South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Paul Ten Haken

Dusty Johnson Greg Neitzert Mike Huether Paul Ten Haken Rounds

Will Marion Mike Rounds run for another term? DaCola says NO.

l3wis 8Comments

There is a story in the Argus today (I can’t read it because it is for subscribers) but the headline suggests that Rounds may not run for re-election due to his wife’s illness.

I have felt for awhile that he would NOT run anyway, even before his wife was diagnosed. I have heard from several Republican insiders that he doesn’t like Washington so much, and secondly, six years is a long term.

I have been suggesting for awhile that he will choose NOT to run and Dusty Johnson will run for the seat. This is the gossip going around, and one of the reasons he is so upset with Borglum.

As for money raised, both Rounds and Johnson can easily move those funds.

So who would run for Congress on the Republican side? I think it is Paul TenHaken, who I don’t think has the appetite for another term as Mayor.

I think this will open it up for a special election (if TenHaken wins) for Sioux Falls Mayor, which we will see Huether return, but I could also see other opportunists like Greg Neitzert looking at running.

This of course is all speculation, and just some early predictions.

In the Trumpist sphere, I agree with a letter writer Cory Heidelberg scrounged up. I have been thinking for awhile that the reason Romney is supporting impeachment is so he can be the GOP’s presidential candidate in 2020. Think about it, he has ran before, he has name recognition, and he is a moderate (more like a corporatist). He will still lose, once a loser always a loser. I’m still on the fence whether or not the Senate will kick the bum out of office, but that political circus changes by the day. If the polling is 55% or higher with American support for resignation, the Senate will remove him. Guaranteed. And our Nightmare maybe finally over with . . . for awhile anyway.

Paul Ten Haken Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Has the Midco Aquatic Center caused parking issues around the VA?

l3wis 4Comments

I won’t get into the argument about whether we needed an indoor public pool or not in Sioux Falls, that ship has sailed. But I do know the neighbors of Spellerberg opposed the location, mainly due to parking issues with the VA. We all knew at the time that the VA wasn’t going anywhere and was expanding. We also know that the VA has a quit claim deed on Spellerberg, so if they want to expand either buildings or parking, they have the right to do so in Spellerberg park. SAVE Spellerberg warned of these issues before the vote. They fell on deaf ears. Now we have an expanded VA, which needed more parking, so they cancelled their lease with Lifescape and we have an indoor pool with a parking lot next to the VA that sits empty most of the time. Earlier this week, a member of SAVE Spellerberg and a Veteran and Volunteer at the VA sent an email to the City Council, here is a portion of it talking about the parking issues;

Parking is a problem with all city projects going back decades.  The city and NFPs intentionally build where there is insufficient parking expecting residential street parking to be a cost savings option.  City leaders have routinely handed over streets to business for their convenience, making homeowners/taxpayers second class to the business of city hall.

Not only do I personally think Spellerberg Park was a bad location for an indoor pool, the evidence is showing that it was a HORRIBLE location. Destroying a park for larger parking, and not having any space for expansion of the facility.

I truly believe if the pool would not have gone in there, the VA would have been able to expand parking to accommodate their future needs as well as Lifescape. I found it interesting that NO ONE brought up the reason why there is congestion, because all of the facilities next to each other. Maybe this SAVE Spellerberg person is right;

Lifescape’s poor planning the last 30 years has caused them with the help of city leaders to promote the decline of the very neighborhood that has supported them.

Maybe this is one of the reasons they put Midco at Spellerberg, so they could institutionalize the neighborhood. Seems their plan hit a snag Tuesday Night.

Paul Ten Haken Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Hey, Mayor TenHaken, there are poor kids in Sioux Falls to

l3wis 12Comments

While I commend PTH for wanting to do charity work half-way across the world, he should look in his backyard;

He may now be Mayor, but that’s not stopping TenHaken from making his annual trip to help those in need in a Haitian city called Ti Riviere.

“This is how I’m going to spend a week of vacation every year. This is not a city junket. This is not a political trip. This is me needing to go to Haiti to recharge my batteries and get some perspective each year,” TenHaken said.

Just look at our school system, half of the students are on FREE and reduced lunches. Some of the schools in the poorer neighborhoods are around 90%. Recently a study determined that a neighborhood by North Cliff is a food dessert. The Banquet is expanding to the Westside of the city. Week after week a concerned citizen shows up to the city council meeting and begs the mayor to open a temporary shelter for those who get turned away at the other ‘god-fearing’ joints. There is county a few hundred miles from here on the reservation that is considered the poorest in the nation. If PTH wants to help the poor, he just needs to look out the backdoor of city hall. With our low wage work environment, he will find plenty who need help.

