This question has come up a lot with me from foot soldiers and political friends.
I try not to think about it too much, because I am so glad he is no longer in leadership, but I will try to break this down. I think the positives would outweigh the negatives;
POSITIVES
• Hardworker. I could never argue with the fact that B&B was a 24/7 employee. I guarantee he would have not taken off a single weekend until we got through this crisis and would have worked at it every day putting in long hours.
• B&B was not afraid to make hard decisions, right or wrong. He was pretty resolute when he made a decision and would not backdown from it, even if it was tragically wrong.
• He would follow expert’s plans and emergency management manuals. B&B knew he wasn’t an expert about a lot of things and would rely on the knowledge of others to implement the best plan. Of course, he would still take credit for it. He leaned on his directors a lot during a crisis, we saw this with the ice storm. This is what leaders do. Lincoln was a great example of this. B&B was no Lincoln though.
• He would find a way to balance business and government. In other words he would have not taken a heavy hand, but would have been strong about getting businesses to do preventive things. I also think he would have acted much, much earlier.
• He would have put city employees to work, helping business to secure safety by redirecting them to do other job duties. B&B would have never let a single city employee slouch during this unless they had underlying health conditions.
• B&B was not afraid to take legal risks. He did this during the entire 8 years he was mayor. Laws? We don’t need no stinking laws. He certainly would not have been a wilting flower when it comes to our Governor and her box of rocks for a brain.
NEGATIVES
• B&B would have taken advantage of the situation for business opportunities for himself and friends. We would have never heard about it because those plans would have taken place behind closed doors. City councilor Brekke said it best recently, ‘During a time of crisis there will be Heros and there will be Scoundrels.’ He would have worn both badges – proudly.
• He would have used the crisis to promote himself. We saw this during ‘Operation Timberstrike’.
• B&B would have used the opportunity to use his authoritarian powers under home rule charter to the fullest extent.
• He would not have bothered to consult the majority of the council to get buy in. He would have garnered the four votes he needed and steamrolled the rest of them.
• He would use the opportunity to bilk taxpayers more in the future with hidden and not so apparent tax and fee increases and unnecessary bonding.
• Lastly, he would have used the crisis to be even less transparent and lie to the public about what is going on behind the scenes to put a ‘positive’ spin on the situation.
But I will be honest with you, during this time of crisis if I had a choice between the last guy or the current guy, I would pick the last one.
How truly sad is our options?
What I want to know is why PTH doesn’t know the age of two of his three kids? So odd.
Nah, you are wrong. PTH is the right guy. Mayor dip shit can go pack sand.
When I watched this video, a video where he’s wearing a tie and using his daughter, I thought that his numbers must be down, huh? Then I thought about the phrase: “They know what to do,” and how he was probably hanging with his daughter, at a time like this, to try to find out who the “They” are, right now.
( and Woodstock adds: “For those of you who don’t think our mayor is nothing but a social media creation, well, think again”…. “And what happen to his AirPods?”….”Did the fourteen year-old get a hold of them?”….)
Sorry, the Pollyanna in me is less interested in limiting our alternatives to the current and former mayors.
What if we extend the counterfactual and ask what might someone like Jolene Loetscher or Kasey Olivier do?
Not to imply either remain, or would be, respectively, interested in the position, but their prior campaigns exemplified policies and values I think may serve Sioux Falls well.
We’ve gotta have some dipshit for mayor. The current one is better than the last. This one wants us to run marathons but the last one built unnecessary pleasure palaces and high rise parking ramps that put the city into default. The one who built his wife Taj Mahol indoor tennis with public money is the worst ever.
The 2018 choices were weak on leadership and strong on media buys. The only two with possible toughtful leadership were pushed out of the way by the two people able to buy the piss poor advertising they did, so we had a runoff. Neither were qualified and so we now have kiddie talk leadership centered around Fox news talking points.
When we even consider the better choice of the past or our present, we are again lost in the woods. Who could win in 2022 to actually put the city on the right track without making us get on our knees at every turn to praise their version of religion to control the people and not plan for events?
PTH has 3 strikes. Should be out. 1-the way he handled the tornado. 2- reendorsing the parking ramp and conning 1and 1/2 million dollars. 3 – The handleing of this crisis. My opinion is the Loetscher downfall came from the war chest of someone’s tool box.
Yes, I think Jolene would have handled the situation better. But my last choice for Mayor, Jamison, probably would have resisted a stay at home order, BUT I think he would have worked with his emergency team and the health department to implement plans early and get businesses on track to prepare for safe work environments. He also probably would have pulled out the manuals that are already in place to deal with these kind of situations instead of just winging in on FB.
Jolene would have handled the situation better? Thanks for the laugh, I really needed it. The best thing she’s ever done for the city is to go away quietly and work on her biotechnology firm… I mean picking up dog crap.
Unstable Genius, or “NIQFNR” has just further proven that he’s a shill, who doesn’t live in Soo Foo.
Apparently she missed some.
Lol just waiting for Neal Tapio to open his stupid yap. Good thing him & Kristi got their hate out on ol’ downtown Sioux Falls so early. Would hate to see all them non-essential trust lawyers get covid and die.
“The ‘Checkers speech’ is only a matter of time.” But no Trish or Julie needed.
If if and buts were candy and nuts, I would pick the current mayor. He at least made an attempt at stay at home. The one, and probably only time his 5-3 council disappointed him.