Entries Tagged 'Pat Costello' ↓

After reading this story, you almost scratch your head as what those would be;

Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced Thursday that Governor’s Office of Economic Development commissioner Pat Costello will serve his last day on June 30.

It’s not like Pat will have to sharpen up his resume, he has several successful business ventures in Sioux Falls that will keep him busy, heck he employs a person who makes croutons!

There have been rumors he wants to take a stab a mayor again in 2018. Who knows? It could be governor?

But his early departure has one wondering. You don’t leave such a high profile job to go hide.

Shut Up! And go make some croutons!

This is golden, interviewing a restaurant owner, who probably pays his servers $2.13 and hour, talking about how much money he is making in South Dakota;

Don Smith enjoys preparing Margherita Cheesecake, one of his signature desserts at Casa Del Rey. Smith opened the restaurant in Sioux Falls more than 30 years ago.

And at one time Smith had up to six restaurants in several states. But he says South Dakota has the most business-friendly environment.

“Our economy seems to be so stable here. The taxes are low. We don’t have a corporate tax like all the other states around us,” Smith said.

C’mon Don. Just say it. You only have to pay servers $2.13 an hour. Sounds like a pretty damn good business climate to me.

Oh, but it gets better, Mr. ‘Shut Up and Go Make some Croutons’ chimes in;

South Dakota’s commissioner for economic development isn’t surprised by the recent survey’s results.

“The two focuses we see are the tax environment, the labor issues and I think productivity also goes into that,” Governor’s Office of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Costello said.

Another Republican who has enjoyed the hospitality anti-worker laws in this state to line his pockets in many bar and restaurant ventures he has been involved with.

While these guys are making money on the backs of hardworking hospitality workers, I can tell you they are the only ones cashing in. Servers talk, and the big talk around town is how tip percentages have seen a steep decline over the past four years, while menu item prices have increased, as well as tip-out percentages, tips have been in the toilet. It is not uncommon to get a 5% or 10% tip these days. Take into account, as a server you have to ‘tip-out’ your co-workers which can be about 25% or your tips (depending on where you work). Basically the restaurant owners are squeezing their servers by charging more, and in return we receive less of a tip.

While restaurants around town have seen record sales and growth, servers are seeing the pinch.

“Shut up and go make some croutons!”

This announcement has me on the fence;

Here’s a surprise: Pat Costello, the former Sioux Falls City Council chairman and candidate for mayor has been appointed to Gov.-elect Dennis Daugaard’s executive committee. Costello will serve as the commissioner for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

While I liked Pat as a councilman, I felt he waffled a lot. Call it the cynic in me (or just read his mayoral race donor list) and one wonders if this appointment will only be good for Sioux Falls businessmen and not citizens city and statewide as a whole. Don’t believe me?

The governor-elect has a three-part plan to boost economic development in the state. First, he wants to continue efforts to recruit businesses from high-tax, high-regulation states to South Dakota. While other states increase taxes and regulations, Daugaard said South Dakota will continue to be business-friendly.

And Anti-worker.

From the Argus Leader and KELO-TV;

The Ground Round Restaurant was closed April 1, putting 54 employees out of work.

The restaurant at 1301 W. 41st St. was shut down at the direction of MinnWest Bank of Sioux Falls, which owns the land and building, restaurant general manager Dan Dammer said.

The business had been operated by United Enterprises GR LLC, which is co-owned by businessman Kent Vucurevich. He has been battling financial problems.

Notice that Costello lists United Enterprises GR LLC as one of his business ventures in his first financial report;

So if Kent isn’t paying the bills are his business partners? Maybe someone should ask Costello about it?

UPDATE:

A reporter sent me this info today;

Costello told me Kent asked him to help manage the restaurant in 2008. He helped out for four months, but after realizing it was a mess got out of that deal in December 2008. The only reason he put it on his financial report is because the report asked for any business ventures he had been involved in during the past year, which would have been from August 2008 to August 2009.

