South DaCola still rocking the house, and I don’t have to pay Lawrence & Schiller a damn thing

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The Gargoyle Leader exposes Costello for how he plans to win; SPENDING LOTS OF MONEY.

Kermit’s quote is priceless;

“He really doesn’t talk about issues on his Web site,” Staggers said. “It’s a lot of fluff and no substance. People can see it for themselves. They don’t have to believe me.”

And Vernon ‘Broken Piggybank’ Brown cries “We, we, we all the way home”;

Mayoral candidate Vernon Brown calls Costello’s ads “disappointing.”

“I didn’t think that we would play at that level in Sioux Falls politics,” he said.

You would think a marketing manager would get it?

The AL references ‘DaCola’ in their story;

And if you Google ‘Pat Costello for Mayor’ I come in second place. Maybe Pat should be paying me instead of Lawrence & Schiller, NOT TO POST stuff about him. LMFAO!

Posted in: Pat Costello, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Mayor Race

UPDATE: Republicans lie, cheat & steal and when caught, lie some more

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I have been following the Freedom Works campaign stories that Patrick Lalley has been digging around on, and his latest touches on an industry I have worked in for 30 years;

Lawrence & Schiller didn’t win the $5M contract for Freedom Works Here, but their idea showed up as the centerpiece of the recuitment campaign produced by the governor’s political consultant.

Let’s just say in the marketing, graphics and communications world, highway robbery is common practice. In fact, I would argue that the industry would have collapsed on itself if it wasn’t ‘borrowing’ from itself concepts and ideas.

Where it gets complicated is when that robbery is blatant, like in this case. Most agencies know that you need to ‘tweak’ a concept you ‘borrowed’ just a tinge so you don’t have finger pointers.

The problem in this case is that the winning bidder (who suddenly popped up a day before presenting their bid and has deep political ties to Noem’s alleged boy toy) never submitted a creative concept. The losing bidder did, and it looks pretty close to final concept.

This doesn’t surprise me. Pierre is full of empty suits that wouldn’t know an original idea if it hit them like a runaway manure spreader.

But the denial by Noem’s staffer says it all;

The accusation that Go West used the creative from another firm’s bid is “completely false,” said Fury in a statement to Sioux Falls Live.

“The only similarity between the campaigns was the use of Gov. Noem’s image,” Fury said. “The chosen campaign works because of its humorous approach, specific metrics, and targeting to fill our specific job openings. We encourage L&S to be transparent by releasing their own creative pitch so that South Dakotans can see the difference for themselves.”

They are NOT going to do that. This agency has deep political ties to the state and the SD GOP and it would be a grave misstep to f’ck up that relationship over a stolen concept and I wouldn’t doubt if they were brought in as a 3rd party contractor on the project (Go West hired them to do the creative).

UPDATE: I was informed by Lalley that L & S was NOT a 3rd party contributor.

But we will never know.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Is Count Jensen using one of the most expensive and overrated ad agencies in the state?

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In this screenshot of a FB video Jensen posted about the Mexican Beer Flu, absentee voting and yard signs (yup, it was all in there) I noticed a familiar logo on a conference room table, the logo of Lawrence and Schiller. If Count Counciloser is using this firm to help mold his message, no wonder he needs to raise a lot of money, they ain’t cheap, and they certainly don’t scream grassroots. The special interests just keep stacking the deck.

I will commend Alex on one thing in his disjointed message though, it is important to absentee vote.

Sioux Falls’ city election will be held on April 14th, with polls open between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM.

Check your voter registration, find your polling place and view a sample ballot here:
https://vip.sdsos.gov/viplogin.aspx

If you are concerned about COVID19, we encourage you to vote absentee in person between March 30th and April 13th. All registered Sioux Falls voters may vote absentee in-person at the Minnehaha County Auditor’s Office (415 N. Dakota Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104).

You may also vote absentee by mail. Information on voting by mail is available on the City Clerk’s website. https://www.siouxfalls.org/council/city-clerk/election-information/2020-elections/absentee-voting

Posted in: Alex Jensen, Elections, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

EB-5 isn’t Rounds’ first Scandalous Rodeo

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mikerounds

He was lying 8 years ago, and he keeps lying today.

