One thing I have noticed about Mike is once you get him away from his comfort zone of his staff or surroundings, he shrinks. And he shrinks fast. While he starts out strong, he quickly shrivels when he can’t fall back on his staff to answer the questions. And they were not that tough, mind you, they were not softballs either, but it is safe to assume they would be asked.
I get why he is leaving the party. First off, many in the party don’t want him there anyway, because besides the money he has given them, he really isn’t a true Democrat. If you watched our series of meetings, you will see a resounding theme (besides whining) they are the party of the working class. Mike could care less about these people, he stated this at Black Sheep Coffee. He is now part of the ruling class. Democrats, especially in this state are not the ruling class, they are the handup class that want to help others, no matter their creed.
Interesting statements;
Though he proudly admits he voted for Thune and Daugaard, he refuses to answer if he voted for Trump (though he defends him) and said he isn’t going to list all the other candidates he voted for. He had to know that the question would be asked if you admit you voted for the top two Republicans in the state.
He throws this press conference to simply say he is switching his registration, but then won’t answer if he is running for higher office (congress or governor). Then why have this press conference? As one Argus reporter joked on Twitter, Did he tell us what he had for lunch or when he is going to change his vehicle registration? While sarcastic, they make the point, you don’t throw a party ‘just because’.
He talks about a developer who tried to tell him how to run the city shortly after he became mayor, then tells him that is not how it is going to be. It sure hasn’t. We have reason to believe that the mayor has used his position to pad his pockets in many private investments. But since SD has such horrible ethics and open records laws, we may never know how deep those investments go.
He calls himself a moderate and a fiscal conservative and social liberal. Talk about the total opposite of his record. He is a extreme corporatist who makes decisions based on his bottom line, he has spent and borrowed like a drunken sailor who is has put our city into more debt then any other mayor before him. He has also been opposed to free swim passes, free bus rides and has been trying to increase rates on the para transit. Social liberal? He doesn’t even understand the term. Social liberals are also concerned about crime, something he has totally ignored, and even went so far to screw the police union on raises.
He throws Nancy Pelosi under the bus, but can’t answer who would do a better job then her. It’s an easy question, like saying you prefer vanilla pudding over chocolate, instead of just saying, I don’t like chocolate.
He talks about being a non-partisan office holder then goes on to say that partisan politics is seeping into city government, but can’t give us an example of when this has happened. Sure, there was a few small cases, but I will admit, I haven’t seen it, even more with our new councilors. I think they are more populists and libertarians then anything. I don’t see them implementing Republican or Democratic polices, though the mayor has certainly tried, especially with a smoking ban.
He believes he will be attaining more allies by becoming an independent. What he really is saying he is trying to get more Republicans in his camp if he runs for higher office because he knows he can’t win as a Democrat, and he may quickly find out he can’t win as an independent either.
He says he hasn’t been beholden to special interests groups. That is hysterical in itself. All he has done is cater to special interest groups, whether that is Walmart, big developers, the swim teams, tennis or the Events Center, all of his moves have been for special interests, and not the common working Joe. In fact he has fought the little man the whole way.
He is leaving the Democratic Party, but can’t tell us why he is leaving them, except he blames both parties. But you are not leaving the Republican party, you are leaving the Democratic Party. Why?
In one of the most revealing moments, he is asked (twice) how he used business acumen (like Donald Trump) and while trying to weasel out of the question all he can say is that we are getting things done and I learned this, and I learned that and applied it to city government. C’mon! You can’t give one example? I could give dozens of how you have used business acumen to destroy city government. One big one is his breakdown of organized labor within the city, borrowing too much money on the backs of the working poor, bullying the council like you are a CEO and not a manager. Shall I continue?
He was honest at the end, he admits he will continue to run the city the same way as he has so far. I have no doubts about that, straight into the ground.
Cameraman Bruce watched a train wreck Monday and recorded it for you. Why was the train wreck scheduled and then held?
No simple question can be answered. No answer can be simple. So what was the purpose? No one in attendance can discern a reason for the mayor’s press conference on December 19, 2016. If the message can’t be told, why give a message?
Was My Man Mike bored? Was My Man Mike tired? Was My Man Mike tired of not getting any news media coverage so he had to create a pseudo-event? Where was the family? It must be sad to be Mike some days. The presser event was a sad without the usual mayoral tears.
So, what was presser for? Why was it held? We thought it was already done after the Belfrage radio show announcement, so the display sure seemed unnecessary, or was it?
Does not be able to get his way every day in city government now mean having to hold a press conference to give his lunch menu or updates on bowel movements? We do not know. This dumb presser reminds us of the little boy who cried wolf story. What is he was actually crying over something important and nobody showed up?
You could tell by the Twitter action during the presser, the press didn’t want to be there and will question the purpose of the next one, if there is a next one.
Like we the press said when it was done, what was the purpose and do we care? We really don’t know, we really don’t care and it is like watching old train wreck movies. You know there is going to be something. You know there is going to be carnage. You know there is going to be a mess. When it is over, who is going to clean it up? Us in less than16 months and 24 days. but who’s counting?