There was a couple of good things that happened yesterday. We got some much needed rain, AG Rumblestrips got impeached and the mayor’s salary increase failed (that one was easy to predict).
I will admit, the candidates that lost don’t have any excuses, the other side played a better game. The Dutch Mafia has a strong following and the troops were well organized. I only assisted one candidate with a logo design and verbal advice, I had very little to do with the other campaigns except for my endorsements. I only spoke with Pam Cole two times when I signed her petition and at a forum and I spoke with NO ONE from the Islam campaign. In fact, Taneeza personally called David Z and asked him to drop out of the race so he wouldn’t steal votes from her. This is the main reason I supported David. Taneeza was playing the same political games as TenHaken. But who can top his intimidation tactics by threatening candidates then pretending he is the victim. It was a scare tactic that worked. It doesn’t matter how low you go, as long as you win.
The mayoral race and At-Large B races were easy to predict. TenHaken was impossible to beat, nobody had a chance. Also, Rich Merkouris had a stellar campaign. But those were NOT the only factors. The Wine and Cheese Democrats were running the opponents campaigns, they use the same playbook over and over again expecting different results. Their topics are always the same, help poor people, gay rights, childcare, poor people housing, addiction, public transit, the homeless. You know, all the bummer topics that the good Rich White Christian positive folks in Sioux Falls do NOT want to hear or talk about in Taupeville, because those problems don’t exist in their neighborhood and they proved that last night.
I also think when it comes to the campaigns of Ingle, Reistroffer and Brekke, a ground game doesn’t work anymore (direct mail, knocking on doors, etc.) unless it is in combination with a strong digital marketing strategy. I also don’t think robocalls and texting is a good idea. I am not sure it angers a lot of people, because I think they are used to it, I think they just ignore it. You also have to take into account that you CANNOT be your own campaign manager. There was a lot of that going on. You need someone in your campaign that will be critical of the decisions you make. I can pretty much guarantee all the winners last night were NOT running their own campaigns.
If I had to guess the winning campaigns threw tons of money at digital ads targeting the SE District (Taupeville). But I think the main strategy of targeting Dutch Mafia Churches (a lot of campaigning was going on in the churches) worked brilliantly. There is a national movement going on that involves extreme right wing politics and targeting churches for campaigns. Unfortunately the money came from a handful of people who think of themselves as kingmakers using PACS to concentrate large amounts of donations and fail to file any of their campaign finance reports before the election. But even if they would have, would the media cover it? Doubtful. I was the only person who talked about Sarah Cole’s voting record. Not one single media source touched it. (It’s going to be fun watching her learning curve. I guarantee you will hear zero discussion from her the first year on the dais. I nicknamed her Sarah Selberg.) It also didn’t hurt that the city conveniently partners with churches for polling precincts. I have never agreed with this. All polling places should be in publicly funded buildings, like community centers and schools. There is NO reason taxpayers should be paying churches rent for polling places.
Media bias also played a role. It was shown over an over again that the media was in the bag with Poops, and of course anyone he endorsed. There were many behind the scene conversations with reporters about their media bias. And when you would point it out, they would cry like little babies. There was also an incredibly strong push for voter suppression. We had to beg the city clerk to put a sample ballot out before voter registration deadline and early voting started. The city did ZERO promotion of the election. This was probably NOT by accident. Voter suppression helps the ‘chosen candidates’.
After TenHaken won in 2018 I have been warning candidates about the power of the SE District voting bloc, and when the school bonds passed and Alex Jensen won, it further cemented my belief that Taupeville was a force to be reckon with. They proved this last night. They have a Maga Hat on their heads, a bible in their back pockets and a schedule filled with youth sports activities. I have told candidates over and over YOU NEED TO CAMPAIGN IN THE SE DISTRICT!
THIS WAS NOT A MANDATE!
While the margins were good for the winners, this was hardly a mandate. Many people come on here and comment that most people in Sioux Falls don’t agree with the candidates that lost. I guess I really don’t know. I agree, not everything they support is mainstream. I joked last night with a Lincoln County Republican politician that I know my socialist ideas are not mainstream and that I could give two sh!ts about people who go to church, youth sports and childcare. The childcare issue could be easily fixed in Congress and Pierre by funding Pre-K and making it a National standard. Not one single candidate brought this up. I’m not sure there is a wide group of people that agree or disagree with the Democracy candidates, I just wonder if people really don’t care either way. My BFF tells me all the time (who is a Republican) that no one gives a sh!t about local government. I recently agreed with him. The voter turnout proved this.
When you look at the numbers around 7% of the total population picked the winners. You can look at the breakdown here. With only 24% of eligible voters participating. It is sad, but on the bright side it means the ones in charge don’t really have a mandate, just an election certificate.
Also factor in the bizarre undervote numbers (that prove once again the city suppressing the vote and information). Undervotes are people who submit a ballot but don’t check the box in every race. It is called an undervote because they left a certain race blank. There could be a number of factors. They could dislike all the candidates that are running, but more then likely they don’t know any of them, so they leave it blank. This is why education of the ballot by the media and city should be important.
The undervotes (non-votes)
Central, 826
At-Large A, 3,575
At-Large B, 4,467
One of the interesting things to watch will be how these 7 rubber stampers and mayor will run the city over the next 4 years. If crap hits the fan, they won’t be able to point at Brekke, Stehly or Starr, they will only have themselves to blame for their foolish mistakes. You will also see a completely closed government. We won’t know about many decisions made until it is over. Maybe in 2 years people will realize that the votes they placed yesterday were NOT such a good idea, but I am not holding my breath since the TenHaken administration has done virtually nothing the past 4 years except hand out money to his rich developer friends and getting rid of Stehly and public input. Crime has risen, the core has deteriorated more, homelessness and panhandling has increased, housing options are minimal and expensive, the job market is tight, property taxes and fees are going thru the roof, and the list goes on. The media of course didn’t bring any of this up.
Sioux Falls used to be cool. I have lived here for 30 years. About 7-10 years ago I noticed that live entertainment started to disappear. You used to be able to see at least 1-2 national or regional bands in Sioux Falls every week. Once we started to move away from this was because of the infiltration of the Lily white yuppies downtown and the construction of the Denty. Sioux Falls has transformed itself into a franchise fast food haven, family centric, rich retirees town that has no room for progressive ideas like a flourishing underground arts scene or numerous choices for live music in locally owned clubs. In some respects we have gone backwards.
As the Seattle grunge band, Mudhoney, once sang when that town was getting popular for it’s music scene, “Time for leaving is now.”