While things in the EB-5 world are heating up for Rounds (signing off on SDRC’s contract and now the Brown County Commission asking for a banking commission investigation) the stonewalling at Dakota Wuss College continues, and of course the lying (Wadhams claiming Kathy Tyler had a secret meeting with Brendan Johnson when all she said is that she talked to him, kind of like when I waited on him a couple of months ago and I asked him what he would like to drink, does our beverage conversation count as a secret conversation? I think he said something like, “I’ll take a merlot, and did you know, Rounds is guilty as Hell.” (snarc)

The lies get more ridiculous by the day, I hope they are paying BK Jr. good to purport all those lies on his ‘blog’. Pat really should have taken some lessons from the original fake political blogger, Jon Lauck.

But enough of those yahoos.

I wanted to remind everyone of all the other scandals Rounds was involved with while serving as governor, some of you have short memories;

Using his gigantic fleet of state owned airplanes for personal use, then paying the fuel bill from the Governor’s club fund ‘after’ he was busted. It was so scandalous at the time, Professor Reynold Nesiba got it on the ballot to limit Rounds’ travels, and the good people of SD agreed.

Increased the FTE’s by over a thousand during his short tenure, giving many jobs to family members and family members of campaign contributors.

No bid contracts to campaign contributors. Just call Scott Lawrence over at Lawrence and Schiller, he will explain it all to you, or maybe his dad can, you know, Craig Lawrence, the guy running the State GOP now.

Elkpoint / Hyperion fiasco. That has so many layers, don’t even know where to begin. How is that project going by the way? And how much state tax dollars were wasted?

Millions in subsidies to TransCanada, that they didn’t need or ask for.

Taking public education funding in SD back to the stone age (remember, one of Rounds’ objectives is to get rid of the Federal Department of Education as senator).

I could go on, but you get the gist. Why on earth any South Dakotan would want to send this crook to Washington is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have 100% confidence in Weiland or even Pressler as our next Senator, but I will say this about the two gentlemen, one was honored for his integrity and the other wants to fix healthcare by offering a public Medicare option, which is what the ACA should have offered from the freaking beginning.

All we will get with Marion Mike Rounds is more scandals, afterall, this is a guy who doesn’t even use his first name. Even Alice Cooper has more integrity then that.

 

Posted in: EB-5, Rounds

He has everything else handed to him, why not the SD GOP chairmanship?

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As South DaCola has reported in the past, Lawrence and Schiller has had their fair share of handouts from SD Republicans in the form of our taxdollars;

No bid contracts for campaign buddies, including the exclusive no-bid contract for $11 million to Lawrence & Schiller; (We also learned that Daugaard’s daughter worked for L&S while the public learned of the under-the-table wheeling and dealing in the Governor’s office.)

Well, it seems the gift’s keep coming (Argusleader);

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has asked a former advertising executive in Sioux Falls to lead the state Republican Party through the 2014 election cycle.

Craig Lawrence is a co-founder of the advertising firm, Lawrence & Schiller.

I guess after years of sucking off the taxpayer’s tit in the form of no-bid contracts, it is time to reward Craig with a job where he can really go out and turn the spin up a notch. Denny Doogard is going to get the ball rolling;

“Right now, our party needs to reinforce the rightness and relevancy of its principles and the record of its performance to new generations of voters,” Daugaard said in a release.

You mean the 35 year iron grip you have had on South Dakotans due to closed government and lack of transparency you have been so good at maintaining? But it doesn’t stop Lawrence from claiming something else;

Lawrence said he hopes comunicate Republican principles of smaller government in a “compelling and alluring” way to both Republicans and independents.

 . . . trying . . . to . . . catch my breath.

Lawrence was receiving some of the largest no-bid advertising contracts in the history of our state from governor Rounds during his administration. Rounds actually expanded government and paid back the people who helped get him elected (Lawrence) with numerous lucrative no-bid contracts. I’m not sure what ‘smaller government’ Lawrence is talking about, but it certainly isn’t the one ran by our state Republicans.

Posted in: Lawrence and Schiller, Republicans, South Dakotans