UPDATE: I also find it a bit ironic that PTH mentions this was NOT a junket but he paid for it himself. Did you know Sioux Falls mayors have unlimited vacation time? And I guess PTH has been maxing that fringe benefit quite a bit. This is why he had to allow COS Beck to be part-time mayor in his absence.

But it gets even better, I guess Public Works director Cotter went along for the ride to study ‘infrastructure’. No offense, but wouldn’t you be studying the ‘LACK’ of infrastructure? Also if this was a ‘fact finding’ mission for Cotter, did the taxpayers of Sioux Falls pay for it? Did PTH pay his way? As I understand it, this is missionary work, and the fine line between government and religion could have been crossed. But I think the pressing question is, ‘Who in their right mind would take a vacation with their boss, to an undeveloped country, to read the bible to the natives?’

Cartoon Mayor TenHaken Paul Ten Haken Sioux Falls Weatherman

Sioux Falls Weather Peeps: HUGE FAIL!

l3wis 8Comments

I sometimes wonder if our grocery stores are secretly giving money under the table to our local weather peeps? I drove around tonight at 8:30 PM. Thirty-four degrees, streets completely clear and barely a half-inch of snow on my sidewalk. I saw very little traffic. If I was the hospitality industry in SF I would threaten to sue the TV stations for killing weekend business. Stop telling us that it ‘could’ be a blizzard? Your forecasting not only sucks, you are doing a disservice to the retail and hospitality industry in Sioux Falls.

Mayor TenHaken Media Paul Ten Haken Public Utilities Public Works SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

UPDATE: KSFY edits Councilor Stehly’s ‘OPINION’ after Mayor TenHaken sends out chastising email to the media and Theresa

l3wis 14Comments

UPDATE: Just when you thought this couldn’t get any better, KSFY decided to put Stehly’s comments back in the story with this disclaimer;

Mayor Paul TenHaken has called into question Stehly’s comment about sewer bills rising to $300 a month. He calls it an absurd assertion. KSFY News initially removed the comment after the story aired over concerns that it was confusing, but we have since put the comment back in. Stehly says she stands by her comment.

Prairie Values TV Journalism at it’s best. Maybe KSFY should just stick to doing stories about charity dog races, halloween decorations and food trucks and let the newspaper and blogs cover the ‘real’ news.

It is one thing to edit a story based on having a name misspelled, or numbers and places that or incorrect. That is responsible journalism. But to edit an ‘Opinion’ of an elected official after another elected official in same government entity sends out an email, well, is horrible journalism. I often chuckle at Trump when he says ‘Fake News’ but in this case, one has to wonder.

The other night on KSFY they did a story on the wastewater treatment plant, Councilor Stehly said she has a ‘concern’ that water bills could exceed $300 dollars a month. While I kind of cringed when she said that, it is what it is, an OPINION. (she really isn’t that far off the mark, while our bills will increase $2 a month, for a small business owner they could easily see bills increasing to $300. In fact, over the past decade our water/sewer bills have increased 93%).

Well this ‘Opinion’ did not sit well with Selfie Paul, he sent out this email to city staff and the media (I was conveniently NOT included);

Councilor Stehly:

Thank you for the opportunity this week to once again provide you with information on the Water Reclamation System. Upcoming investments in the collection and treatment systems is a foundational investment crucial to both current and future residents who expect a reliable wastewater collection and treatment system.

The administration has invested hundreds of hours on this project due to the importance of this infrastructure for our city as well as the large price tag attached to it. We have also spent time briefing the City Council, media and public on the importance of this project.

Unfortunately, this week you broke a sacred trust elected leaders have with their constituents. As elected officials we have an obligation to present factual information to the public. That is what I have done in my role as mayor and that is what I expect of city employees. Yesterday, on KSFY and on Tuesday at City Council Informational you stated wastewater customers will experience a $300 per month rate increase as a result of this project. Spreading such misinformation when factual projections have been presented to you is a disservice to your constituents and I’m disappointed you knowingly spread this false information.

Talk about misinformation! It was simply an opinion of ONE city councilor. In the original KSFY story (the edited version is here) Stehly’s ‘Opinion’ was in there, after this email was sent it was edited out of the video (almost) and the text.

Ironically though they didn’t edit the close captioning, it still remains there;

I’m NOT blaming the reporter for this, I’m sure the higher ups made this decision to edit the story, which makes it even more egregious. There’s a fine line between FACTS and OPINIONS, maybe someone should explain this to the producers of KSFY or more importantly the Mayor.

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