South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Mayor Pants on Fire

Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether MIDCO Aquatic Center Mike Huether Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Property values affected by new Aquatic Center?

l3wis 2Comments

UPDATE: I spoke with a local realtor in SF who specializes in home sales. They told me that overall average in home values in Sioux Falls has risen 7-10% over the past year, but neighborhoods in individual homes obviously vary. I asked specifically about Spellerberg Park area, and they said that the mayor would have had to really dig into stats to back up that claim and that would have taken a realtor with that kind of expertise. In other words, once again, he was blowing smoke.

During the press conference for the 1st Anniversary of the Aquatic Center, mayor Huether claims this (FF: 2:20);

‘Property values around this aquatic center have gone up.’

He of course doesn’t reference any real estate study or statistics, he just lets the BS spew standing at the microphone. While, you could argue he is correct, because property values ACROSS the city have gone up over the past year, I find it hard to be able to measure property value increasing dramatically since the pool was built only a year ago.

Any realtors want to challenge me or the mayor on this? Can anyone show me that property values have increased MORE around Spellerberg Park than the normal rate across the city or a comparable central/proper neighborhood.

Would love to see the actual numbers since Mike couldn’t produce his sources.

Just imagine, it was only a year ago when the mayor filled the pool with his tears.

Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

The City of Sioux Falls Million Dollar Crack Legal team can’t figure out how to make a phone call

l3wis 5Comments

How much does the city spend on stupid stuff? The world may never know.

This is the kind of government waste that goes on behind the scenes of the Huether administration;

Meanwhile, offline, City Hall hired an attorney for work related to the Twitter account at a cost of $483.58 to taxpayers, according to an invoice obtained by Argus Leader Media in an open records request for attorney billings after the event center settlement.

An invoice from Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, P.C. shows the city was billed for 3.1 hours of work related to the Twitter prank at $150 an hour.

It looks like to me the only thing outside counsel did was research Westlaw and put in a phone call to Twitter. Nobody on the city’s legal team could figure this out? It reminds me of when the mayor gifted the council each a copy of his favorite book then billed the city for it. The mayor cries about prudence when it comes to homeless shelters, prisoner rehab centers, and free bus rides for youth than blows money on something his internal team could have handled.

I wonder how much money the city has spent on researching DaCola?

BTW, I have never figured out who the fake mayor was, but he/she certainly didn’t harm the mayor’s reputation. Mike takes care of that all on his own.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

Ask the Mayor . . . What is wrong with the Siding

l3wis 1Comments

During the latest episode of ‘Watch the Mayor Lie’ (notice all the flies around him. What are flies attracted to?) he gave his newest version of the siding settlement. While discussing the issue the video flips to shots of the events center siding (I assumed shot by citylink) (see below).

Notice the water stains already starting to accumulate under the siding. Not sure if this is from water flowing over the top of it, or seeping out of the bottom. I just found it interesting that these are the (unflattering) shots they decided to show of the siding.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Greg Belfrage Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Media Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Greg Belfrage Nails it!

l3wis 11Comments

The Great Oz of Sioux Falls?

While Greg and I don’t see eye to eye on a myriad of topics, I feel sometimes Greg and I share a common belief; if you lie to me, and I catch you, there will be Hell to pay.

Greg discovered something (finally) that I have known about the mayor before he was even elected; he’s a carnival barker snakeoil salesman. He proved this with his time as VP of Marketing for one of the most infamous subprime credit cards in the world. So horrible was their marketing scams the FEDS changed credit card laws to reign them in. THE FEDS! I mean wow! When DC thinks you are corrupt, that is a whole new level. And make no mistake, while Mike likes to call himself a ‘banker’ he was really just the chief huckster. He took his experience (business acumen) straight with him to city hall.

I’m glad Greg has finally seen the light;

The big lie was actually a lie of omission. Not once did the mayor make it clear that the one million dollars was in VALUE. He never even hinted at it.

And that’s the game he has always played. You wait, on Tuesday, you will probably see him in the wings at Carnegie (if he even has the balls to show up) watching his pitiful administration team fall on the sword for this guy. I just hope at least one of them has the integrity to point the finger at the man behind the curtain.

The Argus Leader also weighs in on the matter;

According to the Supreme Court’s ruling, such negotiated government secrecy violates state open record laws. That’s a huge victory for the citizens of Sioux Falls, whose tax dollars underwrote the most expensive project in city history.

I know it has been easy over the past week to get in the weeds on this, especially with all the confusing numbers. But remember, most importantly this is about transparency, and can be summed up with one sentence; The mayor lied to us about the settlement amount.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

“I’m not the expert on metal siding, . . . Mayor Huether

l3wis 2Comments

Yeah, we have been gathering that over the past couple of years.

You are also not an expert on construction contract settlement negotiations, general math, and telling the truth.

Stormland TV had to track down the mayor at an elementary school, where apparently he has been hiding out for the past couple of days. When asked if a forensic engineering report existed, Mike said this;

Don:  That study by Judd Allen Group, is that complete have we seen anything on that?

Mayor:  Nice try Don, Karen Leonard would be the best one to answer that question,”

Karen Leonard is the assistant city attorney.  KELOLAND News reached out to her and  did get an email from her late Wednesday afternoon.  She says she’s going to do some checking on that forensic study and get back to me.

I will be shocked if the report still exists.

But the Mayor’s Chislic Feeding Buddy wasn’t the only one trying to keep track of Mike’s lies. I guess Greg Belfrage was playing clips of the Mayor this morning on his show talking about the ‘million dollars we have in our pocket’ shortly after the settlement was secured a year ago. We hope to have a ‘best hits’ video up soon about what the loser said.

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