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Mayor Subprime Mike Huether

Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether

Hey, Mayor Mike, It’s time to get over yourself

l3wis 8Comments

In a story about our mayoral election process in Sioux Falls, Huether couldn’t resist to get in one more dig about how people were mean to him in the final days of the campaign?

But Huether disagrees. The campaign dragged on long enough and probably led to voter fatigue, he says. And in the runoff, “the last two weeks weren’t fun because of some of the tactics used.”

While people have hammered me about being nicer to Mike and to get over my ‘sour grapes’ I find it astounding that a guy who won is still crying about things people said about him.

Let’s clear something up Mike. YOU WON! And you won because you hired a professional bad ass campaigner to run your campaign, and you spent a gob of money. Partisanship, gays, abortion, short bald men and big mouths like me, Tracy and Ches had nothing to do with it.

I opposed you for a number of reasons, and 90% of them were funny shit that no one cares about (like your campaign colors being totally awful.) The main reason I opposed you is simple; You became a millionaire on the backs of poor people who have no understanding of finances and credit cards, all the while telling people you came from where they came from. Trust me, if First Premier would have came knocking on your mom’s door, she would have taken it, and you know it. Maybe that was your advantage as marketing VP of FP Bankcard, you knew how to sucker your own kind.

So please, if you want to be an effective mayor, stop worrying about your image, your hair and your precious daughter, and start worrying about us, the ones who fund your four year (hopefully) adventure.

1st Amendment Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

Mayor Huether; Only transparent when it is convenient?

l3wis 18Comments

Let’s go for a kayak ride Mike

Oh trust me, Mike isn’t the only politician guilty of this practice. Most politicians LOVE transparent government, when it benefits their agenda. Like I said a few days ago and throughout the mayoral campaign, TRANSPARENCY will be a tough concept for Mike to embrace, simply because he worked in such a secretive industry;

But it’s quite another thing to have quasi-official, unnamed transition team members whom you regularly consult to help you decide who fills those positions.

That’s exactly what it seems like Huether is doing, and it’s starting his tenure at City Hall off on the wrong foot.

Here’s where the ED Board (in all of their great knowledge) doesn’t get it. I don’t think Mike understands the entire concept of OPEN GOVERNMENT. I’m not saying he is stupid, just ignorant to what it means.

The new mayor has said he’s protecting those advisers from taking heat for their suggestions.

I can understand this concept in the corporate world, but not in the public sector. The taxpayer’s of this city are your board of directors and we have a right to know what kind of marketing schemes you are cooking up for this great city, and we have a right to the cook’s names and their recipes.

No one is helped by this lack of transparency, and Huether actually is undermining his own position by unnecessarily breeding suspicion that there’s something to hide.

This is where I disagree with the ED Board. Mike doesn’t think he is breeding suspicion, because this is how they operated in private industry, something he said he would bring to government (something I thought was a bad idea all along because private industry doesn’t have to deal with that pesky US Constitution).

Now that Huether is mayor, everything he does that affects the city ought to be as open and transparent as possible, and that includes the identities of the people on his transition team.

Making their names public would be a step in the right direction.

This was a guy who wigged out when the Gargoyle Leader published the name of his campaign consultant, do you really think he will give you the names of his transition team? Good luck with that. But you would think that at least one member would have enough integrity to reveal themselves . . .

Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Sioux Falls Vernon Brown

Only two days into Mayor Subprime’s administration and barbs are already being thrown

l3wis 14Comments

The original story was about recent shakeups at City Hall, including replacing the City Attorney (Maybe Todd Epp will apply, heard he needs a job 🙂 But the story ends with a little tit-for-tat between Mike and Vernon;

Councilor Vernon Brown, who ran against Huether for mayor, said time will tell.

“It’s too soon to tell on how the communication will go,” he said.

Brown is more concerned about the secrecy of Huether’s transition team.

On Monday, Huether said he would not name the group of people who are helping him choose directors because personnel matters are a confidential process.

“I really would encourage him to let the voters know who’s advising him. I think a transition team is very important and should be open and transparent,” Brown said.

Brown said he also has heard from residents who were concerned about Huether not revealing the names.

“I don’t expect there were a lot of citizens who were concerned. I suspect the person who was concerned was Mr. Brown,” Huether said.

This pains me, but I have a feeling I will be siding with Vernon quite a bit in the coming days. Trust me Mike, many citizens and people in the media are concerned about you not being transparent about your transition team, when you are promising transparency. You can’t have it both ways. Munson understood that, and simply just withheld information from the public. Keep talking out of both sides of your mouth and find out where it gets you.

