One of the more revealing parts of TenHaken’s poll is the presidential race. Even if Trump got all 6% of the undecided it would be a tie.
As of October 1, 2020 there is 121K total active voters in Minnehaha County (I believe in the City of Sioux Falls there is about 80-90K registered voters). In the county about 50K are Rep, 36K are Dem and 34K are Indy. About 17K are inactive. This tells me that not only are indies leaning Biden I’m guessing there is a ton of Republicans leaning Biden.
None of this is surprising. Even if you are a hardcore Republican who usually leans always Republican, there are some disturbing things about Trump that would scare off a lot of Republicans. His lack of morality sticks out the most for me. I think Biden will take Sioux Falls with well over 50% and probably even win Minnehaha County. Of course the rest of the state will lean Trump and ultimately he will get our 3 electoral votes from AG Speedracer and the gang.
I’m not sure how David Pfeifle got his foot back in the door, but this appointment should be worrisome (Item #20);
David Pfeifle
Sioux Falls Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority (REMSA)
Appointed for a term from October 2020 to October 2025 (to replace Ross Wheeler).
David Pfeifle • Earned law degree from the University of South Dakota. • Executive director of the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance. • Twenty-six years of practicing law in South Dakota including representing several medical community clients. • Former city attorney for Pierre and Sioux Falls and state’s attorney for Stanley County. Prior legal advisor to REMSA.
First the obvious, this is an enormous conflict of interest due to his position as the director of the city’s insurance provider. But as we know, the city isn’t real big on ethical behavior these days.
What also worries me is his roll of advising the board on legal matters, especially if there is something they want to be hauled away in a ghost ambulance (probably the main reason he is being appointed).
But what is most troubling about this appointment is his reputation as the former city attorney where he assisted in trying to cover-up the event center siding settlement, that wasn’t really a settlement.
While it has bothered me that Fiddle was appointed to be the director of the Public Assurance Alliance, we certainly don’t need him back fiddling with city business, especially on such an important board.
Believe it or not, I do want to commend him on his approval rating.
It’s not easy achieving that high of a rating, but . . .
I wanted to point out that this was put together by a private firm, and I question the use of the language ‘Rock Star’. I talked to someone who works for a private public relations firm (not the one Paul used) and he told me it was likely the questions were written by Paul and his PAC since he paid for the survey. In other words, if you ask the right questions you get the right answers. It is also obvious that this poll was put together to help raise money for Paul in whatever he plans on running for in the future. It had to look rosy. Lastly, when you have someone else run the city (COS Erica Beck) and do very little in your duty as mayor, it’s not hard to get a good approval rating. Most people in this city that vote in city elections tend to be conservative in nature (and older) and one of the reasons he got elected. They don’t like change, and TenHaken has really proven that he has not only NOT changed much, he hasn’t done much. While he touts 5G as one of his greatest achievements, it really isn’t that big of a deal, except for those investing in it (and I question if he is investing in it).
In normal circumstances, no matter who the mayor is, they will tend to get a good rating. I did however chuckle about the fact that 15% of the VOTERS that were polled didn’t know who our mayor was. The consultant I talked to said that number is low and expected more voters didn’t know who he is. I would totally understand if you were a non-registered voter, but I find it baffling that 15% of voters in Sioux Falls don’t know who leads the city. I have often argued if you stopped 10 people on the street DT and verified with them they are SF registered voters that maybe 1 of them could name all 8 city councilors. And I would be surprised if the rest of them could name 1 or 2. What I have found following city politics for over 20 years, not many people pay attention to who or what our city leaders are doing. Besides my blog and the Argus Leader, our other media in town follows very little city politics and if they do it is usually something positive our mayor or city council is doing. It’s sad really. I’m the kind of person that likes to hear the good with the bad and make my own decision on whether our local elected officials are doing a good job. This trend by the news (nationwide) of hiding bad things from us only builds mistrust or ignorance.
Paul really has the local media to thank for his popularity, because it’s NOT based on the fact that people are informed and our city government is open and transparent, it’s based on the fact that most city voters are oblivious to what goes on at city hall.
UPDATE II: So one interesting thing I learned from the video was that the 170+ page document that was presented to the council during Nutzert’s hearing was actually given to the City Clerk several days before the hearing. Brekke questioned why they received the document that night right before the meeting instead of in advance. BOE Chair Jack Marsh defended that position and said they prepared the packets for the council immediately several days before the hearing and gave them to City Clerk Greco to give to the Council, and it was within Greco’s jurisdiction NOT the BOE’s to give them to the council. Which is true.
I asked a couple people in the know this afternoon why Greco did not pass it on to the councilors in advance. In fact, I guess, Greco intended to do so and even wanted to post the docs in advance online in SIRE but he needed (or thought he needed) permission from the outside counsel the city hired to handle the hearing before he could do it . . . wondering why that permission wasn’t granted?
I have asked a couple of city councilors to look into why the information wasn’t presented to the council and the public in advance.
This whole adventure was so sloppy and corrupt, you wonder how our city government can even function at all.
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I did not attend today’s meeting because it was at 9 AM on a Tuesday morning, real convenient for the public to show up – NOT. So all I can tell you is what I heard briefly from those who attended;
I guess the Board of Ethics determined that Councilor Brekke assisting constituents with navigating the Charter was well within her rights and duties as a councilor (Duh!)
I guess David Zokaites’ question about supplying evidence was pretty much blown off because Neitzert told the BOE that city employees take trips all the time. Which is interesting, since this complaint was against an ELECTED official and NOT a city employee. That was the main reason the first complaint was dismissed.
I guess we will know more after the video and minutes are released.
l3wis 
