your office.
Your verbal statements made to me during my Monday April 11, 2016 visit to your Carnegie office confirms your standing policy of intentionally mis-dating (both back dating and post dating) these forms.
These are legal documents and must never be tampered with. The documents must be treated as whole when they are submitted and have no other markings attached but for a standard date received stamp or mark.
As stated during my visit to your office, these documents are legal documents filed in trust to your office. These forms are submitted to your office similar to forms filed with the Clerks of the US Federal and State Courts in South Dakota. The originals submitted to these Clerks are never withdrawn and only amended when corrections are be submitted. This is the law.
The delay in the document posting was inexcusible but to break your oath to the people of Sioux Falls by falsifing the dates must be investigated. It raises reasonable doubt about the authenticity of all documents either received or issued by your office.
Last year the City of Sioux Falls sold property at 801 North Phillips Ave. Sale document errors were reported to the City Council and City Attorney by me, stating these documents were privately modified after City Council adoption. The final documents were modified after passage without City Council approval. The title to the real estate in question has been clouded by having document dates not matching the actual dates of the events. The Notary Public stamp was even expired when using the original document dates voted on. Clearly now it appears your office is keeping documents not reflecting events. Are these illegal documents and in reality nullify the sale?
Now we have the use of correction fluids or writing over document sections without the preservation of originals. This shows a strong disregard for your oaths to do no harm.
We will continue our efforts. You have done a diservice to the citizens of Sioux Falls and especially the great candidates who ran for office this year.
As stated in the below attached request, it appears the City Clerk office of the City of Sioux Falls may violated South Dakota law and practice.
We also require written answers to the following:
  1. Why the originally filed early or on-time documents not timely posted to the City Clerk’s website as usual?
  2. Why filing dates were not correctly presented?
  3. Why were document dates back dated or post dated?
  4. Why you allowed original documents to be altered?
  5. Why you did not follow state law concerning the proper 72 hour submission of amended data procedures?
I expect to receive these documents with your answers by return email or USPS mail.
Bruce Danielson
Citizens for Integrity
PO Box 1954
Sioux Falls, SD 57101
City Clerk Tom Greco’s 1 AM response;

Mr. Danielson,

Tending to my sick child has kept me up this late, so I’ll make my response very direct so I can get back to him.

Your claims below are baseless and deceitful. Your characterization of the conversation you, myself, Lorie, and two other employees witnessed is entirely wrong.

There was no delay in posting disclosures to the web. In fact, we have no obligation to post to the internet but do so as a convenience to citizens, which we obviously support.

No documents have been “tampered with” by this office. I am not even sure what you mean by your assertion, but the documents posted to the web and in our office are accurate.

I am not sure what xxx N Phillips Ave has to do with your request.

I don’t need a lecture from you about oaths. I’ve taken an oath to this country and its laws; I’ve upheld that oath through two war campaigns and over 20 years of service to our country.

You probably need sleep more than I do. Get it. When you wake up get your facts straight (a spell checker will also help.)

Thomas Greco
SIOUX FALLS CITY CLERK

By l3wis

13 thoughts on “Were the City Council candidates financial documents filed correctly?”
  1. WTF….So a city employee included a web blog as a recipient for an email sent to a resident. This act is highly unprofessional.

    Also lets consider city employees view of “alternative media”. Now it’s including “alternative media” in emails to people.

    Now lets consider the content of the email itself. Really unprofessional.

    No kidding, Thomas Greco should be publicly scolded for this.

  2. When there’s a time the city conforms with public notice and open meetings law, please point it out. They’ll then deserve praise for not resorting to the usual deception and legal discrepancies. Lies and tricks from the city are as assured as death and taxes.

    Hopefully, the composure of the new council will better represent people and insist on transparency. It’s been hard seeing through Huether’s Iron Curtain. He’s built a wall. Tear down this wall. Time for a full audit and state/federal corruption intervention.

  3. When you can’t respond to allegations because they are false, get angry and attack their spelling.

    Here’s some thoughts for Thomas:

    How about actually producing the original documents to show they haven’t been altered instead of the misdirection of “I was in the military, I couldn’t possibly have broken an oath”. Good one Ollie North. Or do you prefer David Petraeus?

    Instead of acting like a total a$$ hat, prove the allegations false instead of just saying “take my word for it”. You work for the citizens, we don’t work for you. It should be a simple matter to make Bruce look like a crazy conspiracy theorist and make him have to publically apologize by simply producing the requested original documents.

    You make not like his tone, you make not like the implications of his questions, but you failed to answer any of his questions and by doing so you make yourself look guilty.

    Whatever happened to the Freedom of Information Act? This City acts like they’ve never heard of it.

  4. That’s the crazy part, instead of just sending the email to Bruce privately, he CC’d every one on the list in a reply all, which includes most of the states major media and blogs.

    The other crazy part is instead of just handing over the papers which would prove they did nothing wrong, they refuse.

    Just like the EC siding consultant report. Shredded. The EC siding settlement. Sealed.

