Funny how the treasurer who told me all along he wasn’t Alex’s campaign manager knows so much about the strategy that was used. Matt was Alex’s campaign manager and everyone knew it. It was one of the lousiest lies I have ever heard in a campaign. But telling the truth doesn’t win elections.
• Raised a buttload of money (from the banksters and develpers) and spent around 10X more than his opponent.
• Campaigned 3X longer than his opponent.
• Used the extra time from a delayed election to campaign more to primary voters that don’t normally vote in city elections.
• Used the list of Mayor TenHaken’s supporters from 2018 to turn the tide in the SE districts. I figured they were going to do this early on. I got tipped off by a mole that was the list they were working from months ago.
There was no grand mystery here, it was really simple math that made Jensen the 6th member of the RS5. MONEY! And lots of it.
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
I want to applaud the review board, they did an excellent job of reviewing this fairly. I also want to give props to Auditor Litz and Clerk Greco for taking care of this professionally and in a timely manner. I’m glad to see there was no real issues.
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.
As you can see below, the games will begin next Wednesday and it will take three days to comb it over. Not sure, but if the recount needs to be extended past that time, a court may get involved. I am not going to hold my breath and say this will be over next Friday.
Update III: Recount will happen at 9 am next Wednesday, June 24
UPDATE II: The one thing that often makes me laugh about the right wing talking machine is how stupid they think people are. The latest statement made me scratch my head from that POS blog 40 minutes to the North;
Sioux Falls City Councilors do receive a salary. And the word is that Theresa continues to get paid as long as this drags out. I’m told that in addition to monthly car & cell phone allowances, councilors receive a paycheck which Theresa will still have coming in as long as this recount takes.
Does he realize, whether Theresa is on the council or Alex, they would both be getting paid. It really is a neutral sum. Taxpayers are still on the hook either way. He is really grasping at straws.
UPDATE: Theresa has confirmed the appointment of Retired Judge Rodney Steele for the neutral party representing the City Clerk in the recount. While I have never been keen on Judge Steele’s light sentence for Wild Bill for running over Randy Scott and blaming it on a Diet Coke, I still think he would be a fair juror.I just think if she keeps denying applicants, this could go down hill even more. Let’s get this recount on.
Thoughts?
I want you to know, I took a lot of joy in the fact that Stehly chose Randy as her attorney. It reaffirms her commitment to NON-PARTISAN government in Sioux Falls. It doesn’t matter what color of stripes her representative comes from, as long as they can put up the good fight. He will.
But it often harkens back to when I helped Councilor Erickson with the school start date campaign, and how she gathered up assistance from all stripes of the political spectrum, as she should have, now she seems to spitting and spattering out the tired old partisan hackery of Theresa being a (lifelong) Republican but asking someone of another party to help. Oh, Christine, how you have lost your way. And to think I had high hopes for you.
I hope and believe the laundry list below gets a good washing.
You have to remember, this is NOT a referendum on Big T and Alex, this is a referendum on the job City Clerk Tom Greco did. Remember, before Tom was hired he wasn’t even registered to vote (yet we asked him to run our elections). That’s kind of like asking a diesel mechanic to be in charge of the church bake sale.
While most will be rubbing their brows about the Jensen team (I am not, I expected this motley crew) Greco’s first choice of Jack Marsh left me baffled. I said to someone today, “Does Tom think Theresa is that stupid to accept his first choice?” Oh, Brother.
l3wis 