When combing through the court papers about the foreclosure of the restaurant Kent Vucurevich and Colin Steen were the only two mentioned in all of the filings concerning the Ground Round.

We debated long and hard yesterday about whether we should include Costello in the story or not. We ultimately decided not to include him because he was not involved in any of the legal proceedings or involved when Vucurevich and Steen started going into foreclosure.

While this is good news for Pat, it still doesn’t change the fact that Pat has done business with Kent in the past. It makes you wonder what other scrupulous characters Pat does business with?

In a bizarre twist of fate, a South DaCola foot soldier told me yesterday that Pat has pulled out of the race. He said, to my soldier;

“After a 100 days, I really didn’t know what I was going to do, besides spending my inheritance and ordering hamburger buns, what do I know about running a city?”

Some of his big wheel donors seemed a little disappointed that he wasn’t giving there money back instead of handing it out as prize money. Dana Dykhouse said,

“Now if I could be the official photographer at the contest, I might not be so upset, but I bought Pat, and he owes me more then some trailer park queen in a bikini. How about a 79% interest rate credit card?”

Huether, his closest competitor was asked what he thought about Costello pulling out;

“Hey, wow, that’s a great question. You know, Pat pulling out, hmmm, wow. I know he is a candidate, and now he isn’t. I have been talking to the people of Sioux Falls, and now is the time for change.”

I followed this LIVE. Here are my observations;

• Pat is hell bent on revisiting the sales tax next year to pay for the events center, he blames the governor for the bill not passing, quote; “The governor killed the bill.” Mind you, it never even made it out of committee, it never even got voted on or saw the governor’s desk. He still says that a BB & B tax couldn’t pay for the events center. Boloney. It could, it would just take longer.

• Pat also thinks a rec center needs to be built for indoor swimming and hockey. He does admit that the SFHA is pursuing a private facility. So, Pat, what’s the point of a rec center?

• He talks about the healthcare industry and attracting workers. What he leaves out is that people in the healthcare industry in Sioux Falls are some of the lowest paid in the nation. My neighbor got a job in Tacoma, Washington last year that pays DOUBLE of what she was making here, doing the same job as a nurse. Another friend who recently moved out of state to be a nurse used to work for a private surgeon and also left for money reasons. How do we attract people to Sioux Falls? Pay better wages, even to those who make croutons.

• Pat talks about the city budget. He admits he knew about the recession in late 2008, yet ironically voted for bonds for things we did not need, like monkey crappers and football fields. If you ‘know’ we are in a recession, why do you continue to vote for fee increases and bonds we don’t need?

• The ED board asks how fiscally conservative Pat is, and they can’t resist to take a potshot at Kermit, one member says, “Are you like Kermit who thinks we should only spend money on streets and sidewalks.” What a crock. Kermit’s stand is not that, and the AL continues to parrot this crap. Kermit just believes in the value of tax dollars and thinks it should be spent on services to citizens like snowgates and tree trimmming and parks. I hope Kermit goes in there and hands them their ass on the topic.

• Pat blames low voter turnout for why the rec center vote failed (13%?) He also believes that the indoor pool would have passed to if the citizens were more informed. Really? The Rec center people and the indoor pool people spent quite a bit of money ‘informing the public.’ While the other side used only grassroots efforts. People knew it was a boondoggle, that is why they got voted down. Funny, he doesn’t bring up the fact that most of the council and mayor were voted into office by low voter turnout. He also fails to mention that Kermit HAD NO CHALLENGERS IN his last bid.

• He thinks neighborhood revitalization would be better if we invested in better street lighing and police presence. Try fixing the streets and sidewalks in these neighborhoods. They are in awful shape. Try deregualtion for people who are fixing up older homes. Pat admits they give TIF’s to downtown businesses but not to people who fix up these homes (which I think would be a brilliant way to spark revitalization). He of course doesn’t endorse that idea and kind of trails off talking about home loans or something.

• He admits that the city directors give less information now then they did when he took office in 2006. And says that is a bad thing. But doesn’t offer a plan to fix it. Just says they do a good job.

