Over the past week there has been some criticism towards TenHaken on how he has been handling the Covid ordinances and restrictions in Sioux Falls and most of it is coming from the movers and shakers in the SD Republican Party.
A certain blogger who takes his marching orders directly from the state’s party leadership has been very critical of TenHaken’s leadership.
It baffled me at first that the same guy who benefitted from Paul helping him hide his private business on musical servers would suddenly turn his back on his BFF.
He certainly wasn’t doing it on his own, he has never done anything on his own.
The rumor going around was that there was a dustup between TenHaken, the party leadership and one of Paul’s staffers (you can take a good guess who that is). I don’t have anymore details than that, but we do know there has been a fractured SD Republican party ever since Noem and Jackley duked it out and there now are several factions in the party going many different directions.
I’ve also noticed that when Paul talks on the radio or on FB he says he belongs to the party of Sioux Falls and isn’t a Republican or Democratic mayor. Yes, Paul, it is a non-partisan position, but you are registered Republican.
Will this dustup lead Paul to do what Bucktooth & Bowlcut did towards the end of his 2nd term and register as a Indy? Doubtful. But one wonders who got to him. Some have suggested it was Noem herself while others said it was the Iowa business owner who runs the party. It may have been both.
I have heard from legislators who serve on committees in Pierre that when you go into a meeting with the governor, she runs the room and won’t take any guff from anybody. She also likes to make veiled threats if you don’t do what she says.
Something has changed in Paul over the past week, and I don’t think those changes in his attitude came from inside him – I think someone gave him an attitude adjustment.