Sioux Falls City Council Elect Janet Brekke on Chamber Advocate Podcast
l3wis 
Janet was the latest guest on the program. She talks about her future goals as a council member. LISTEN HERE.
Janet Brekke
Sioux Falls Councilor Erpenbach has ‘Freak Out’ over campaign mailer
Michelle sent this email to people on the letter, the media and some city managers. Michelle seems to think it was pointed at her, yet I find no mention of her in the letter. Guilty conscience perhaps?
There were also rumors going around that Brekke’s competitor’s supporters were planning on filing charges against Brekke for sign compliance issues, until of course we showed almost all the candidates were out of compliance.
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2018 7:09 PM
To: Pat Gustaf; Bill Peterson; Steve Kirby; Jim Wiederrich; Tom Dempster
Cc: Karen Leonard; Joe Sneve; Don Jorgensen
Subject: Campaign letter allegations
Good evening.
As I near the end of my eight years of service as the elected representative from the Central District on the Sioux Falls City Council, I’m incredibly proud of the positive changes I have been part of. I’m even proud of our new event center, which I fought hard to have built in a different location than where it is performing so successfully for our community. I think Sioux Falls is a better place now than it was eight years ago.
I’m also happy to be stepping aside to allow for new leadership to help continue the momentum of growth and prosperity in our community. But I’m terribly disappointed by the rhetoric I’m seeing in this year’s municipal campaign.
Several personal friends received the letter attached to this message. They noted it appears to have been sent by the same direct mail firm that candidate Janet Brekke has used for her other mailings, making it a mass mailing that went to a significant number of people.
As a signer of this letter and a person I hold in high esteem, I have one major question. Does this letter represent allegations you are willing to stand by and support publicly?
I’m doing this by email so that you can respond to me in writing with the reasons you have allowed your name to be associated with unfounded rumors. In particular, this letter charges city government — and by extension me — with doctoring/tampering of public documents. This letter is full of allegations, but the tampering with public documents charge should be easy to prove and is most hurtful to me as an individual whom I thought you trusted.
Please respond back to me by email with the proof you have that convinced you to drag me through the political mud at the end of eight years of public service. I am copying a couple of friends in the local media as well as the city attorney, just as a precaution. Your allegations are harsh and personally embarrassing for me.
Thank you for your time.
Michelle Erpenbach
Brekke/Paulson race wasn’t ‘CLOSE’ and wasn’t ‘BIZZARE’
Oh Pitty-Patt, besides demeaning a candidate who actually decided to run for office the first time against a popular incumbent (Weiland actually got more votes than Loetscher) he decided he would spread more of his classic bull manure;
The closest of the major races had Janet Brekke, who ran a bizarre campaign at times, defeating John Paulson, whose campaign didn’t really seem to punch through the clutter.
Beating Paulson 56-44% is hardly ‘close’. Janet ran a strong campaign showing the lack of transparency in the current administration, her attorney and strategic planning skills and her ideas on fighting crime and cleaning up our core neighborhoods. Paulson ran the EXACT campaign he ran against Stehly, an election he lost. He also had his minions out grasping at straws with threats of sign compliance (John’s signs were out of compliance also) and sending petty emails complaining about who should be supporting who.
Janet won this race because she ran a better campaign and is a better candidate. Hands Down.
Sioux Falls City Councilor Theresa Stehly endorses Janet Brekke
This is not uncommon for sitting elected officials to endorse other candidates. When Cynthia Mickelson was running for School Board, Erickson publicly endorsed her.
Either way, any elected official can endorse a candidate. It is well within their 1st Amendment rights and freedom of speech.
