UPDATE: Guest Post from Theresa Stehly;

I want to thank the members of the recount board: Jon Hansen-Del Rapids, Rodney Steele-Brookings and my attorney Randy Seiler-Fort Pierre. These men crossed party lines on June 24th and worked collaboratively to examine approximately 29,000 ballots. They all made transparency and citizen accountability the top priority of the day. I feel confident that every allowable vote was counted.

I also want to thank City Council Clerk Tom Grecko , County Auditor Bob Litz , City Attorney Stacy Koistra and all election support staff for running an efficient recount day. In the end, I lost by 97 votes.

As I leave this council position, I want the citizens to know that I served them with a loving heart.  I always tried protect their best interests and  to help them whenever I could.

I wish Alex Jensen the best.  I pray that he will serve the people with the responsiveness and caring respect they deserve.

God bless you all,

Theresa Stehly

I want to applaud the review board, they did an excellent job of reviewing this fairly. I also want to give props to Auditor Litz and Clerk Greco for taking care of this professionally and in a timely manner. I’m glad to see there was no real issues.

As I have said before, I didn’t want my friend Theresa running for re-election. It was taking a toll on her that I didn’t like. It changed her in ways that were positive, but in more ways made her more bitter, angry and suspicious of government.

She worked hard. I probably spent more hours on the phone talking to her about policy then she did in meetings. It was a wrestling match that I did not enjoy, because solving those problems are hard. Very Hard!

She HATED secrecy and corruption, and it showed everytime she turned on her microphone at public meetings.

We will never see another Theresa Stehly in city government again. I don’t say this lightly. It makes me very sad and discouraged. We have allowed a bunch of toddlers take over the city, and soon we will be paying the price. You will see.

But don’t think Theresa is going to ride off in the sunset. It’s not her nature. When a door closes on her, another one opens. I think we will see that.

I want to congratulate Jensen, he won fair and square (besides the money).

Kids, it’s always about ‘The money’. If you don’t have it, you don’t win.

26 Thoughts on “UPDATE: Big ‘T’ Theresa Stehly WINS by Losing

  1. Steve on June 25, 2020 at 5:59 am said:

    This was interesting to watch. I think the Jensen camp and the multitudes that funded his campaign thought that it would be a blowout election. Way too much was spent for a final outcome of less than 100 votes. How long will their obvious gloating last? Her loss will be felt. Just watch the antics of the 6-2 Council for the next two years. A couple of items of concern that will need addressing for the next election is voter education in regards to where proper signatures are needed and having a deadline to either mail or dropoff the ballot. The other is with polling staff training. There shouldn’t have been so many issues with red stamping, unmarked ballots and just general confusion from the precinct workers. More training for the latter is obviously needed.

  2. Conservative Here on June 25, 2020 at 8:50 am said:

    Well I guess we gotta at least give Jensen a chance, thats only fair. I think I disagree that we won’t see another independent minded City Councilor. I believe the citizens are waking up more each day to many things that are occuring in our world. Now I DON’T know what that will mean for our city, state, and country. I want to be clear I am not talking about the “woke culture” junk that is occurring where virtue signally, cancel culture, and Karen’s run afoul. I am talking about your regular average Joe who gets up and goes to work each day, many who do not vote sadly. The largest voting block in the US, called the Monster Vote, are the folks who DON’T vote.

  3. The Guy From Guernsey on June 25, 2020 at 8:51 am said:

    A commercial real estate development salesman the first to a reply to the “Big congratulations to Alex Jensen” post by the Puppetmaster Ventriloquist on the “Anti-Stehly Facebook Group Page Mistitled as Sioux Falls Politics”.

    As Bill Engvall says, “Here’s your sign!”

  4. I agree with Steve and for the most part the original poster. Stehly could hold her own. She’s an intelligent woman. For her to be vocal regarding the discord with our current politics and politiatians is necessary. We need more folks like her that don’t feel the need to go with the status quo, play favoritism or feel necessary to be part of the ridiculous popularity contest. I’ve become more and more disgusted with our corrupt government both federally and locally. This country is a mess and it won’t get any better unless we have more Stehly’s doing what’s right.

