Is Jensen running to be our next Parade Grand Marshall?
l3wis A resident in Taupeville sent me this image today. Maybe he can get a picture on the front of Etc. Magazine also;
Alex Jensen
Should Bankers that work for the City of Sioux Falls bank be eligible to run for city council?
A friend asked their banker recently an interesting question (the bank is a national chain that has several branches in SF). They brought up Alex Jensen running for city council and being a business banker for First Premier and asked if their bank would allow this? He said, ‘Absolutely NOT’. He saw it as a major conflict of interest especially if the bank was seeking to do business with the city. Currently First Premier has an exclusive contract with the city of Sioux Falls. They used to spread the city’s accounts around to several banks in town, but the last mayor ended that.
Finance Director Pritchett has suggested though that a new RFP should be probably put out. Yah think?
Alex Jensen
Cynthia Mickelson
Elections
Greg Neitzert
Julian Beaudion
SF City Council
SF School District
Will Mickelson have a challenger for Sioux Falls School Board?
Sioux Falls School Board President Cynthia Mickelson currently does NOT have a challenger for the seat. As I have mentioned before, there is only one official race for the April 14th School Board/City Council election, the race in the Northwest District between Neitzert and Beaudion.
There are 3 other council seats up for re-election.
While I do suspect Alex Jensen will have a challenger for the At-Large position, I’m not sure the other 3 races will see any challengers.
Mickelson steamrolled her way into the seat spending an unprecedented $16K for the seat, even placing signs in the Tea School District. I find it ironic that Cynthia serves on the SFSD board while her husband is busy wreaking questionable havoc on the environment with his CAFO business, while costing taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees for pushing unconstitutional laws against petition gatherers. Of, course, many would say, that has nothing to do with Cynthia, but if you look at her donor list from when she ran the first time, I think it is very relevant.
There continues to be a Monarchy in Sioux Falls and South Dakota, and I think Cynthia’s title as Board President should be changed to Dutchess of Schools.
Alex Jensen
Cynthia Mickelson
Elections
Greg Neitzert
Julian Beaudion
SF City Council
SF School Board Member
SF School District
Sioux Falls
Will Sioux Falls City Councilor Stehly run for a 2nd term?
It’s a question I get almost daily, and I don’t know the answer to it. I did have a conversation with Theresa this morning, and she did confirm to me that she has still not decided, but told me to share this message,
“I have been praying about the decision and have been praying for our mayor.”
I hope Theresa can make a decision soon, so if she does decide to NOT run someone other candidates can get in the race. I told her personally that I would respect either decision, I know the toll the council position has taken on her, yes, some of it self-inflicted, but no one can deny that she has worked harder to inform citizens than any councilor since the home rule charter was instituted.
I also want to say that this may be a dismal election. There are 4 city council seats up for grabs and 1 school board position, so far there is only one city council race that has a challenger and that is the race for the NW district between incumbent Neitzert and Julian Beaudion. Even if Theresa decides to not run against Jensen, I think he will have at least one challenger. That being said, there may only be two races on the ballot with only one of those seats being city wide, the current seat held by Stehly. If there is only one city wide race on the ballot come April, I expect the voter turnout to be extremely low. There is still time though, and other councilors and Mickelson (school board) could get challengers. We will see.
Where’s Councilor Count Alex Jensen?
When I helped Greg Neitzert run for his first term, we were clear with him about what he needed to do to win the seat; announce before everyone else, and knock on doors like a mofo. Greg not only announced early, knocked on hundreds of doors, but also put out effective mailers. I think he also spent under $10K, and he won by quite a bit in a large pool of candidates. I will admit, there was no incumbent for the seat, but that just meant he had to work harder to get his name out there.
I had to laugh about a month ago when a frequent commenter on DWC, said that a ‘dead’ Jensen could beat Theresa Stehly. Well I would certainly agree with one part of his comment, Alex Jensen’s campaign has been one of the most well funded and lifeless campaigns I have ever seen in the history of city politics.
While he did announce early, he hasn’t really done much of anything else. In fact, a lot of people who don’t even like Theresa have said to me, ‘What does he stand for? I haven’t heard a peep from him.’ All the while his campaign manager goes around complaining about the incumbent (who hasn’t even announced yet – and may not).
I think Jensen’s campaign is wasting valuable time. I am quite certain that if Theresa decides to NOT run, there will a bevy of candidates that will run against Jensen (I know of at least two who are interested if Theresa decides to not run).
Wouldn’t you be concentrating your energy on telling people who you are instead of having your little campaign troll spend all day on FB calling Theresa a bully? Ironic, I know.
Could Alex Jensen beat Theresa Stehly in a one to one race? Sure. But not a ‘dead’ Jensen. I think it is the first time I have seen a vampire run for city council, but certainly not the first time a ‘bloodsucker’ would serve on the dais.