Corona Virus

Why does Mayor TenHaken live in a glass house?

l3wis March 9, 2021 4Comments

First I want to commend Jodi for doing a sit down with our mayor, I think Jodi is a great writer and an accomplished person, but I do take issue with some of things said in interview by the mayor. I may not have a degree in journalism, but I think I have a degree in city politics, I have watched the last three mayors very closely, but I have watched city government in motion for over 20 years, and my BS detector went through the roof reading this article;

In his lower back, which he calls “a wreck,” while tests haven’t shown a reason why.

“The only thing we can come up with is stress,” Jill TenHaken said.

While I will agree 100% stress can wreak havoc on your physical health, I’m still wondering where the stress is coming from? Before Covid, Paul was traveling the country making sure his agenda of lining his pockets and his friends was in full swing, it still is. I have often felt that the two major contributors of stress is paranoia and guilt. If you do the right thing, and you know you are, that is leadership, and that is positive, and positivity contributes to good health. If Paul is stressed out, it makes me wonder what he is doing behind the scenes.

“And two days later, it was a state of emergency in the city,” TenHaken said.

“A state of emergency?”

He remembers even hearing the words caused people to become nervous.

“I remember having to calm people down and say it’s OK, it’s a bureaucratic tool,” he said. “You have to declare an emergency to get certain powers you may need to enact.”

It is not a bureaucratic tool, it is public safety. This is what local leaders do to protect the citizens. Why is everything a ‘tool’ to this ‘tool’? If people are in danger you act, if you don’t think they are, you do nothing. It’s really that simple. His statement shows just how little he understands the power of local government to project its citizens.

Before long, Sioux Falls became the biggest hot spot in the nation.

It became a hotspot because local government, the state, the health department, the CDC and the city council did nothing to prevent what happened at Smithfield. Virology is simple really, viruses spread when you don’t take precautions. We took none because supposed leaders failed to act early.

“When you have to send a letter to your third-largest employer, knowing the economic impact that will have … that was really hard,” TenHaken said.

“I had hog producers sending me pictures of dead hogs, 20 feet high and 50 yards long that they had to euthanize because there was no place to take them, and they saw me as the reason for that.”

Growing up as a family farmer, I can tell you why these hogs had to be destroyed, because these farmers don’t diversify their distribution because they idiotically signed contracts with Communists that they would only supply to them. That is their fault, no one else is to blame. Even a moron can see that.

One of TenHaken’s biggest worries – housing – became one of his brightest moments.

REALLY!? If he was concerned about this, he wouldn’t be allowing neighborhoods to be destroyed, he wouldn’t allow low wage employers to come into town, he would prop up affordable housing with tax incentives instead of giving them to egg roll factories in cornfields sending their profits to foreign nations.

“When people think they have opinions, you maybe don’t know the whole story. You maybe don’t know the background that’s led up to it,” Jill TenHaken said.

Jill, you are spot on. Maybe tell your husband he needs to fill us in, please tell us what is going on. Transparency and honesty will always win the day.

“I remember saying, ‘Listen, if you don’t know where your kids are now and they’re teens, I think I know where they are.’ ”

Several parents later told him he was right.

He is right, but you should think about that statement Paul. Many parents in this community are working so much they cannot properly parent, and when you apply trickle down economics and actually encourage it, you will continue to get bad kids, because parents can’t spend time with them. When you lift parents and workers from the bottom up, you fix a lot of these issues, when you continue to coddle the one percenters you only make these issues worse.

It doesn’t matter that no businesses are closed and none were ever ordered to close, he said.

“That tension and that anger” persist, he said.

This isn’t a critique of Paul, if you have a bad business plan, you will fail, Covid or not. It seems some people want to blame Covid, but I can tell you that most businesses in Sioux Falls that have failed, would have failed anyway.

“So that we hit the ground running once the weather turns and tourism season happens, and I think we’re in a good spot. Economically, this city is going to absolutely crush it this year. Businesses are coming here, tourism and events, our small-business community is going to see an incredible rebound because there’s pent-up economic power in the community right now, spending power that’s been tapped down for a year.”

Not everything is about money. While I agree the big guys in Sioux Falls will do just fine, a ‘whole’ community is achieved by caring about its citizens as that ‘whole’. We need to start governing from the bottom.

 I’m very bullish on mentorship,

While I criticize Paul on his leadership style, I totally agree with him on this initiative. I often wonder how different my life would be if I had a mentor. I just hope he can see the sun through the clouds.

A few weeks ago, TenHaken took a test to see if he has COVID-19 antibodies.

It came back negative.

Somehow, he likely led through the year without contracting the virus.

You are lucky, it’s not a party.

While I think Paul has failed us on open government and helping the little folks, I still pray he does the right thing, someday. Leading comes from within, dig deep brother.