UPDATE is at bottom of article. Also, as many know by now Luke Lindberg is the son-in-law of John Thune, so no surprise he got the money.
I only agree with Councilor Curtis the Blurtist on occassion, and he is correct when he said at the 1st reading of the grifting agreement;
“This is not our role as a city,” he said at the council’s Jan. 14 meeting, noting that City Hall relies on organizations like Forward Sioux Falls, the Greater Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation to navigate private markets on Sioux Falls businesses’ behalf. “If they’re going to continue funding trade, that’s fine, but … it’s not our lane as the city of Sioux Falls.”
He is correct. These importers and exporters are private capitalistic business owners who generate millions in selling and buying products, they should be funding this organization. And let’s take a look at their tax filings. As you can see this is just pure grift, they didn’t need our money, they should have went to their members if they needed this money. The council’s priorities lately with handouts has been atrocious and needs to end.
UPDATE: Notice in their fiscal year of 2023 they spent very little of their budget on actually helping importers and exporters, most went to salary (LINBERG is going to work for the Trump Administration). There expenses were $407K and they only spent $42,752 on helping their members (10% of total expenses) with half going to travel expenses ($22,477). So I guess it is safe to assume the money we just handed them is going towards salaries and not actually helping trade. I wonder if the council even bothered to research their expenses before giving them their money. Don’t kid yourself.
