You hope you can ask a question of Sioux Falls city government and get a straight answer but all you found was a false hope. Just like so many citizens of Sioux Falls, City Councilor Janet Brekke had basic questions of what can I do and what can’t I do in a petition drive.
Triple Check the Charter petition drive is being fought by every resource the city of Sioux Falls has available. Government officials with no political or election experience are cooking the petition process to disenfranchise voters. These individuals with the blessing of the administration are creating new rules no one has ever heard of before to protect their power grabs.
After the confusing August 16, 2019 Board of Ethics hearing, Janet Brekke wanted more information and the members refused to clear up the any of the mess being created by it and the actions of the administration.
The Triple Check the Charter movement is a citizen led effort with a simple goal, redefining the responsibilities of the city council. The administration’s leadership team is scared they might have to be actual leaders and lead. The RS5 coalition on the Council might actually have to work together with all the members to succeed. All of the Sioux Falls city government might actually have to work for the betterment all citizens of Sioux Falls.
A scary thought right?
Like Councilor Stehly asked in August, Brekke wanted simple guidance but the September 19, 2019 meeting of the Board of Ethics once again shows, trying to do the right thing is the last thing our city government wants to see someone do. They might be caught doing something? It’s why we ask.
The South Dakota Constitution allows six months in the initiative process for circulators to collect signatures.
The Triple-Check petition drive was launched on August 5, 2019.
Six plus weeks (46 days) have passed and there has been very little information provided to the public about where they can sign this petition.
This is creating confusion. Even the chair of the SF Ethics Commission asked Councilor Brekke, “Is the petition being circulated?” Her response was, “The petition is being circulated.”
Past successful petition drives have used many volunteers in the initiative process to accomplish their goal of driving an issue to a public vote.
Supposedly, City Clerk Tom Greco informed Petition Drive Chair, Bruce Danielson, and City Councilor Brekke (who BTW was SF City Attorney for several decades) the day the petition was filed at the Clerk’s office that only the fifteen individuals sponsoring the initiative would be allowed to collect signatures.
Time to clear up the confusion about where these 15 individuals are collecting the signatures.
The Clock Is Ticking.
Hold tight, there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes right now. If you want to sign though, there are 15 committee members that are carrying the petition, get a hold of them.
l3wis,
Can you provide a list of the 15 committee members, so the public knows who to contact?
This has been listed on my blog since August 16th, Page 2.
https://www.southdacola.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-08-07-Charter-Amendment-Petition-Booklet.pdf
“Very busy”, indeed. Lame, negligent decisions from this board seriously calling into question their competence and objectivity, Neitzert disparaging Stehly & Starr on FB, Erickson proclaiming her own 1-word pietistic reaction to Stehly and/or Starr + stirring the pot by forwarding provocative blog posts & emails on FB, PTH lying about Stehly and/or Starr on the radio & as transcribed and re-published on the KELO-AM web site by Belfrage. PLENTY of official, professional and personal ethics violations to go around.