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Theresa Stehly

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

The Strong Mayor form of government in Sioux Falls doesn’t mean the mayor is in charge of the city council

l3wis 2Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yaZBftMK7A

During the latest installment of “Ask Hizzoner” Mayor Mike talks about his relationship with the council (FF: 20:00). He touches on some interesting points;

• Strong Mayor form of government

• Transparency with the Council

• The role of the council and the executive branch and his position in those roles

One of the main roles as the mayor under this current charter is to be the city manager, and that is a simple task. He is in charge of the city employees (mostly the department directors). But the mayor seems to think he can be in charge of the council and their staff (bullying). He is not, though he has been very successful so far in turning the tide in his favor.

He also talks about how the city clerk and the city attorney were treated during the city administration debate by certain people who were spreading false information about what they were doing. I’m still confused by this defense. There was proof in an email from the city attorney of how they were going to try to stall the process. There is also the famous ‘stamp’ incident in which the city clerk claims he didn’t look at something he officially stamped. These are not falsehoods or lies, those are the facts. If the mayor and the citizens want to defend them and what they did in the process, I am all for that, but let’s base that defense on what was truly said and done. Otherwise it’s just another load of crap from the executive branch.

This is where the mayor goes into a rant about transparency between his office and the city council. He feels this transparency is important for the CITIZENS. Ironically he doesn’t share the same feelings about transparency when sharing details with the council or these same citizens, but he wants to require it of the council. What color is the kettle Mike?

This really ties in with the ‘threats’ of ethics violations towards councilor Stehly (or any councilor for that matter) that doesn’t fall in line with the administrations wishes. If the mayor can’t control city councilors he has his attorney threaten them with concocted ethics violations. And BTW, how are those violations coming along? Or are they only empty threats from a bully? This is why it would be important for the council to have their own attorney to advise them on ethics and other legislative matters. Sure we have a guy who uses a stamp with no recourse, a guy who makes budget number spread sheets once and awhile and another guy who is good at power point presentations but the council has no legal advisor. They had all three plus an attorney in Debra Owen, and guess what happened to her? Another victim of bullying from the executive branch.

I believe the mayor is using his city attorney to bully certain councilors into following his agenda. He believes he must control the city council by using council leadership (who don’t have a clue) and the city attorney. It has been evident who controls the city attorney when he acted as the mayor’s personal attorney during the mayor’s ethics hearing.

There is also this hypocrisy the mayor possess when it comes to being a city councilor. He claims to be a part of their group when breaking ties to get his way, but claims to not be a part of them when controversy arises over ethics. Which is it Mike? Either you are a part of the council all the way, or according to the charter simply a tie-breaker. If you were a true member of the council, you would attend all of their meetings (that’s part of that whole transparency thing you were bitching about) or not.

It’s simple, you run the operations of the city and the council is in charge of legislating it. Stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, because frankly threats of ethics violations run both ways. And if that happens, I suggest you hire your own personal attorney (like Stehly had to) to defend yourself against the accusations instead of wasting taxpayers money using your (personal) city attorney.

The city isn’t a business where you are the CEO that controls everything, it has checks and balances in place. Those balances must remain unfettered, otherwise, as Dan Daily famously said at a recent public input to the council, “You can go home now, we don’t need you anymore.”

Ethics SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

What’s up with Theresa Stehly?

l3wis 6Comments

garden-photo11

The very complicated garden of the very complicated Theresa Stehly.

For the record, I did not get approval or have told Theresa I was going to write this post about her. These are just observations I have made throughout the past week from reading FB comments, comments on news sites, letters to the editors, call in radio shows and personal conversations with private citizens and local elected officials (past and present). Hundreds of people weighing in.

Theresa is the winner in all this, as well as all the citizens that admire her as an elected official, and frankly all the citizens of this city. There is one thing I have learned over the years with my friendship with Theresa, she cares about people, and sometimes that caring can be overbearing and may look self-serving, but most people don’t have a clue about some of the charitable deeds she has done for our community that never make headlines, and that’s ok. You should always be humble about your charitable deeds (someone should clue in Denny Sanford), but sometimes as an elected official those deeds overflow into the media, that cannot be overlooked or prevented and when that happens it seems other elected officials get butt hurt over the fact that another elected official is getting the spotlight.

A couple of letters to the editor spell out Stehly on a different level;

Know always that our city councilors are here for us to answer our needs and solve our problems.

Read that carefully, that is why we have elected ‘representatives’, not elected ‘dictators’. Trust me, after following the public’s commentary on this, they are very aware of who represents them on the council, and it isn’t Rex Rolfing. Just read this letter to the editor about his treatment of his fellow peer in front of the media and public in the lobby of Carnegie Hall;

While the Council Informational Meeting presumably remained in progress, Rolfing marched out to the Carnegie lobby and inserted himself uninvited into an interview of Stehly by a local print reporter. In the ensuing verbal exchange, Rolfing made a lecturing index finger gesture in Stehly’s face and aggressively demanded she be, quote, “Quiet!”

