Entries Tagged 'SF City Council' ↓

Whether you agree or disagree with Stehly or Jensen, this recount isn’t really about them, it is about the integrity of the process. I have heard about a lot of questionable things happening during the process. The example below is a good example of some of the mistakes that may have been made. More than likely the ballots were double counted in this precinct (Item #41). It is nearly impossible to get a 89% voter turnout in a city election. There are probably a lot of examples of this, such as ballots that may not have been counted in other precincts.

I am unaware how the process is going, but from the calendar, you can see that the installation ceremony is canceled until the recount is complete. I think Stehly has 5 days after the canvas (June 9) to ask for the recount. It could be another two weeks before we know the results.

There will likely be a recount (it is within the 2% with only 110 votes separating them out of over 28,000 votes)

In hindsight, I still think Theresa could have pulled off the election if it was held in April, I think it gave the Jensen campaign time to accumulate more support by postponing it. But let’s face it, this wasn’t about Theresa vs. Alex, this was about Theresa vs. Herself. I have always felt that you either like her or you don’t. I also think her decision to make all the campaign strategy decisions herself this time around didn’t help. I offered my help early on to no avail.

Controversial candidates usually have a tough road a head of them. I am glad that she may be able to go back to normal life (and hopefully help with some city petition drives). I actually didn’t want Theresa to run for re-election, I saw the affect it was having on her mental health and like I said, I think she can do more with petition drives, which she can do at her leisure.

Let’s also face it. When you spend 5 times more than your opponent, your chances are greatly enhanced. Like I have said before, Alex is a nice kid and all, but he will beholden to the big money donors who funded his campaign. Do you really think a business banker would turn his back on these donors? Not a chance. The RS5 may just turn into the RS6. It’s going to be rough over the next two years. You are going to see a lot of steamrolling, higher taxes and fees and a total loss of citizens rights. And transparency? That was bad already, it will go into complete darkness, because the RS5 and Mayor HATE, HATE, HATE transparent government. It is the darkness in their souls.

Hopefully Stehly requests a recount and is successful. With all the crap I heard going on over the last couple of days with this election (indies told they couldn’t have a ballot – primary or city), I think it is high probability she could turn this around. Let’s pray justice will prevail.

Have you noticed the blue dotted line between the Operations Committee and the Internal Auditor?

Why is there a dotted line?

Is the Mayor assigning supervisory roles on the City Council?

If Greg is reelected on Tuesday, is he planning to “supervise” the Internal Audit office?

Hmmmmmm.

In this endorsement of Stehly I could certainly go on and on about her citizen activism and record of getting things done on the council (even if her initiatives don’t garner a single vote) But I won’t, because many know her record. In a recent online poll done by the Argus Leader 40% of the respondents recognized her by seeing an image of her. I’m not sure if I have ever known a city councilor to have that much recognition in Sioux Falls.

Today I want to tell you another side of Stehly that most people never hear much about; She will do ANYTHING for a friend. I could go on and on about her kindness and generosity. She has literally spent thousands of dollars of her own money (not campaign donations) putting out mailers and updates to citizens, because she felt it was the right thing to do. She has tended to the sick and dying spending numerous hours each week visiting people in the hospital and hospice. She probably spends another 20 hours a week responding to citizens questions and needs and is constantly trying to get transparent answers from public officials.

Theresa and I don’t always agree, in fact we have been in a disagreement about how she has been running her campaign, but that is what makes her a good friend. When most people disagree and they blow it off, it means they really don’t care about your point of view OR you personally. When I argue with Theresa (and many of her close friends do) I know it is because she cares about your point of view, which means she cares about you.

She often tells me and the media when she does things for the community, it is because she wants to give them a ‘big hug’.

Theresa may be a bit controversial and outspoken but she certainly isn’t deceptive in her ways, she does those things to bring issues to the forefront.

I bet if I took the time I could find a financial benefit every single councilor has received that has served on the council since the Home Rule Charter started except for Stehly (Brekke, Staggers & Starr). Theresa has never financially benefitted from being a citizen activist or councilor, like I said above, it has actually cost her money.

Theresa does all these things because she loves people and wants to help. That’s it! NO hidden agenda, no backdoor schemes, no financial benefits simply because of her belief in others and having good government.

There is a lot you can say about how Theresa approaches things and it may not be as polished as we would like, but I know as her friend, she does it because she loves us and that love is something that lacks these days in city government, we need 4 more years of her love and support.

Re-Elect my friend Theresa Stehly, there really isn’t another choice.

City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM • June 3

Presentations on Siouxland Library Services and Programming Update, Summer Parks Programming and Youth Sports, and 2021 Legislative Priorities

Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM • June 3

Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #6, Provide Information Technology Insurance Coverage to the City’s Policy. As I understand this item, the city is seeking a policy to protect them from hackers (instead of just putting safeguards in place to protect us from hackers) $83K.

SIDENOTE: I also have heard that the SD Attorney General is giving Sioux Falls the permission to train their own officers. On one hand, this is a good thing (so we can hire more officers faster) but on the other hand, not sure how this training program will be ran. Hopefully we will hear more about this.

Item #38, The Breaks Coffee House (right next to Total Drag and Common Sense) is applying for a Beer and Wine license. This is awesome because adults will be able to have an adult beverage before attending shows at Total Drag.