  5. D@ily Spin on June 25, 2020 at 9:26 am said:

    It is what it is. I, too, am glad to see Stehly move into private life. Public service is not so hard but she was often ganged up upon by other councilors and the mayor. It’s proven big money and republican control prevail. Is it time to ‘Defund the Council’?
    I have this feeling Theresa will have more influence speaking out with news commentary and petitions. Not being on the council affords her free speech that being on the council prevented.

  6. The Guy From Guernsey on June 25, 2020 at 9:29 am said:

    I’m sorry, but you are needlessly magnanimous in offering props to Bob Litz. The recount was completed in a timely manner. That’s it!

    This recount accentuated (again) the lack of competance which Litz possesses for the job of county auditor.

    Acknowledge that humans make mistakes and that poll workers are most certainly human. Nonetheless, it is apparent that some election poll workers lacked a uniform set of guidelines in operation of this election. Failure to promptly fulfill requests for Absentee Ballots (some apparently not fulfilled at all); Incorrect ballots offered to voters at the polls; missing ballot stamps.
    “Lot’s of new workers …”, Litz whined. Hey Bob, training poll workers to a standard set of protocols and maintence of compliance to those protocols is part of the job! If that is too hard, please resign.

    [Thanks to Joe Sneve for the Twitter updates] And the recount needed to double back to recount a precinct because the results had not been included in those saved to a USB drive!?! On recount day! With lots of eyes watching! WTF!
    Delighted that someone noticed (I guess). What happens on election night when there isn’t the outside oversight which was present during the recount?
    The Minnehaha County Auditor office is a sh!t show. And the show starts at the top with Litz. Citizens and voters of Minnehaha deserve better. When will you elect better?

  7. "Very Stable Genius" on June 25, 2020 at 9:55 am said:

    So the 1600 over and under votes were seriously reviewed yesterday? And in one day?

  8. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on June 25, 2020 at 10:17 am said:

    And the worldwind headlines throughout the state read: Lamont Wins!….. Bunker Ramps In Vogue!….. Premier Councilman Wins!…. Five Has Become Six!…. The Rubberstampers Hit The Road!…. 97 Votes Cost $85,000!… T Out Developers In!

  9. Pundit on June 25, 2020 at 10:51 am said:

    Steve: Good point about poll worker training. I served as a polling place supervisor, and it’s not easy to keep a crew of primarily retired people on point. Election Day is a long, 12+ hour slog. There are lengthy stretches of slow, boring periods where few voters arrive at the polls. Attention spans wane. . . .chit-chat among poll workers ensues…spontaneous social exchanges between voters & poll workers become drawn out…and soon the focus on detail begins to slip. Voters have even called the County Auditor to complain the loud talk in the polling place was distracting. Best case scenario is to make poll workers pledge to limit non-election talk with everyone during the day. Obviously, that puts the Poll Supervisor in the role of “Poll Nazi” which is not an enviable position. Perhaps greater emphasis on professionalism, and on the pitfalls of distractions during poll worker training – re-emphasized at the start of Election Day – would serve the goal of fewer ballot errors well.

  10. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on June 25, 2020 at 11:57 am said:

    Jensen had claimed, that upon his election, the council would “immediately” improve. I am still not feeling it. In fact, I am feeling ill.

  11. "Woodstock" on June 25, 2020 at 12:02 pm said:

    “MP had claimed on FB that it would be Jensen with 55%”…. “But he must have meant 55 votes give or take a few”….

  12. anominous on June 25, 2020 at 12:06 pm said:

    Good luck to Theresa, but if the council is gonna sit around without wearing masks, it’s probably safer not to be in there right now. & Good luck rounding up all them antifas, y’all.

