Whether you agree or disagree with Stehly or Jensen, this recount isn’t really about them, it is about the integrity of the process. I have heard about a lot of questionable things happening during the process. The example below is a good example of some of the mistakes that may have been made. More than likely the ballots were double counted in this precinct (Item #41). It is nearly impossible to get a 89% voter turnout in a city election. There are probably a lot of examples of this, such as ballots that may not have been counted in other precincts.
I am unaware how the process is going, but from the calendar, you can see that the installation ceremony is canceled until the recount is complete. I think Stehly has 5 days after the canvas (June 9) to ask for the recount. It could be another two weeks before we know the results.
There will likely be a recount (it is within the 2% with only 110 votes separating them out of over 28,000 votes)
In hindsight, I still think Theresa could have pulled off the election if it was held in April, I think it gave the Jensen campaign time to accumulate more support by postponing it. But let’s face it, this wasn’t about Theresa vs. Alex, this was about Theresa vs. Herself. I have always felt that you either like her or you don’t. I also think her decision to make all the campaign strategy decisions herself this time around didn’t help. I offered my help early on to no avail.
Controversial candidates usually have a tough road a head of them. I am glad that she may be able to go back to normal life (and hopefully help with some city petition drives). I actually didn’t want Theresa to run for re-election, I saw the affect it was having on her mental health and like I said, I think she can do more with petition drives, which she can do at her leisure.
Let’s also face it. When you spend 5 times more than your opponent, your chances are greatly enhanced. Like I have said before, Alex is a nice kid and all, but he will beholden to the big money donors who funded his campaign. Do you really think a business banker would turn his back on these donors? Not a chance. The RS5 may just turn into the RS6. It’s going to be rough over the next two years. You are going to see a lot of steamrolling, higher taxes and fees and a total loss of citizens rights. And transparency? That was bad already, it will go into complete darkness, because the RS5 and Mayor HATE, HATE, HATE transparent government. It is the darkness in their souls.
Hopefully Stehly requests a recount and is successful. With all the crap I heard going on over the last couple of days with this election (indies told they couldn’t have a ballot – primary or city), I think it is high probability she could turn this around. Let’s pray justice will prevail.
So there is a lot of talk about transparency as a candidate for city council but little action. While the blog up North wants to rip on Stehly for a tiny donation from a well known Democrat, there has been little mention of Jensen getting endorsements and donations from two well known Democrats, Jack Billion and Scott Heidepreim. I will commend the Count for at least talking about it.
But what is startling is the lack of transparency on his financial report. You spent all this money on ‘advertising’ but didn’t break it down? How much on consulting, meals, TV ads, Social Media, radio, publications, postage, printing, etc.
So why is this? I think he hired the blogger up North to run the whole campaign. So no one knows how much money is being made and where it is being spent.
The way one runs a campaign is comparable to how they will govern. If you can’t even tell us how much you spent on stamps, how can we trust you as an elected leader? We can’t. There is a lot of people running a cottage industry from making money from suckers like Jensen, and the ring leaders are cashing in. I took very little in when running 4 successful campaigns. Why? Because I believed in them and didn’t care about the payola.
And for the record, I have received NO money from the Stehly campaign and the only consulting I had with her was contentious conversations about how she was doing it wrong. That is why I respect Big ‘T’ because I can have disagreements with her and it is water under the bridge. I don’t owe her a damn thing, and she doesn’t owe me.
Jensen is running a ‘big money’ campaign not because he wants to win but because he is lining the pockets of those who are supposed to be helping him. It is pathetic, disgusting and the reason why politics have become so gutter.
While I have my issues with Theresa sometimes, I would NEVER question her intentions, integrity or looking at the bigger picture. Theresa could give ‘two-sh*ts’ about what it takes to win a campaign, she learned from the best of them (Staggers) that it is about human contact and connecting with constituents, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s why I think she will pull this off. Trust me it will be close, but I know who her supporters are, and they vote. If she loses, oh well, it will only fortify that scheming and scamming is the only strategy that gets BAD candidates elected.
A certain Republican blogger who lives 40 minutes north of us runs a campaign consulting and marketing business, the one he was running while working as Deputy SOS (which he had to ultimately quit because of the conflict). He apparently has been helping with marketing materials for Count Jensen. Yesterday around 40,000 (an estimate) Republicans in Sioux Falls got a mailer promoting Jensen and other Republican primary candidates. Many candidates who have advertised in the rag were told this was going to be a positive campaign mailer. They were misled. Some Republican candidates were also snubbed and not allowed to be in the mailer. Several of the candidates have actually reached out to Stehly apologizing and explaining to her how they were misled. While there are many positive stories in the mailer and ads there is a huge hit piece on Stehly. They even lied about her employment.
The sad part about this is that Stehly has been a life long Republican who essentially has been stabbed in the back by her party, mostly by that guy up north, sadly, in a non-partisan race.
If I were any of the candidates who paid to be in this piece of garbage mailer, I would ask for my money back.
I have never understood why the city races have become more and more partisan over the past few years – oh that’s right, because we continue to elect partisans.
If I was Stehly the first thing I would do next Wednesday morning is register Independent and tell the Republican party to go fly a kite!
I know I have posted about this before, but Alex’s record in the legislature is NOT that stellar. He voted for the highest tax increase in the history of the state which hasn’t helped the teachers one iota and has actually made food and utility costs go up even more, he voted against gun safety laws and voted for the transgender bill. If this is his ‘supposed’ great record in the legislature, I’m not sure if I would want someone like that. I also question his experience, while his opponent has spent well over 14 years being involved with public service (ran for council 3 times, served 4 years and managed two successful petition drives) his total political experience has been 40 days in the legislature. Heck, he has spent more time running for office than actually serving in office. As I have said before, Alex is a nice guy, but he certainly isn’t qualified to serve on the City Council, and this is the main reason he was picked to be a patsy, they wanted another rubber stamper that would work very little and ask very few questions.
I also find the endorsement of the former governor interesting. First off, Denny was the biggest donor ($10K) to Alex’s $85K war chest. Secondly, Denny doesn’t even live in Sioux Falls, he lives in Garrettson. And thirdly, I’m not so sure I would want a person who was involved with two major corruption scandals (EB-5 and Gear Up) to endorse me. It’s kind of like saying, “I know I was crooked, but hey, Alex is a good guy, somebody like me should know.â€
Lastly let’s bring up the ridiculous amount of money that has been raised to get Alex elected. Raising this kind of money to run for a seat that pays $19K a year should tell you something. Alex’s support doesn’t come the average Joe, it comes from the monied elites in town. What do you think his agenda will be if elected?
I’m not even sure what Stehly has spent, I haven’t assisted her this time around, but if I had to guess it was probably about 10% of what Alex has spent.
I would have given this race easily to Stehly before Covid hit, but I’m not sure who will win at this point, it is anybody’s game. The incumbent of course usually has the edge, but with a primary involved it could be a different game. I encourage everyone to vote for Stehly. But if she loses, we know there is only one reason why . . . MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!
l3wis 