• Pat talks about customer service to citizens and says that there is room for improvement and says we need to inform city employees who pays their wages; citizens. I couldn’t agree more.

• They ask Pat about replacing any of the city directors. He kinda dances around the question and doesn’t say either way if there will be replacements.

• They ask Pat about campaign finances and admits he is NOT SELF FINANCING his campaign. He is asked if all of the money in his war chest is a turnoff to voters. He claims he has gotten small donations and a ‘FEW $1,000 checks’ BAHAHAHAHA. Actually in his first financial report, he received over forty $1,000 checks. Whatever Pat, you have had some the richest, most influential people and special interests donate to your campaign. You are being bought, and you know it.

• Pat thinks we need to develop more, but should have “planned orderly growth” and shouldn’t let developers build their own lift stations because the city would not be able to handle the capacity. What is wrong with allowing developers to build their own infrastructure as long as the city knows about it? Seriously? Kinda sounds like the city has had an iron fist on development in this town, and it is time to loosen that grip and push for some deregulation so that tax payers are not always footing the bill for these new developments. If developers want to pay for it – let them!

I think this photo says it all.

When you have one of the wealthiest, arrogant, big mouths in the community pulling for you, it tells you who Pat Costello would represent. NOT YOU. Don’t believe me? Just go to his donor list. Why would some of the richest movers and shakers and biggest developers in Sioux Falls be giving money to Pat? Because they like him? Because they care about us? BAHAHAHAHA! It’s called ‘Favors’. That is why there is NO universal healthcare or public option in the current ‘healthcare reform’ legislation. Big insurance and Big pharma bought off both Dems and Republicants. And that is what is going on with Pat, they are buying him. That’s what scares the shit out of me with these guys. Remember, the guy above (Dana Dykhouse, President of First Premier Bank) is the one that sent the threatening email to councilor Staggers accusing him of ‘Class Warfare’ and ‘Organizing Opponents’ when it came to the Events Center. Kermit never organized anything, Kermit is a listener not an organizer. He’s a leader not flamethrower. This is also an interesting twist. Why isn’t Dana supporting his fellow co-worker Mike Huether? And if Huether is in the run-off with Costello, what then? Or if Huether is in the run-off with Staggers, who will Dana support? Weird, Weird, Weird. As Mike said to me once (as I tried to control myself from not laughing in his face) “I won’t do the bidding of Denny Sanford.” Uh. Probably not, since he is paying Costello to do it for him. Why would he give you money? You already know he is a crook. I just wish Mike would come out and say it. Be a badass for once!

But besides Pat’s disgustingly top heavy donor list, he really doesn’t have the resume to be a mayor. He worked one year as a CPA, he invested his silver spoon money in a bar (that has some of the highest police calls in the city) and a hamburger shop and that is about all he has accomplished. It’s easy to be successful in business when you have a lot of money to begin with to invest. He also flip-flops a lot on his votes. Just watch the council meetings, no consistency, no strong stances. Nothing but a shaved face and a good smile.

So I say to Pat, “Shut up and go make some croutons!”

The Gargoyle Leader exposes Costello for how he plans to win; SPENDING LOTS OF MONEY.

Kermit’s quote is priceless;

“He really doesn’t talk about issues on his Web site,” Staggers said. “It’s a lot of fluff and no substance. People can see it for themselves. They don’t have to believe me.”

And Vernon ‘Broken Piggybank’ Brown cries “We, we, we all the way home”;

Mayoral candidate Vernon Brown calls Costello’s ads “disappointing.”

“I didn’t think that we would play at that level in Sioux Falls politics,” he said.

You would think a marketing manager would get it?

The AL references ‘DaCola’ in their story;

And if you Google ‘Pat Costello for Mayor’ I come in second place. Maybe Pat should be paying me instead of Lawrence & Schiller, NOT TO POST stuff about him. LMFAO!

You can say one thing about Costello, he is good at getting his rich friends to give him money;