Tony Bartholomaus for Minnehaha County Auditor
l3wis [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ZLDfYKU1w[/youtube]
2014
Who is this ‘OTHER’ petitioner?
So this is getting interesting;
Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth filed a petition in U.S. District Court last month to preserve documents associated with the state’s EB-5 program. On Monday, his case was in court.
There is no lawsuit right now, but Barth worried the paperwork tied to the state’s EB-5 program could be destroyed, possibly by former EB-5 administrator Joop Bollen.
Attorneys for those responding to the petition, including former Governor Mike Rounds, say that the petition has no legal standing in federal court. They say that the request for protection is being made to uncover facts, which would be a misuse of the court order Barth is seeking.
They also argue there is an obligation to collect and protect documents in a lawsuit, saying a court order is not necessary.
Judge Karen Schreier agreed to that point. However, she also says that simply as a taxpayer, Barth has no standing in federal court to ask for documents to be protected. However, the petition was not dismissed completely because of a motion made Monday to add an additional petitioner to the case.
Because of that request, there will be another 21 days for the opposing party to respond. Once that response is in, a new hearing date will be set.
Who is this mysterious other petitioner? The Feds?
The Villagers have spoken already, LEAVE PUBLIC INPUT ALONE
A friend recently sent some questions to the entire Sioux Falls city council about some different topics, one of them was about the public ‘engaging’ the council during public input (and how it isn’t happening). Council Chair, Dean Karsky responded in this manner;
I have been toying with the idea of moving the public input to the Informational Meeting as it would allow for more interaction with the Council and possibly engage the public more with us. Â Still working on the pro’s and con’s of doing so, input on the matter is welcome.
Here is my input Dean, LEAVE IT AS IS!
There is absolutely no reason why the council can’t ‘engage’ the public during public input at the city council meetings. During the Munson administration, the council interacted all the time with the public.
If this is a matter of ‘time’ I should remind the council that they are getting PAID to attend the meetings, and the public, which comes on their own time to testify, pays those wages. If they don’t like hearing public input, or they think the meetings are to long, or they don’t get paid enough, then please, resign. There is nothing more annoying then a politician running for office then complaining about their duties once they get elected. Then why did you run?
Lastly, I do partially agree with public input at the informational. In fact several of the citizen advocates in the community have discussed that it would be nice to have public input at the informational. The problem with only limiting it to the informational is timing. The meeting is at 4 PM when many people cannot attend because of work conflicts. By all means, have public input at the informational, but also keep it at 7 PM to so working folks can testify.
Once again, the council is out of touch with the public on this one, just like snowgates, they seem to want to do the opposite of what the public wants for their convenience. Their convenience is of little importance to good government, the public’s convenience is.
We don’t need an increase in Sales Taxes
There was a poll released over the weekend on Stormland TV that most people support increasing the sales tax for three months in the summer to increase teacher pay. They feel that tourists will mostly be paying the tax.
Poppycock.
First off, while I do think our teachers deserve better pay, I have often felt their pay is inline with what other South Dakotans make, in other words, we all make crappy wages.
Secondly, taxing food and other necessities is the wrong way to go about paying teachers. We need to find ways to reduce sales taxes, not increase them. They are regressive and a poor way to fund education.
Thirdly, the state has the money to give school districts in reserves, they just refuse to, this is a legislative issue, not a funding issue.
As for tapping into tourism to raise teacher pay, I think that is a great idea. How about we set a corporate tax on seasonal tourism businesses? Or how about we have a state tax fee on hotel rooms during the summer? If we truly want tourism to pay for the pay increase, then lets direct the taxes AT tourism?
Once again another stupid idea from Pierre and the minions follow suit.
No Endorsements or Predictions
I’m not going to make any predictions in the election a week now. Many of the races have probably already been decided, and it seems our public is more ignorant then ever when it comes to the deep corruption of the SD GOP. EB-5 and the governor’s past scandals as governor should have been enough to put him dead last in the polls. Apparently voters are willing to look away from that because of their fear of an Obama loving Democrat. If Rounds wins, we will have total partisan leadership in Washington, that is unfortunate. There is also the possibility of Rounds being indicted on EB-5 after the election.
I won’t tell you how to vote next Tuesday, but I am recommending you vote for these two gentlemen next Tuesday;
John Pekas for Judge (He currently is a Minnehaha County Commissioner)
Tony Bartholomaus for Minnehaha County Auditor