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Alex Jensen

Alex Jensen SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Sioux Falls City Council ‘AT-Large’ race should be at least a ‘Threesome’

l3wis 2Comments
Yeah, whether Stehly is Ramrodding or Swinging she says some interesting things

There seems to be a lot of people concerned that Theresa Stehly is running for re-election for the At-Large position with the Sioux Falls city council. Even last night at Alex Jensen’s kickoff party he brought her up without bringing her up. As I have said in the past, I’m not sure if Stehly is going to run. The last conversation we had about it she responded, “I’m not sure.” and said something about needing to clean her house.

I have been telling people it doesn’t matter if Theresa runs for re-election, we need to have a lot of people running for the seat since it is At-Large. I mean, just think about it. If Theresa doesn’t run, our only choice would be Alex who basically vowed in his speech last night to do whatever the administration wants him to do and developers and business people, which is code for ‘rubber stamper’. I would like to see 4-6 people run for the seat including Alex and Theresa. There will ultimately be a run-off anyway if there is three or more.

I would also like to see more people run against Neitzert in the NW District. He has been a total disaster, not only supporting projects and initiatives that have been detrimental to our city, but going back on his promise of good government and transparency. And his unapologetic support of the Bunker Ramp and new Internal Auditor is truly despicable.

I often tell people when municipal elections roll around to get involved, and to either run as a candidate or help a candidate. We can’t continue down this rubber stamping road.

Alex Jensen SF City Council Sioux Falls

What do you think of Politicians who say they are ‘Positive’

l3wis 3Comments

My first interpretation is usually they are trying to paint their opponent(s) as being negative. Jensen has the following ad up on the internet;

I often tell people I try to steer away from labeling individual candidates as positive or negative. There are going to be tough decisions that are made, sometimes those decisions and that process can become pretty negative, but it has to be done. I judge a politician on whether they are truthful and transparent. I believe open government and decisions made in the public are very ‘positive’ even if it doesn’t appear that way, and having closed door meetings and coming out later and saying everything his peachy keen is kind of negative because they are probably hiding something from the public.

Has councilor Stehly ruffled feathers? (who BTW hasn’t announced yet) Sure, but she was instrumental in getting the administration moving on things, even if she hasn’t passed any legislation. Sometimes that very public pressure that may look messy, can have positive results.

As for the word ‘Proven’ I think that is even more overused then ‘Positive’. Jensen’s short stint in the legislature produced few results except voting down the party line. All that proves is that he is a rubber stamper, and we don’t need any more of those on the council.

I’ll say it again, I have nothing personal against Alex, but unless he starts to come out with some policy ideas for the city, he could spend a MILLION dollars and still not beat Stehly.

Alex Jensen Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Businesses say they feel like ‘the enemy’ at Jensen fundraiser?

l3wis 7Comments

So Pitty Pat decided to chime in on Alex Jensen’s fundraiser last night. Like I have said before, I don’t really have an opinion on Alex, because he really has NO political resume. His time in the legislature was minimal and he usually voted with the GOP majority. That aside, I did enjoy a couple of tidbits from the event;

You might have even caught a glimpse of a city councilor or two.

I heard that Marshall Selberg and Greg Neitzert showed up, (correction, Erica Beck WAS NOT in attendance). This of course is 2nd hand information since I wasn’t there. But this part of Pitty’s assessment had me rolling in the aisles

You did hear business people note they were weary of being considered an enemy as opposed to a valued parter in the future of the city.

UPDATE: So it’s funny how this was being ‘spinned’. I was told by a person in attendance that the REAL frustration business owners were having is the problems in the 8th Street & Fairfax area with homeless. And apparently that frustration (I’m guessing) is the city partnering with the business owners for a solution. For the record, this really is an administration and police issue, BUT, Stehly did hold a meeting to hear their concerns. So if the business owners are frustrated, it certainly has nothing to do with the Stehly OR Jensen.

So business owners feel like the city is making them the enemy and not partnering with them? That’s hilarious. Well, the biggest partnership in the history of the city went down the tubes, the Bunker Ramp and the RR Redevelopment isn’t looking much better. Other then that the city has consistently given handouts to some of the biggest developers in this city. For almost two decades they have gotten millions in TIF’s, Tax reductions, infrastructure upgrades, worker training programs, etc. and in return citizens have gotten pallet humper jobs and low wages. We also have gotten higher property taxes to pay for these ‘partnerships’ and in return we must beg the city for a low interest loan to fix our furnaces (Community Development Loans). The working class has gotten the shaft due to these ‘Partnerships’. Any business that complains that the city is treating them like ‘the enemy’ is either blind, ignorant, naïve, stupid or just flat out lying. The greed is insurmountable.

The business community is upset because Stehly can’t be bought with a tiny $250 donation. For the first time since Kermit Staggers, the people have a voice with Stehly, she fights for them, because as taxpayers we are the REAL partners driving the economy in this town and we are tired of feeling like the ENEMY. We saw this with the Tornado cleanup last week where citizens helped each other while the city fiddle-F’ckd around with their FB messaging.

Alex Jensen SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

If I was Stehly, I wouldn’t spend one single penny

l3wis 34Comments

As I told Alex last night when I ran into him, I’m not sure if Theresa is running for a second term. But I what I did not tell him is, she is unbeatable, no matter how much money you spend. The only thing that could make Stehly vulnerable is if several people jump into that race (I do think there will be others). But in a head to head challenge between Alex, or anybody else, she can’t be beat. I am so confident of that, I would advice Stehly to raise NO money and spend NO money if she decided to run for re-election. It would be an amazing sticking point to prove money in local politics corrupts the system.

While I don’t agree with Theresa on many things (trust me, we have a lot of disagreements, and I also argue with her about her ‘style’ and ‘form’ sometimes) but the one thing that makes her extremely re-electable is that she listens to the people, and is their voice when NO one else on the council will speak for them, and for this, she will be impossible to beat if she runs.

Alex Jensen SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Alex Jensen to run for At-Large seat currently held by Stehly

l3wis 10Comments

Let’s talk about getting in the game early. I guess his treasurer, Matt Paulson wants to get a head’s up on the game. I guess it takes awhile to raise $100K.

You may remember when Alex was in the legislature, he had to move out of his district 12, but before he resigned that position he decided to take out papers to run in his new district 13, then he lost.

Is this best you could find Paulson?

DOC: JENSEN-Intent

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