Some people are upset that Kermit said this yesterday at the Chamber forum;
“There seems to be some confusion,” he said. “Once again, I am the Republican, Mike’s the Democrat.”
I don’t think Kermit ever wanted to say this, but he had to. There were several rumors swirling around out there and some undecided voters were unaware of the party affiliations. Kermit just wanted to set the record straight, something he has done his whole political life.
And what was Mike’s response;
“This isn’t about politics,” Huether responded. “The last thing you wanted to hear about is politics and this is what we started with. How incredibly sad is that?”
It’s sad alright, sad that you are such a hypocrite. First off, running for office is political, it’s not a dirty word. Secondly, when you mail out a postcard with Daschle’s picture on it, you hire one of the best Democratic strategist’s in the country to run your campaign (so did Erpenbach), you donate thousands of dollars to the Democratic party, you take money from the unions and use Democratic resources and volunteers to help with your campaign, then you turnaround and are mad that ‘politics’ have been dragged into this race? You dragged them into this race. Staggers was perfectly happy with not bringing up his party affiliation, even though he knew it would help him garner votes, he avoided it. If you are not proud of your association with the Democratic party, why are you a Democrat, or better yet take full advantage of their resources?
Heck, Michelle can’t even admit to the newspaper she is a Democrat. Makes you wonder what she was telling voters before the election? Apparently she wanted them to assume she was an independent.
City councilor-elect Michelle Erpenbach, who attended the breakfast, said the mayoral election is a nonpartisan race and should stay that way.
She won the Central District council seat April 13 and was asked her party affiliation by voters on the campaign trail.
“I would always say this is a nonpartisan race and we are all in this for the betterment of Sioux Falls,” she said.
You can’t have your cake and eat it to. If you are using the Democratic party to get yourself elected, you are being partisan. Plain and simple, there are no two ways around it.
You know, this business of party affiliation never came up when previous elections featured both finalists from the same party. Finalists who took money from businesses, endorsements from businesses and Republican and, in general, behaved as Republican candidates.
But we dared not mention the part affiliation.
Now, suddenly, it is an issue. Only because people seem to be offended and anguished because a Democrat ended up as a finalist.
Idiocy.
Oh really…do you watch a lot of FOX NEWS too? Kermit “HAD TO” ? No…he’s just trying to use whatever edge he deems necessary. I also saw the commercial that Kermit is “smiling” which looks ridiculous…(almost as bad as Peterson smiling) and saying “YES – YES – YES” See I say yes…I think both candidates have good points and their own way of doing things…but ultimately at the end of the day…VERY conservative mentality or progressive mentality?
Kermit is a real conservative. But I don’t think establishment Republicans are going to vote for him. I think they consider him a little “cooky” (and in my opinion rightfully so,) but at least he practices what he preaches.
This is absurd. L3wis is 100% correct.
You can’t hire Hilde, a guy who was critical to the election of our current POTUS, and then try to stay above politics.
Especially when the same strategy is being employed at the local level: Tell everyone what they want to hear, puke out soundbytes & platitudes, stake out both side of an issue whenever possible, try to overcome lack of experience with gladhanding, use Union resources, try to hide or water down your true political positions & ambitions as YOU KNOW IN YOUR HEART they will be unpalatable to a majority of the voters.
Sorry Mike, but this race is what it is at this point because of you and no one else.
BTW, Let’s say Mike wins and 4 years from now we still don’t have an Events Center for whatever reason.
If I run for Mayor against him next time and hire Karl Rove to run my campaign that surely won’t raise any issues with local Democrats now would it?
I’m sure it would Sy, but Rove is a strategist not really a campaign guy is he?
Besides – you couldn’t afford him – because unlike Hildebrand, Rove doesn’t really have any experience with losing. 🙂 Like him or hate him the man is very good at what he does.
To be honest, I don’t want to hold it against Huether for hiring Hildebrand and I suspect it was done more for results and the fact they knew each other than it was done for political reasons. If I thought Huether was a polarizing guy or far outside the mainstream it might be an issue, but if we didn’t see his donations to political parties and if we didn’t hear about his connection to Hilde… would anyone really know this guy is a Democrat?
I guess I don’t see it, and for me personally it doesn’t really matter which party these guys belong to or who they pal around with. What matters more to me is their actions – and because Staggers has a proven track record of fiscal conservatism he will get my vote. I don’t care if he is a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or a member of the Green Party… I know what I’m getting with him so his party doesn’t have a thing to do with it.
All that said – I don’t particularly like the tone that this race is taking. No matter who wins, Sioux Falls will be taking a step in the right direction if you ask me. Both of these guys are vast improvements over mumbling Munson and although I’m sure I won’t agree with them on every decision, I’m sure they will do just fine. They aren’t bad people and neither of them will ruin Sioux Falls merely because of their political philosophy.
THC-
Nope, the Democrats are offended that they got caught trying to pull a fast one.
Rove most certainly has the experience of losing… 2006? 2008? Republicans lost BIG… W and Rove are to blame.
SJ-
I was gonna ask you, why doesn’t your parents or Heidi-Scott have Huether signs in their yards?