2018

Mayor Huether a finalist for the 2018 Golden Padlock Award

He may not win, but I’m guessing there won’t be a press release about this honor on the city’s website;

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether: For going beyond even state law to shroud public business in secrecy. In early 2017, the city council passed an ordinance to require meetings of a city board to be recorded and published on the city website. Huether vetoed the bill and said: “Here’s the way (transparency) works: It protects you one minute. It stabs you in the back the next.” The Argus Leader newspaper filed a lawsuit in 2015 against the city that went all the way to the South Dakota Supreme Court to get a simple contract detailing what the city called a $1 million refund from a settlement over flawed siding installed on a $115 million event center. After the court ruled in the newspaper’s favor in September 2017, the documents showed city officials weren’t telling the truth: The city received less than half of what Huether claimed. After the drowning of a 5-year-old girl in a park in March, the city defended its safety protocols by citing a 2016 audit officials said was conducted on the park. City officials denied the Argus Leader’s request for a copy of the audit, claiming it belonged to the insurance company. When the newspaper contacted the insurance company, reporters confirmed no such audit exists. Huether is term-limited but has indicated he’d seek public office in the future.

Surprised he wasn’t a finalist every year of his administration.

Shawn ‘The Tornado’ Tornow, please, give it up already

Shawn and the big book of obstruction.

This guy really needs to hang it up. Shawn is running again for the legislature. There are several reasons why this guy needs to be banned from any form of public service ever again in his life. Here’s a few reasons;

Some of those facts became public between Tornow’s termination in 2010 and his public censure in 2013, which was investigated by the Bar and affirmed by the state Supreme Court.

While working for the city, Tornow mislead then-mayoral candidate Kermit Staggers about the existence of a recorded phone conversation and tried to get a speeding ticket for his adult daughter dismissed.
Don’t forget dragging out Dan Daily’s case for 7 years and ultimately losing.
Some people you just don’t trust to serve in the legislature because you have a gut feeling. But this guy has a track record. Fired from the city for fixing a ticket, lying to elected officials he is supposed to be serving and getting censured by the Supreme Court and State Bar. And you want to be in the legislature Shawn? Who would vote for this clown? Please Shawn, crawl back into that deep dark hole you came from and never return.