Planning Commission Meeting • 6 PM • June 4

Item #5B, Children’s Inn is asking for a Rezone to build on the Campus of the School for the Death (where the current track field is)

So there is a lot of talk about transparency as a candidate for city council but little action. While the blog up North wants to rip on Stehly for a tiny donation from a well known Democrat, there has been little mention of Jensen getting endorsements and donations from two well known Democrats, Jack Billion and Scott Heidepreim. I will commend the Count for at least talking about it.

But what is startling is the lack of transparency on his financial report. You spent all this money on ‘advertising’ but didn’t break it down? How much on consulting, meals, TV ads, Social Media, radio, publications, postage, printing, etc.

So why is this? I think he hired the blogger up North to run the whole campaign. So no one knows how much money is being made and where it is being spent.

The way one runs a campaign is comparable to how they will govern. If you can’t even tell us how much you spent on stamps, how can we trust you as an elected leader? We can’t. There is a lot of people running a cottage industry from making money from suckers like Jensen, and the ring leaders are cashing in. I took very little in when running 4 successful campaigns. Why? Because I believed in them and didn’t care about the payola.

And for the record, I have received NO money from the Stehly campaign and the only consulting I had with her was contentious conversations about how she was doing it wrong. That is why I respect Big ‘T’ because I can have disagreements with her and it is water under the bridge. I don’t owe her a damn thing, and she doesn’t owe me.

Jensen is running a ‘big money’ campaign not because he wants to win but because he is lining the pockets of those who are supposed to be helping him. It is pathetic, disgusting and the reason why politics have become so gutter.

While I have my issues with Theresa sometimes, I would NEVER question her intentions, integrity or looking at the bigger picture. Theresa could give ‘two-sh*ts’ about what it takes to win a campaign, she learned from the best of them (Staggers) that it is about human contact and connecting with constituents, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s why I think she will pull this off. Trust me it will be close, but I know who her supporters are, and they vote. If she loses, oh well, it will only fortify that scheming and scamming is the only strategy that gets BAD candidates elected.

“I am impressed with Julian Beaudion’s decade of law enforcement service and his commitment to helping citizens throughout our diverse community. These priorities along with his business experience will make him a perfect addition to the Sioux Falls City Council. With your support, I look forward to serving alongside Julian and making sure every neighborhood is represented on the Council!”

City Council member Janet Brekke is a former small business owner and long-time Sioux Falls City Attorney, serving under five different mayors.

Brekke’s endorsement is significant, given her unique position as a current City Council member and her significant role in shaping Sioux Falls city government over the last few decades! Thank you Janet!

Please remember to vote on Tuesday June 2, 2020. You can vote early by visiting 220 W. 6th St to cast your vote.

Learn more about my campaign, please visit my website atJulianForSiouxFalls.com

#Endorsement #Julian2020 #ForYouForUs #Vote

Greg has stabbed a lot of people in the back over the last four years, not only myself who helped him get elected in the first place, laying out his campaign marketing strategy, but many citizens along the way. Let’s look at Greg’s supposed record of leadership.

• Voted for property tax increases all four years on the council. He claims to have been the champion of killing the cable tax hike, but I didn’t have a problem with it because cable is a luxury, affordable housing is not.

• His reversal on the administration building. This was the first time Greg started to show his true colors. The building was not needed, and originally Greg knew this, but apparently someone got him in a dark corner and gave him a titty twister. The taxpayers are also holding the bag on the HVAC replacement.

• Greg slipped out of ethics violations by getting the Ethics Board to play legal tricks with the charter. Greg also has violated ethics by continuing to attack his fellow councilors in private emails (I have seen them-they are nasty and childish) on FB and in public meetings.

• Greg didn’t do an extensive search for an internal auditor though the audit committee asked him to.

• But Greg’s biggest folly is supporting the Bunker Ramp. To this day, he has yet to apologize for the fiasco. He defended the developers, he defended the pricetag, and he defended both mayors on this disastrous project. Anybody who would continue to defend this is NOT fit to lead.

Like I have said before, I don’t know much about his opponent Julian, but I do know as a State Highway Patrolman (recruiter) Julian must always work with the highest level of transparency and integrity, because if he lacked these things, he would have been unemployed years ago. The best part about this choice, is that by NOT voting for Greg, we will actually get someone who is qualified.

As we have been hearing through sparse media reports, the project is on hold until 2021. What does this mean? Well, it means if it does rear it’s head next year, and that’s a big if, the project may change. This of course means the TIF would be null and void. I have encouraged councilors to rescind the TIF ASAP and get it off the books until we actually know what is going to happen.

A certain Republican blogger who lives 40 minutes north of us runs a campaign consulting and marketing business, the one he was running while working as Deputy SOS (which he had to ultimately quit because of the conflict). He apparently has been helping with marketing materials for Count Jensen. Yesterday around 40,000 (an estimate) Republicans in Sioux Falls got a mailer promoting Jensen and other Republican primary candidates. Many candidates who have advertised in the rag were told this was going to be a positive campaign mailer. They were misled. Some Republican candidates were also snubbed and not allowed to be in the mailer. Several of the candidates have actually reached out to Stehly apologizing and explaining to her how they were misled. While there are many positive stories in the mailer and ads there is a huge hit piece on Stehly. They even lied about her employment.

The sad part about this is that Stehly has been a life long Republican who essentially has been stabbed in the back by her party, mostly by that guy up north, sadly, in a non-partisan race.

If I were any of the candidates who paid to be in this piece of garbage mailer, I would ask for my money back.

I have never understood why the city races have become more and more partisan over the past few years – oh that’s right, because we continue to elect partisans.

If I was Stehly the first thing I would do next Wednesday morning is register Independent and tell the Republican party to go fly a kite!