UPDATE: Guest Post from Theresa Stehly;
I want to thank the members of the recount board: Jon Hansen-Del Rapids, Rodney Steele-Brookings and my attorney Randy Seiler-Fort Pierre. These men crossed party lines on June 24th and worked collaboratively to examine approximately 29,000 ballots. They all made transparency and citizen accountability the top priority of the day. I feel confident that every allowable vote was counted.
I also want to thank City Council Clerk Tom Grecko , County Auditor Bob Litz , City Attorney Stacy Koistra and all election support staff for running an efficient recount day. In the end, I lost by 97 votes.
As I leave this council position, I want the citizens to know that I served them with a loving heart. I always tried protect their best interests and to help them whenever I could.
I wish Alex Jensen the best. I pray that he will serve the people with the responsiveness and caring respect they deserve.
God bless you all,
Theresa Stehly
As I have said before, I didn’t want my friend Theresa running for re-election. It was taking a toll on her that I didn’t like. It changed her in ways that were positive, but in more ways made her more bitter, angry and suspicious of government.
She worked hard. I probably spent more hours on the phone talking to her about policy then she did in meetings. It was a wrestling match that I did not enjoy, because solving those problems are hard. Very Hard!
She HATED secrecy and corruption, and it showed everytime she turned on her microphone at public meetings.
We will never see another Theresa Stehly in city government again. I don’t say this lightly. It makes me very sad and discouraged. We have allowed a bunch of toddlers take over the city, and soon we will be paying the price. You will see.
But don’t think Theresa is going to ride off in the sunset. It’s not her nature. When a door closes on her, another one opens. I think we will see that.
I want to congratulate Jensen, he won fair and square (besides the money).
Kids, it’s always about ‘The money’. If you don’t have it, you don’t win.