I ran across this little tidbit in Stupendous’ article in the AL today about Steve Hildebrand;
When asked if they will work together again or if he sees Huether as a future force in the state Democratic Party, Hildebrand offered a harsh assessment.
“If Mike were to change his ability to let citizens participate, to let longtime friends participate, to let neighborhood organizations participate, he might gather a lot of support, but he has been very much an individual leader who doesn’t really involve anyone else in his decision-making,” said Hildebrand. “He’ll have a hard time getting support from anybody if that’s the kind of person he continues to be.”
Well Steve, I could not have said it better myself. If Huether thinks he is going to run his governor campaign like he has ran Sioux Falls, he might have a rude awakening.
As for Huether’s contention that being mayor of Sioux Falls is his “dream job,” his former campaign manager disputes that characterization and says they had conversations about him running for governor before the mayoral push.
“Mike has wanted to be governor of South Dakota since he was a kid,” says Hildebrand. “It was never about being the mayor of Sioux Falls, it was always about being governor. He came back from San Antonio (where he worked for Citibank) with a big fat file that said, Huether for Governor.”
Steve is 110% correct on this assessment, I have heard stories about the famed 3-Ring Binder. I also was appraised of a story from two leading Democrats (before Huether announced he was running for Mayor) of a little road trip they were on when Huether popped the ‘governor run’ question on them, and they responded by saying he should aim a little lower first and suggested running for the mayor of Sioux Falls. (I still hold this advice against them).
Which brings me to something that has been in my craw for awhile, Huether using city resources to run for governor. He has not formally announced yet so he has been walking a fine line with traveling all over the state ‘talking about Sioux Falls’ malarkey in which he is really campaigning. I could care less if he runs for governor, that is not my issue. My issue is using tax dollars to pay for his traveling expenses in the guise it is ‘city business’.