Rumor has it that former city planner, Steve Metli is one of the members of the transition team, no wonder he wants to keep it a secret. If this is true, I find it ironic that a mayor that preaches change would bring in someone from the OLD GUARD.

Mayor Subprime Mike Huether SF City Council

Tears of a Clown?

l3wis 20Comments

Here is a recap of Mike’s first day in office;

It started out with some show tunes by some school children and some tears from our new mayor. (Seriously Mike, stop crying. You spent a gob of money and won. We get it. Congrats).

He kinda shoots the whole transparent government thingy in the toilet in this interview with Megan Luther from the Gargoyle Leader. He refuses to;

• Name members of his transition team

• Name what department heads might be canned

• Jodi Schwan’s future

I guess he will only be transparent when it is convenient for Subprime Mike. This of course is no surprise to me. He worked in a very secretive industry and it will be hard for him to adjust.

In the informational meeting Mike decided to repeat his campaign speech at the beginning and did it again in the regular council meeting. I had a few disappointments during the first meeting. When the competitive bids were discussed, no councilors asked questions. In fact Mayor Subprime didn’t ask a single question during the entire meeting. This worries me a little with him having NO government experience. Of course the mantra from the department heads was they were coming inline with state law when it comes to competitive bids (which is true). But since when does the city care about state law or the US Constitution?

In other news, Greggo Jamison gets elected Council Chair and Sue Aguliar gets elected Vice-Chair. And not once did Greggo rip up fake checks or bitch about a casinos.

Lyon County Casino Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

Huether: Retail & Job opportunities; BAD. Eggs & Bacon; GOOD.

l3wis 13Comments

Mayor Subprime gets sworn in on Monday, 2 PM at Carnegie Hall, so it isn’t too early to be critical (gotta get a jump on it, yah know).

First he wants you to know ‘He is listening’

New Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether will begin hosting “Listening and Learning” sessions starting May 22 at the Whisk and Chop Cafe, 108 S. Minnesota Ave.

I think this is a fantastic idea. But I also think it will be a flop. If you are not handing out FREE pork sandwiches, donuts or coffee, good luck having anybody show up. I often encourage people, that if they have a bone to pick, go to the Monday night city council meetings and address the council while the film is rolling so it is on public record. Never discuss ANYTHING with a politician without a witness or record. I think these sessions won’t be very well attended for other reasons to. People get excited about candidates during campaigns, but once they vote, they want to move on. While a handful of people will be watching and listening, most will be fishing, spending time with families or sleeping off a hangover Saturday mornings. I wish him luck on the concept though.

It seems he is also taking the NEGATIVE road on the Lyon County Casino;

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Sioux Falls mayor-elect Mike Huether calls himself a positive guy, but he sees nothing positive about the large-scale casino that will soon be going up across the border in Iowa.

Besides the job opportunities, the retail opportunities are HUGE. I think it will actually bring more sales revenue to the state and city which will offset the VL revenue loss. It seems some city councilors get it, let’s hope;

Sioux Falls’ four newly elected city council members aren’t necessarily happy about the casino, but they’re excited about the opportunities the casino could bring to the city’s economy.   You can hear their thoughts this Sunday on Inside KELOLAND at 10:30 p.m.

And it looks like some people get it;

Supporters also think the venue will lure out-of-towners to the area, despite concerns over losing revenue.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect our economy that much, because a lot of people come to Sioux Falls for a lot of different things, and I don’t think a lot of those people are going to go gambling,” Marcia Steffen from Sioux Falls said.

Hopefully at least a handful of them at city hall will make and effort to reach out the Lyon County. Because I can guarantee if city hall doesn’t, eastside businesses will snatch up the opportunity.

It also seems councilor Greg Jamison seems to be confused about what it means to ‘Purchase’ something.

“The state of South Dakota should just write them a $60 million check each year and call it good so they don’t have to build the place,” Jamison said.

He thinks we will just be giving the casino a handout. Not true. They will have to purchase their water just like we will from Lewis & Clark. But unlike the city of Sioux Falls, they were not suckered into prepaying for something they ‘may’ have by 2012 like we were. It also surprises me that Greg is being so negative about the potential sales tax revenue that will be flowing into Sioux Falls from casino visitors. This is a guy who has called people like myself and Stehly negative and ‘hot heads’. Maybe he should take a good look in the mirror. A word of advice to Lyon County if they decide to reach out to our city government. Don’t invite Greg to the meetings.

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