South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2018

Elections Sioux Falls

Schwan writes an informative article about ‘mayoral’ qualifications

l3wis 0Comments

Jodi definitely goes into way more detail than I ever could, but I found this paragraph interesting;

Someone also needs to be responsible for external communication. That includes timely, comprehensive responses to media requests and proactive strategies to inform the public about relevant topics. This person needs to be empowered to be authentic. People are too savvy to buy PR-style spin. And things are going to go wrong in city government from time to time. It’s a big organization managing a bunch of complex areas. Sometimes, human error is simply human error. It happens in your organization and in mine. It happens in this one too. You build credibility by acknowledging, apologizing if necessary and by improving.

Probably should have given this advice to Heather and Mike eight years ago.

Elections Sioux Falls

UPDATED: Political Sign Compliance is complicated and confusing

l3wis 6Comments

Above is pictures of  candidates signs that are out of compliance because they are sitting on city owned property.

If there is one area of the political sign season I will try to defend candidates on is the confusing and complicated political sign rules. Almost every election cycle someone if not all candidates are out of compliance. Four years ago Huether had signs in the boulevard. A no-no. For awhile this year, Entenman had signs in the boulevard (and apparently still does). And in the last school board election, Mickelson was even posting signs in the Tea School District. Not sure if that is against any ordinances, but kind of just funny.

A few weeks ago candidate Brekke had some issues with compliance on her yard signs and was told to bring them into compliance by City Clerk Tom Greco. While time consuming, Brekke spent a bundle of time last week bringing her signs into compliance. I can’t imagine what kind of task that was.

Like I said, it plagues all of the candidates equally. A lot of times it has nothing to do with the candidate, but the mistake of an advisor or a printer (yes, us printers are not perfect).

While some of these non-compliance issues can be against city ordinance, are they really worth all the hoopla at the end of the day? I know I’m guilty in the past of making a big deal out of it, but after seeing so many violations this past election cycle I’m more concerned about what a candidate STANDS for and not whether they know how to STAND up a sign in someone’s yard.

Nothing to see here. Move along. VOTE TUESDAY! For a person, not a sign.

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Some quick advice before voting Monday or Tuesday

l3wis 3Comments

I have already talked about who I voted for. So today I am going to give some advice about researching your candidates.

• Remember, municipal government isn’t complicated, but it is diverse. The city’s elected officials have many decisions to make that relate to local taxes and fees, alcohol licenses and compliance, code enforcement, regulations, public safety, parks, quality of life and most important, infrastructure. And they must do all this in the open and transparently, or at least THEY SHOULD!

• They do not get involved with school funding issues. That is the job of the School Board. They also do not get involved with the judicial system, that is the county’s job. They do however get involved with many social issues in collaboration with the school district and county.

• Look for a candidate that is open, honest and with integrity.

• Look for a candidate with the least number of conflicts of interest as possible.

• Look for a candidate that is willing to listen and respond in a timely manner with solutions.

I can’t tell you whether to support people who are Republican or Democrat (it’s a non-partisan race) and I can’t tell you to support someone based on their professional resume, how they look, their age, their image or their race, sexual preference or religion. But I can tell you that your choice isn’t as complicated as you may think it is. If you like them, and are leaning towards that candidate, ask them the tough questions. Their one-on-one response to you will tell you all you need to know.

Now remember, GO VOTE!

Democrats South Dakotans

Ann Tornberg has been a failure for the SDDP, by the numbers of course

l3wis 3Comments

From Drinking Liberally . . .

In South Dakota: The South Dakota Democratic Party (SDDP) holds its annual McGovern Day celebration in Sioux Falls on April 28th. Lately, they have been congratulating themselves for fielding candidates for all 105 State Senate and House seats this year. This is the first time either party has fielded a complete candidate slate in anyone’s memory. They are rightly proud of their recruiting success and they hope it will lead to greater electoral success. After all, they argue, with Trump as the face of the Republican Party, it should be a good year for Democrats. At least they hope so.

Unfortunately and objectively, the South Dakota Secretary of State’s latest voter registration numbers do not support this Democratic optimism. Once again in March, as it has in almost every month since Ann Tornberg became SDDP Chair in December, 2014, the Republicans increased their voter registration advantage over Democrats, gaining 608 new registrants against a Democratic registration decline of 628 voters. Independent and other party registration rose by 459 voters in March. In South Dakota’s 35 legislative districts Republican candidates now enjoy an average registration advantage over their Democratic opponents of 2526 voters. I wish all Democratic candidates well but an electoral advantage this large is difficult to overcome.

For the record: Since Ann Tornberg became SDDP Chair in December, 2014, Democratic voter registration has declined by 22,118 voters, from 175,748 to 157,630, while Republican registration has increased by 5,004, from 241,044 to 246,048. Independents and Other Parties increased by 15,021 voters to 120,829 during the same period. Democratic voter registration now stands at 29.9% of the electorate. I do not remember it ever falling below 30% before. In December 2014, 33.3% of the voters were registered Democrats. It appears Ann and the rural dominated SDDP she represents can recruit candidates. Whether or not they can build a winning coalition remains to be seen. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Good luck Democrats.

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