South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Christine Erickson

Alex Jensen Christine Erickson Count-cilor Alex Jensen Curt Soehl David ZoKaites Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Marshall Selberg Mayor TenHaken Mike Huether Rich Merkouris

Mayoral Race shakeup?

l3wis 10Comments

Since we last discussed this here was the short list of potential or rumored candidates running for mayor;

Mike Huether

Curt Soehl

Rich Merkouris

Alex Jensen

David Z

Erica Beck

Christine Erickson

Marshall (Mr. Illegally living out of his district) Selberg

Well, the shakeup is interesting. I guess Beck has decided to NOT run which put Mastor Poops in a tizzy to find a NEW recruit, apparently he must make sure his horrible policy decisions continue in a good prosperity gospel candidate. He found someone, and they are a nobody, well in the public square sense. They are the president of a local company I have never heard of. Of course, I will not share his name yet, because we truly don’t know until they announce and I will do some digging to find out more about this white, christian, male in his late 40’s. Sound familiar? I hope in next year’s city election folks wake up and realize this current mayor sucks dog do do and anyone he would recruit or endorse will likely go down in flames. Maybe Beck realized this, or maybe she wants to keep her very lucrative job? (Her pay and benefits would be cut in HALF if she became mayor).

Christine Erickson Donita Trump Noem Kristi Noem Thune Trump

Thune as Majority Leader, Noem at DHS and Heels as Lt. Governor!? God help us.

l3wis 9Comments

Seems Pitty broke some interesting news today;

Not making any assumptions, but if I had to pick a Lt. Governor, former Legislator/former SF City Councilwoman Christine Erickson would be on my short list as a “get.”

No surprise here, I heard her LOBBYIST job isn’t going so hot, so Christine is looking for an out. Lt. Gov is a full-time position. This would set Christine up for running for mayor, and since the governorship will end in two years, it would be easy to run for mayor. I guess there is worse people . . . 🙁

I was actually happy to see Thune get majority leader, I don’t think he will put up with Trump’s crap. I think you are going to see a ton of Republican lawmakers push back on the insanity, and now they control all 4 houses of government and soon the Federal Reserve.

Alex Jensen Christine Erickson Count-cilor Alex Jensen Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut Former Mayor Coors Light & Olives Marshall Selberg Mayor Almost Done Mayor Grump Toad Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mayor TenHaken Potsdam Mayor Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Mayor Race

Who is running for Mayor of Sioux Falls?

l3wis 3Comments

The guy who runs Dakota Wuss College thinks he knows who is running for mayor. He basically lifted my predictions that I have had since this summer. You are welcome. But Pitty brings up 3 new names that made me laugh so hard I just about passed out. While we know Erickson, Beck, and Huether will probably run, Pitty says that Councilors Jensen, Merkouris and Selberg are also considering. Pitty says they will have trouble raising money, but it’s NOT money they need to worry about, it is their reputations;

• While Alex was city councilor he gutted the internal audit department to one auditor that basically sends emails to an outside firm. This all came about because he couldn’t properly discipline a city council employee for poor attendance and she ran off to the finance department escaping punishment and got a raise from the mayor to boot. If this guy can’t manage ONE employee, he certainly can’t manage a city. If he announces I will probably piss my pants laughing.

• Oh Marshall. This guy ILLEGALLY lived out of his district for a year (verified by one of his friends) and lied on campaign finance forms. He doesn’t belong in the Mayor’s office, he belongs in a jail cell.

• Rich Merkouris has a pretty clean record, but if you dig, just a little, into his past, you will see he isn’t really respected in the clergy community because of past grifting of a church. It’s a long complicated story that happened several years ago, but the wounds are still fresh, and if you ask the right people, you will get the story.

While I think none of these people are dumb enough to run for mayor, they might. And trust me, I have years and years of proof and data on ALL of the candidates and none of it is good. I think Erickson will rise to the top quickly and will be in the runoff, but who is the darkhorse? Huether may run on the great Trump comeback. Which I find funny, he got the same number of votes in 2020 and 2016.

Greg Jamison told me this summer he would likely not run, and it’s not for the reasons you may think. Greg told me he just wants to spend more time with his family and grandkids, and who can blame him?

I told someone recently that I hope a well intentioned rich person runs for mayor with a good record of community engagement and charity and they will run away with the mayorship. Populism is where it is at these days and no one is interested in electing old (corrupt) hats.

I have a feeling our next mayor will be someone no one has heard of.

Chamber of Commerce Christine Erickson Daugaard Elections Mayor TenHaken Mike Huether Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Vaney Hariri

Sioux Falls Chamber has shakeup

l3wis 14Comments

The Chamber announced they are replacing(?) Debra Owen;

The Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday that Mitch Rave has been hired as the organization’s vice president of public policy.

The son of former South Dakota House Speaker Tim Rave, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Dakota.

Debra confirmed to me she left the Sioux Falls Chamber and is happy to be moving on. Her husband David leads the State Chamber. Debra’s title was VP/Director of Public Policy, so I am assuming Tim is replacing her.

Mitch has some big shoes to fill. Besides years of government experience working for the City of Sioux Falls as clerk and a top legal advisor to Governor Daugaard. Debra also has a law degree and has extensive knowledge about city and state government.

In my dealings and conversations with Debra in the past, she was always fair and listened to your side, she didn’t always agree but was never combative and would always dig for answers, probably the reason former Mayor Mike Huether* pushed for her termination. City government has a knack at getting rid of the good ones.

Mitch’s dad, Tim Rave, is president and CEO of the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations and sits on the Board of Regents.

*SPEAKING OF MIKE, WHO IS RUNNING FOR SIOUX FALLS MAYOR?

The list is still pretty short but it seems Mike Huether and Christine Erickson may be in. They have both been reaching out for early support (Mike more then Christine) I have not heard any more rumblings about Alex Jensen. Greg Jamison will also probably be exploring a mayoral bid, and I think if Huether officially announces he will jump in.

Another name that was floated was Vaney Hariri. I guess friends and colleagues have been asking him to run. I don’t know him personally so I have no idea if he is taking the encouragement seriously but he would be a great addition to the field.

I want Christine and Mike to know I have been greasing up the way back machine, and once I get it running it will probably start smoking once it’s gets to your government careers. Erickson has a much better record, and has shown to be a good campaigner. Winning both a school start date ballot initiative and the slaughterhouse vote (even though they mothballed the place).

I think any outside candidates are going to have fun watching these two duke it out on the debate stage.

Alex Jensen Christine Erickson Count-cilor Alex Jensen Elections Greg Neitzert Mayor TenHaken Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Who is running for the next mayor of Sioux Falls?

l3wis 13Comments

I know, I know, a little early, but you would be surprised how much chatter has been going on already about the next mayoral race. The below predictions are PURE speculation based on convos I have had with city government nerds;

• Mike Huether, the former mayor has been actively reaching out to potential supporters and it is highly likely he will run.

• Greg Jamison, Greg currently serves in the SD legislature, but I have a fishy feeling he would love another round with Mr. Huether.

• Christine Erickson, she is coming off a very successful campaign against the stinky folks, and she has the ego to take a stab at this.

• Alex Jensen, not sure what to think of this, but his name has been floated out there by TenHaken worshippers.

• Greg Neizert, not sure if he is interested, but it seems like the most logical next political step.

• Theresa Stehly, I doubt she will run, but I can almost guarantee if she does run she will be in the runoff.

I’m sure there will be a couple of other Zombies (SNARK!) entering the race, but I have a feeling we will see a very crowded and diverse group.

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