Gotta hand it to Joel Rosenthal, he really has no idea what he is talking about (or maybe he does and is trying to manipulate voters – hey Joel, everyone knows that is my job);
Kermit Staggers has been actively going door to door for approaching three years. He has had signs on his car that simply said Councilman Kermit Staggers, and appeared in several parades as a Council member. While rationalized as just talking to constituents, though outside his Central District, it is in reality veiled campaigning.
Joel, when is your hate-fest for Kermit going to end? So what if he has been campaigning for the past 3 years? Kinda sounds like a good plan to me. In fact, Kermit talks about the 19,000 doors he has knocked on as a councilor on his website. And while you call it ‘veiled campaigning’ I call it ‘doing his job’. Kermit listens to citizens, something it seems our current city government cannot comprehend. Vernon just wants you to send him a postcard (at your expense).
Finances do demonstrate the degree of support a candidate has in the community.
Yes they do, if most of that money is coming from regular ‘joe-sixpack’ constituents and small businessmen and women. But when you read the donor list of the top contenders, it reads like a who’s – who of Sioux Falls (financially). They donate money because they are attempting to BUY the candidates. I’ll give Brown and Staggers credit for taking the small donations from ‘real’ people.
Most every political activist and / or junkie believes Staggers makes the finals. I do not agree. It is a close call between Vernon Brown and Pat Costello.
LMAO! Vernon and Peterson are gonna have a death match for 4th place. The top three candidates running neck and neck are Huether, Staggers and Costello. I still believe that Staggers and Huether will be in the runoff. They both have grassroots support. And BTW, Joel, I am neither a junkie or an activist, just a loudmouth.
The two At Large Seats will be won by, (At Large A) Rex Rolfing (though never rule out a Coach or former Coach in this case Clarence Kooistra) and (At Large B) Jim Entenman. Michelle Erpenbach will win the Central District seat.
I have no well formed opinion about the Southeast District seat. The candidates are Sue Aguilar, Bob Christensen, and Ryan White. Like giving some edge to a Coach (note: Dave Munson was a coach early in his career) give a little edge to Christensen who is a Barber, another very well networked occupation.
Rex Rolfing? You are kidding? Right? Who is Michelle Erpenbach?
I’m leaning toward Sue Aguilar for the southeast. She’s the only one who seems to know what’s going on with the events center, and is coherent in her ideas.
Bob Christensen was on the task force that pooped out the proposed sales tax for the EC. I e-mailed him to ask if he truly supports the task force’s final conclusions and will base part of my final decision on his response.
Ryan White seemed interesting. We work in the same industry and he’s younger than the others, plus has an MBA. Then I found the only quote I could from him on the Argus website (he doesn’t seem to have one of his own).
“Collective decisions made will have over-weighted implications for young families. A consensus building representative of those interests should be part of the group decision-making process.”
What does that even mean, man? It sounds like something that would come out of some corporate VP of human resources’ mouth.
On the EC:
“The events center needs to encompass inherent value and practicality”
To me, Mr. White, it sounds like you have some sort of need to sound really smart by using big words. This is OK if you actually answer the questions coherently and succinctly. but being intentionally verbose in an attempt to pretend to answer a question only works in B-school.
When the question is “why should we vote for you?”, you need an answer that makes some damned sense.
I’ve met Ryan White at a couple speaking functions, he seems like a really nice and genuine guy and I’d vote for him if I could.
It’s kinda nice to hear that there is 3 qualified candidates running in that district. I still think Bob is going to win, but it is nice to hear they all are good people.
With Home Rule, the present council is just so it looks like we resemble democracy. We could still get our moneys worth.
How about a ‘Popeye’ movie. Lutz=Popeye, Jerstad=Olive Oil, Brown=Wimpy, Castillo=Jeep. Help me here.
As long as Home Rule remains, the new council will also be insignificant. A new mayor who vows to repeal Home Rule could change things.
I’ve met Ryan White at a couple speaking functions, he seems like a really nice and genuine guy and I’d vote for him if I could.
I have no doubt that he’s nice and genuine. But if he wins I’m showing up to all the council meetings with a Buzzword Bingo card.
http://www.businessbuzzwordbingo.com/