  13. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on June 25, 2020 at 12:06 pm said:

    ….. Hultgren Is Back!….. Taupe Cloud Over SooFoo!…..

  14. "Very Stable Genius" on June 25, 2020 at 6:24 pm said:

    Speaking of masks, two more members of the school board showed up wearing masks at tonight’s meeting. My mask, I mean my hat is off to them. 🙂

  15. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on June 25, 2020 at 6:31 pm said:

    …. White SUVs Parade Thru SF….. Legacy Boomerangs With Success… Still Waiting For ‘Immediate’ Improvement… Zombies Find More Stamped Ballots…

  16. Paul ElevenHaken on June 25, 2020 at 6:31 pm said:

    Why is it that the democrats always say and act like they won when they lost (Stacy Abrams, Hillary Clinton, Billie Sutton)?

  17. Warren Phear on June 25, 2020 at 6:45 pm said:

    Looks like the war college and SF politics blogs will now turn their powerful toolboxes on Starr and Brekke. Never mind they got their 6-2 stamp. They want it all. Or is their more? I see a bit of splintering going on in the next two years amongst the stampers. There is only one mayors seat and three who want it. Should be an intersting toolbox.

  18. "Very Stable Genius" on June 25, 2020 at 7:02 pm said:

    Paul ElevenHaken,

    We have learned it from Republicans who increasingly can only win the presidency without a majority or even a plurality of the vote.

  19. My Mistake Mike on June 25, 2020 at 7:45 pm said:

    Guy nails it:
    “The Minnehaha County Auditor office is a sh!t show. And the show starts at the top with Litz. Citizens and voters of Minnehaha deserve better. When will you elect better?”

    He fails at every election, creates new excuses for his incompetence, and always throws the elderly poll workers under the bus. They clearly have insufficient training, and Bob is always unprepared when voters actually show up to vote.

    Honestly, thank goodness he had Tom Greco and Sue Roust to hold his hand through the recount process. I hear Bob might hang it up at the end of the year. I suggest he do it now before he does any more damage in November. There are plenty of men and women holding cardboard signs by the interstate exits who are more qualified than Bob is after 9+ painful years as auditor.

  20. To Very Stable From Genius From Wikipedia on June 26, 2020 at 7:58 am said:

    You mean this beautiful list of Republicans who didn’t win the majority of the popular vote?

    James Polk, James Buchanan, Grover Cleveland, Grover Cleveland (back again), Woodrow Wilson, Woodrow Wilson (again!), Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and (wait for it) Bill Clinton!

  21. John on June 26, 2020 at 8:42 am said:

    So who should run against Paul “I want to shut everything down” Ten Haken for Mayor?

    I say the campaign starts now…Stehly for Mayor? or any other viable candidates?

  22. l3wis on June 26, 2020 at 10:03 am said:

    Don’t think Theresa is done politically. I have a feeling we will see her do some interesting things over the coming months.

  23. D@ily Spin on June 26, 2020 at 1:07 pm said:

    As an Independent a poll worker tried to stop me from voting. Didn’t work. I’ll always vote. I’ll wear my mask Bjerka because Trump refuses to. I think he noticed there’s room for him right of Lincoln on Mt. Rushmore. It’s wishful and probably why he’ll be there for fireworks. Maybe, but without the hair and exploded ego.

  24. "Very Stable Genius" on June 26, 2020 at 1:56 pm said:

    TVSFGFW,

    Didn’t I write: “Or even a plurality of the vote”? 😉

    Republicans haven’t won a majority and the EC since 1988. Democrats? Well, 2012.

  25. "Very Stable Genius" on June 26, 2020 at 1:59 pm said:

    Oh, I might point out. Technically, Bush43 did, if you believe the ’04 Ohio votes, which were counted by a private firm out of Tennessee.

  26. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on June 26, 2020 at 6:14 pm said:

    Six instead of five rubber stampers is like six instead of five Keystone Cops. Thus, the law of averages mean more follies and more political capital going forward for Stehly to exploit to her advantage.

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