    The Tuthill shooting incident. Inactive case.

    The quit claim deed. Just ignore it.

    The failed Banks project. Still proceeding with a parking ramp.

    There is an unhealthy trend here. Be transparent and all of this ends.

  5. In any of my work i strive to never attack an individual. The efforts are to follow process and the results speak for themselves. When we find gaps, we ask why.

    Independent of this blog or any other, we have been studying the questionably legal processes used by the Sioux Falls city government. Because we have asked so many questions and exposed so many questionable processes city officials have decided to attack either put me in jail, criticize my typing, walk out of meetings or even break my teeth during a City Council meeting.

    We have heard some city government officials we ask questions of, are researching ways to stop our video recording of meetings. Already the city attorney and mayor have been finding ways to stop us from attending public meetings.

    These official meetings are not only for the specials or the good old boys club members. Everyone including Norton Acres and
    Grand Reserve residents are allowed to be in the room.

    We do not have large budgets to do our work but we are finding ways to use what we have to open the processes for citizen participation.

    I issued a second document request to the city clerks because they had ignored my first one issued on Monday, April 11, 2016. As Scott noted above, our city government has spent a tremendous amount of time hiding what should be public information causing us to ask more questions ever more publicly.

  6. There’s more honesty and ethics when you buy a used car. One city clerk handled everything before. Now there’s a staff because it takes more people to misrepresent the truth. Likewise, there was one finance director and one city attorney. That’s been replaced with 20 people to lay the blame off on.

    Telling the truth prevents the massive deceit. We cant believe anything coming from city hall.

  7. WOW… What a Gecko! “In fact, we have no obligation to post to the internet but do so as a convenience to citizens, which we obviously support.” WTF Tom Thumb! Geeze get off of your arrogant high horse. It doesn’t sound like you support it with the verbiage used. What does your apparent Military service have to do with this issue? NONE….. That is phony flag waving Yankee Doodle Dandy rhetoric. Go blow your bugle somewhere else Little Boy Blue. Your Tomfoolery by hiding behind the veil of being a Veteran is a slap in the face to those Veterans who actually give a shit about America. You expect praise? You seem like one of those “America Owes Me” types. Self serving is what it appears to be… Remember JFK’s words, “ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” Using the Military to cover up your political ass licking. Inexcusable. You obviously are not a humble man. Just sayin’

  8. I would request all information and conversation with this agency be in writing. Conversing with such individual’s verbally could prove counter-productive. Especially when their staff is reliant on their approval for employment and financial security. It is obvious this guy didn’t respond to you in an open manner. It’s not like you are Abbey Hoffman or Jerry Rubin. Not that they were bad, but just disliked by such people.

  9. Is Mr. Greco’s employment subject to a probationary period (e.g. 12 month period of probationary employment prior to final appointment) ?

    If so, shall the current City Council entertain that he is perhaps not a good fit for the position for which he was hired and that his employment be ended ? Or shall this be an initial agenda item for the newly elected council ?

    Will be interesting to watch “who” expends political capital to salvage this situation.

  10. As I was reading the email from the City Clerk, I was thinking, you can’t be serious….

    Mr. Greco is obviously NOT qualified to be Sioux Falls City Clerk given his poor judgment in responding to any citizen in this manner!

  11. I guess some of the councilors gave Tom an Atta-Boy and a couple of Hi-Fives for sending the emails. Nice to know that some on our city council thinks it is okay to break state election laws. His response would have been justified if he actually produced the documents being asked for while sending the email. Instead he basically said, “F’You Bruce, I broke state law, and what are you going to do about it?” Maybe the councilors who handed out the Hi-Fives would like to produce the documents, otherwise they don’t look like people celebrating with 5 fingers in the air, more like 5 fingers up their asses.

  12. Dear Erection Losers:

    Just because you have been put off by the events of your recent city erection, you losers have clearly missed the points made with great gusto by Mr. Guyecho, but thank your lucky stars you have me to clarify for you the basis for his basic outrages and intelligent rebuttelbuttocks…

    1) “Tending to my sick child has kept me up this late, so I’ll make my response very direct so I can get back to him.”

    1. Curses! DASTARDLY BRUCE DANGLESOME IS KEEPING MR. GUYECHO from his SICK CHILD! Egads!

    and

    2) “You probably need sleep more than I do. Get it. When you wake up get your facts straight (a spell checker will also help.)”

    2. DASTARDLY BRUCE DANGLESOME has been diagnosed by a caring and efficient Mr. Guyecho AS being tired and in need of a nappy-pooh AND spelling lessons.

    Geez Loueeeez, you poopheads, get it right! And Get it!

    Happy Earthworm day!

    Sincerely,

    EggBert, and attached anus dingleberry scraps – which were originally found in the leftovers of DASTARDLY BRUCE DANGLESOME’s heap of a crap-filled yard of leftovers that “Mayor Mikey-Likes-It’s “Project Nicey-Nice-Nice” could not salvage, and that I pleasantly self-attached earlier this morning to my anus-hole using unused city pothole/asphalt filler…

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