This is no way to treat your fellow peers. What most don’t realize is that while the council chair (Rex Rolfing) may think he has a lot of power and control over the other councilors, he does not, he has two main functions as chair, he gets to go to more meetings then them (and must be the communication of those meetings to the rest of the council, basically the council’s secretary) and he chairs meetings. Other then that, his vote and stature is equal to other councilors.

Some may argue this is a ‘sexist’ issue. I am not buying that, and Stehly has never brought it up, because frankly, I think Theresa could care less if one of her fellow peers is a pig. This is cut and dry bullying.

Theresa was right to bring this issue to the surface and Rolfing was wrong to try to stifle her. As many in the public have said, and I would agree, if anyone should be brought up on ethics violations it should be Rolfing.

Oink, Oink.

SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

UPDATE: Stehly apologizes to the council for ignoring the gavel and decorum

l3wis 4Comments

theresaapol

Theresa didn’t apologize for speaking out for the citizens, but she did apologize for ignoring the gavel;

“Today I want to apologize to you for not recognizing the decorum of the gavel,” Stehly said.

“I want to say that moving forward, I hope that we can work together with a renewed sense of peace, integrity and respect,”

I will give Theresa credit for taking the high road on this one. Can we expect an apology from the chair? I know this wasn’t easy for her, but sometimes we have to face our humility.

The timing of her apology is kind of ironic especially with all the different letters to the editor supporting her online today;

As for Councilwoman Theresa Stehly, “You go girl.” She can keep fighting for us, the voters.

And the graces keep coming;

We are still wondering why three other councilors made a huge change in their vote on the new city building. The only reason given was that Mayor Mike Huether would have gone ahead with his plan unethically, no matter what the vote was. To change your vote just because you will lose anyway, is neither staying with your conscience and values, nor good for good government. Those three counselors all passionately said it was a hard vote. Voting right is not hard, but making a wrong turn is hard if you have a conscience.

And one more for good measure;

I have read a few articles on what Councilwoman Theresa Stehly is doing wrong, but in reality, these articles are saying what we the people are doing wrong. Stehly is the voice for those of us who voted her in, and to date, based on many examples she is doing, what we want her to do.

Amen.

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Mayor Huether says Stehly’s performance last Tuesday was inappropriate

l3wis 4Comments

The mayor finally weighs in. And as usual when you give him a microphone he can’t resist to go on.

He says that he wishes he could say what went on in the executive session. Huh? Did I miss something? You were not in the meeting, so who shared it with you? I thought those meetings were not recorded and the people in those meetings cannot share what is discussed? So who shared that information with him? Is that a violation of the executive session?

He also goes on about the attacks to the city clerk and the city attorney. He claims the city attorney doesn’t just work for him, he works for the city. That statement in itself is hilarious. When Danielson brought up ethics charges against the mayor, he couldn’t walk 100 feet to his hearing, and the city attorney stepped off the dais as the advisor to the Ethics Board and defended the mayor as his personal attorney.

As for the city clerk, that is still unresolved as far as I am concerned until a judge rules in the case tomorrow.

Once again the mayor admits to some interesting stuff over the 34 minute interview.

1st Amendment Rex Rolfing SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

The Village Idiot calls Stehly a Lone Wolf

l3wis 12Comments

bully-rolfing

Since I have been writing this blog, I have been a strong advocate for open government, transparency and 1st Amendment free speech rights. I think you all know that. We may not always agree on what people have to say, but we have that right.

Theresa defended that Tuesday afternoon.

But to call Theresa a ‘Lone Wolf’ is the furthest thing from the truth. She has formed coalitions in every political activity she has been involved with. She has embraced the community and worked for them. It is no secret why Theresa is sitting on the council, because of her community involvement and sticking up for the little guy. I would call her ‘Mother Wolf’ before I would ever call her ‘Lone Wolf’.

Gawd, Rex, what the heck is wrong with you? Seriously Dude?!

Ironically, while everyone wants to blame her for the ‘drama’ if Rolfing would have just let her speak and not gaveled her (there was NOTHING confidential in what she was saying) there would have been no drama. And the chickensh*t council just sat there and let it happen. Wow!

As a citizen we have a right to transparency, the Argus Leader is in the middle of a lawsuit right now with the city over it. We talk often about transparency in our government, we get no where.

I know about the charges lobbed at Theresa (a butt hurt Chief of Police and moving chairs around Carnegie because of the 911 aniversary), they are petty, in fact not even worthy of blogging about, or an ethics charge, just prattle from perfect hair Mike.

This of course is NOT over, chickensh*ts and idiots get emboldened when they are embarrassed. They have there resources, and we have ours. You want a fight on transparency? You are going to get it. You are going to lose, big time.

First off, props to Cameraman Bruce and our credit on the video. Our cameras are always rolling.

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