I guess not many people tell her NO. I have heard from legislators who have been in committee meetings with her that she doesn’t take the word lightly. While I am not one to defend the Argus editorial board that often (because most of the time they are day late and dollar short with their grievances) I do agree with them that you can’t just pull some mysterious anonymous doctor from your rear end and quote them in an op ed about a pandemic. If you want people to take your covid data and information seriously, it helps to actually quote REAL doctors and scientists, not ones that apparently your communications cry baby made up.
It’s called credibility and transparency.
If the doctors truly exist, and they may, it just further proves how professionals in this state never want to take a stand publicly, they always want to ‘hide’ which is no surprise because that is how SD GOP funds it’s PACS through secretive donors that have their LLC addresses at UPS Stores.
They truly are the party of Chickensh . . . .
As Maggie Seidel said, Noem’s (Mis)Communications peeps and supposed Senior Advisor & Policy Director, “Democracy dies in Darkness.” It certainly does Maggie, and from you stand, it is very, very dark.
Okay, I will admit, this is a little scary. Back when Kristi was just a state legislator from Castlegodknowswhere she posted this picture on her blog. Yes, Kristi had a blog. I think it was about 4-H (proud alumni myself) but I’m not sure.
It seems a lot of supposed tough guy leaders in our state are scared of the governor, and I am clueless why.
In fact, the first time I attempted to talk to our governor (and the first time I saw her in public) she ran like the wind at Pheasant Fest. Detroit Lewis seems to have that impression on girls . . .
There is NOTHING scary about Noem, in fact she is like a gentle seed falling from a Cottonwood tree, blowing away in the wind and turning into nothingness.
Tuesday morning on Facebook in response to a question about why a mask mandate isn’t taking place, Sioux Falls City Councilor Pat Starr wrote “we are scared of the governor.†This afternoon he told KELOLAND News stands by that and clarified that by “we†he means city government overall.
“I think there are a number of reasons that we have failed to act,†Starr said. “We have been waiting for leadership both at the state and the city level, and it’s not coming. and it’s time to no longer be scared, it’s time to take the action to mitigate the situation.â€
Starr does support some kind of mask mandate.
“I think we’re scared of maybe offending not only our leadership, but we’re scared to offend a small portion of our community that’s not willing to act,†Starr said.
Like Patrick, I am not scared of Trump’s gold plated lap dog, Governor Noem, and you should not be either. Be nice. Be respectful and wear a mask. The Rodeo Snow Queen can’t stop you. And if you try to corner her she will run to the nearest trucker hat rack or FOX news studio to deflect.
TenHaken admits on National News he has essentially given up.
Update: TenHaken was featured on Meet the Press this morning, it seems he has simply gave up because of Trump’s rhetoric. Really?!
CHUCK TODD:
I want to ask you, get you to react to something here from the mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a Republican. I spoke with him on Friday. I’m guessing you’re going to empathize with what he has to say. It’s, again, a Republican mayor of Sioux Falls. Take a listen.
MAYOR PAUL TENHAKEN:
Trying to enforce any government restrictions now at this point in the game, even if, even if I felt that was the right thing to do, it’s a non-starter in the community right now. It’s difficult for us at the local level. It’s difficult for us as local leaders, county commissioners, mayors to deal with how politicized this has gotten, and it makes it frustrating.
I’m willing to bet Paul that the people who have made mask wearing political in our town are about 20% and last I checked they are NOT a majority. Do the right thing and push a public mask wearing mandate. For those that don’t want to comply, oh well, they can stay home, I don’t want to see them anyway.
Sixteen mayors of South Dakota’s largest cities sent a letter calling for the public’s action to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
First of all, I am confused as to where this letter was sent? I certainly did NOT get it in the mail or my email box, so I wonder about its effectiveness. I also don’t know if they are providing new information;
We are writing to you with a simple ask, but one that we need everyone to take seriously. We need you to do your part. It is crucial that we are all aware of our behaviors. Wear a mask when physical distancing cannot be maintained, keep your social interactions to small groups, wash your hands frequently, clean frequently touched surfaces often, and stay home if you feel sick. These may seem like small actions, but can make a big difference during this current surge we are experiencing in our state.
These mayors are pretty much telling us something we have known about for a long time and should already be doing. At this point, I’m not sure what this even means.
Asked what measures he had in mind to address the disease in the city, Starr said that’s why he had requested the update.
“That’s the point that we need to hear from the medical professionals,” Starr said, adding that there are some actions “that are more palatable than others.”
“Are we at a point where we’re overloading our health care systems?” he asked. “Our workers?”
This is what REAL leadership does, they recognize an issue, they gather the information, and they put a plan in motion. Sometimes that is legislative, sometimes it is less restrictive, but we can certainly agree penning a letter in the form of a PDF making ‘strong’ suggestions isn’t going to stop the spread of this virus. In fact the mayors that signed this electronic document should be embarrassed and ashamed at their lack of real leadership on this issue.
When I heard about the mayor mandating city employees to wear masks a friend said to me, “Looks like he found his stones.†And I replied, “Huh? I thought city employees were already mandated to wear masks?â€
And am serious about that second part. I guess I just felt that from the beginning of this pandemic that the City Manager (Mayor Paul) would have naturally mandated mask use from the beginning for city employees. During the middle of our largest spike in months isn’t really the time to go, “By the way, we might be able to put the fire out quicker if we stop pouring gasoline on it.â€
I will give credit though to the city employees. For the most part, I have seen them wearing masks (this is why I just figured it was already happening) not to mention, unless you were a cop, fire fighter or parks/public works employee, you were working from home for months which didn’t require a mask.
My last dig is something I have been b’tching about since Paul was inaugurated, DO YOUR JOB AS THE CITY MANAGER, MANAGE THE CITY AND IT’S EMPLOYEES! I’m amazed it took 6 months + into this pandemic for Paul to find the chapter in city charter that lays out his job duties; run the city by managing your directors and employees. Pretty simple.
And while I’m on the soap box, where were you for a week? Conducting city business . . . or conducting 5G business? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Paul did a couple of interviews today, from a hotel room. Where did our mayor go? If it was a family emergency, I would totally understand, but I’m not sure Paul would be doing an interview with CNN during a family emergency.
They just dismissed Councilor Neitzert for blatantly violating city ordinance by taking a paid for lobbyist trip. Is Paul on a paid for lobbyist trip? Are the taxpayers paying for it? I don’t know.
As I have mentioned several times in the past, embrace technology and meet with people via phone or internet. You know, like some city employees did for months working from home. What is so important that the Mayor had to get on a plane (or in a car) and meet with people in person? I’m guessing it has little to do with city business.
We will see. Maybe he will tell us some day . . . oh that’s right, our elected officials don’t give us reports anymore from what they learn on trips.
Sidenote; At the end of the interview today on Belfrage about panhandling (in which Erickson and Neitzert never talked about a possible citation to people giving the panhandlers money – which would solve the problem real quick) Neitzert continued to peddle the flat out lie that he was politically attacked over the ethics complaint. He never proved that in the hearing, because it never happened. As I said already, it is pretty cut and dry, you violated the ordinance and 5 best friends gave you a pass.
