I joked recently that I considered bringing a ballot question to the Charter Revision Commission that would ban marketing/banking/real estate executives from running for mayor or city council. While snarky, maybe I need to get serious about it!?
For the record, I don’t personally know Mr. Spellerberg and when he announced today, I had no clue who he was, BUT, he did what I have been telling potential candidates for several months; YOU MUST ANNOUNCE FIRST AND EARLY. I actually put that window between October 1st and Thanksgiving. Well someone must of heeded my advice, unfortunately it wasn’t somebody I know 🙁
A Sioux Falls mortgage loan officer is the first person to publicly announce their candidacy for next year’s Sioux Falls City Council elections.
Ryan Spellerberg made the announcement on Monday afternoon that he intended to run in the city’s southwestern district, a seat currently held by Councilor Marshall Selberg, who is term limited.
Spellerberg’s release named affordable housing, reducing crime, investing in infrastructure and expanding the city’s park system as some of his main goals.
You know, all the things that a good city councilor would and should be working on. I am always surprised that people running for city council for the past 20 years mention the same things they are going to work on. Well guess what, most of the things he mentioned are on cruise control and take little to no action from the council. Taxpayers fund the police, they don’t need the council’s help running the department. The chief is appointed by the mayor and does what the mayor tells him to do. Most of our taxes go towards infrastructure (new and maintenance). I am not sure how a councilor could improve this, just another cruise control policy that the council approves spending on in normal routine business. Our park system is our greatest asset and the city manages the system well, especially when it comes to funding and expansion. Not sure they need anymore cheerleaders on the council.
I agree, affordable housing needs help, but like past candidates, promises made, promises broken. It is going to take bold and courageous policy changes that will piss off the developer and realtor industry, and I am sorry, but someone on the inside can’t fix this problem because of their blatant industry conflicts. You can’t have two masters.
It often surprises me when people throw their hat in the ring to run for city council and have little to no idea what the body actually does. Everything he mentions in his press release is already being done by the current council besides improving affordable housing.
Basically Spellerberg is saying, “I am the status quo. Now where do I pick up my rubberstamp?”
I speculate, though I have not heard either way, that Mr. Spellerberg was likely recruited by either the administration, Councilor Selberg or both;
He has yet to file a statement of organization for his municipal candidate campaign, but his announcement has already drawn support from Councilor Alex Jensen, who said “Let’s go Ryan Spellerberg!” in a Facebook post.
As I assumed, the mayor will be recruiting candidates, just not sure if this is one of them. But he fits the PTH Council candidate mold; White. Male. Christian. Developer/real estate/banking. Transplant from another state (but still midwestern). Volunteered on some non-profit boards. You get the picture. I wonder how many city elections he has voted in? We will get you that info, even though it doesn’t seem to matter to people, since Dr. Cole was elected to council with no local voting record.
I did laugh about this part in Spellerberg’s resume;
In his spare time, the 46 year old has been involved with Habitat for Humanity, Sioux Falls Veterans Community Project and teaching Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey.
The first two projects, great for our community, but Dave Ramsey??!! I actually have listened to Dave, and what is really ironic about his advice is that it is common sense. So maybe we need someone like this on the city council to teach a little fiscal common sense?!
I think they are beyond help.
I am willing to give Mr. Spellerberg the benefit of the doubt. He just announced, and if he can come up with a workable solution to our affordable housing issues, he would be worth installing, he just better keep that to himself 🙂
Here is my random count on potential council candidates;
NE District, Pat Starr is term limited so this seat will be open. So far I have heard a male moderate Republican is considering a run in the district.
At-Large. Jensen is flip-flopping everyday. It is comical. Every day I either get an email or text telling me that either Alex is running or he is not. I could care less at this point. But there is a community activist considering running for the AL also. Alex has bent so many rules behind the scenes that if he decided not to run I think the council that is left next Spring would be OK with that. It is unfortunate that the public doesn’t know some of the BS this guy has been up to, because he certainly wouldn’t be on the council anymore and NOT running for re-election. If Jensen bows out on a 2nd term run, it won’t be because of ‘family commitments’ it will be because no body wants him around Carnegie.
SW District. Obviously Ryan is running, but I have heard about two other potential candidates in that race.
NW District. I have heard about two candidates running in this district, both minorities.
Since Spellerberg’s announcement, I expect more PTH hand picked candidates to announce while I watch all the others play catch up.
The thing about announcing a run for council now is that you can always back out before you have to collect petition signatures next year. Maybe you get on the campaign trail, and realize this isn’t for you, that’s fine. Just announce already, because if you don’t we are setting ourselves up for another blowout.
I think if I was advising a candidate, my advice on a campaign slogan would be, “Save the Children!” Wins every time! I would avoid, “Save the Dead Animals!” It just doesn’t have a good ring to it.
Also, hire an experienced graphic designer to create a logo. I know it is fun killing 50 hours in Word creating the perfect logo with your children, but it’s not a science project, you are marketing yourself and it is OK to hire a professional to create that image of you (that’s my lame graphic designer rant).
Now for some common sense;
