South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Denny Sanford

Denny Sanford Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls State Legislature

Not sure why the mayor had to have secret meetings about this?

l3wis 10Comments

Looks like the DSU deal is being released to the public. Not sure why Mayor Secret Poops had to have a secret meeting with the council about this at city hall. That’s what baffles me about his secrecy sometimes . . . what’s the point? So you want to give $10 million to a public university? And that needs to be kept secret why? Oh that’s right, not to piss off the great one;

Of the $90 million going toward this initiative, $50 million over five years will come from T. Denny Sanford to expand in Sioux Falls; $10 million will come from the city, pending council approval; $250,000 from Forward Sioux Falls for a cyber/IT park in Sioux Falls; $30 million from the state as proposed in Gov. Kristi Noem’s State of the State address, pending legislative approval.

While I certainly don’t discourage DSU building a facility in Sioux Falls AND certain tax dollars going towards higher education, I’m not sure the money should be coming out of the city’s kitty. We can do a lot of infrastructure repairs with $10 million. Which brings us to the other big question, where is this money coming from*? If the city has $10 million laying around to throw at this, it tells me one thing, we are overtaxed. It seems lately the city is just flush in money for all kinds of these kind of projects. Can you imagine how many affordable homes and apartments we could refurbish with $10 Million? Probably well over a 1,000 units combined.

Looks like another handshake deal with the Denny Warbucks and Matty P. where the private sector is dictating where taxpayers should spend their money while our local leaders have secret meetings about it in the basement of city hall. Hopefully the black hoods and candles were donated 🙂

*Speaking of money, I guess councilor Starr was mislead last week about where the $150K is coming from for the Bunker Ramp legal fund. The story going around is that our legal department has a slush fund for litigation like this. I wonder if our city attorney will apologize and correct his statements at the next public meeting?

Denny Sanford Education funding Sioux Falls

Students at National University in San Diego, not to happy about Sanford’s Gift

l3wis 5Comments

Would be nice to hear some chatter like this in Sioux Falls;

When the billionaire T. Denny Sanford meted out cash, his philanthropy often begot physical tributes. Hospitals plastered his name on emergency rooms and nursing homes; bronze statues were erected in his likeness. In the case of National University in San Diego, the school’s chancellor reportedly displayed a cardboard cutout of Sanford following a $350 million pledge in 2019. The university agreed to name itself after him, too.

Now, following reports that Sanford has been investigated for possible possession of child pornography, some National students are calling for distance.

“They should just give the money back,” said Perry Craz, who is pursuing a master’s degree in special education and teaching. “I don’t see any benefit by having Sanford’s name put on the top of the ticket.”

If, and that’s a big if, Sanford gets indicted on any charges and convicted (I’m not holding my breath) Sioux Falls would become the laughing stock of the Midwest for all the money we sucked out of him. It reminds of the scene in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ where George sees the name of the town as ‘Pottersville’ or should we say ‘Sanfordville’.

Christine Erickson Corona Virus Denny Sanford Sanford Hospital SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilor Erickson must be taking mask wearing advice from FORMER Sanford CEO

l3wis 16Comments

Yeah, you didn’t hear it here, but someone got the boot after writing strange Covid poetry to his employees, but we may never know;

Kelby Krabbenhoft and Sanford Health have agreed to part ways, Sanford announced in a news release at about 5:45 p.m. today.

This is no surprise, I have been hearing for months from Sanford employees that Kelby actually partially retired last Fall but was staying on basically for consulting for the transition to Intermountain Health. Not sure how much of that is true, but you will remember last Fall was when a lot of executives were leaving and an investigation into Denny Sanford was being done. No charges have been filed.

But as I was watching the Sioux Falls City Council Informational meeting tonight, I found it ironic that one of the city councilors who voted against a mask mandate and has admitted to having covid couldn’t even figure out how to wear a mask (you need to cover you mouth AND nose.)

Masks! We don’t need no stinking masks!

While she did pull it up a few times she kept pulling it down while talking. Scientists have said that masks actually do work, BUT you need to wear them properly and you have to have 100% compliance. Maybe Christine felt like Kelby that now that she has some kind of magical immunity she didn’t have to wear the mask?

Argus reporter Ellis said it best when talking about Sioux Falls City Government, “Amateur Hour.”

Denny Sanford Denny Sanford Premier Center Event Center Sanford Hospital Sanford Sports Complex Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls needs to stop putting our philanthropic eggs in one basket

l3wis 12Comments

As we have heard since Friday, there are many more chapters to be written about the investigation into Denny Sanford. At this point, we really don’t know what will happen. But one thing is clear, and something I have been concerned about for a very long time, depending on one big donor in our community to sponsor almost everything has put us in quite the pickle. We need to spread it around more.

Let’s face it, even if this wasn’t currently going on, we have already sold our souls to one person. Drive around this town, how many things have Denny’s name written all over it? Even if Denny would have made his money curing Cancer, would it still make it right? I have often argued we need to spread the philanthropy around. Recently we saw that with the Triage Center and the Kirby Dog Park. To that, I say bravo.

Even if Denny gets out of this unscathed, we can’t go back. It will cost the hospital and the taxpayers of this community millions to erase his name from our town. It will have economic impacts, political impacts, reputation and business impacts, city budget repercussions and many more things if he is indicted. We must prepare NOW for things to come.

In this letter from CEO of Sanford Health, something stuck out to me;

Like you, I’m deeply concerned about these reports.

Yah think Kelby!? This tells me that those on the top probably know how deep this investigation goes. To put out a letter like this before any indictments should all make us step back and think a little bit.

I knew there was going to come a day of reckoning in our community because we put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to charitable giving. Hopefully we learn from this, because it will end up costing us a lot of dough.

And if the sign on the Denty needs to be removed, may I suggest a name I had from the beginning, The Citizen’s Center, why not name it after the folks who are paying the mortgage on this dented up tin can?

Denny Sanford

Billionaire T. Denny Sanford Was Under Investigation for Child Pornography

l3wis 10Comments

Ok, not the changes I was expecting at Sanford;

T. Denny Sanford, the richest man in South Dakota and a major donor to children’s charities, was being investigated for possible possession of child pornography, according to four people familiar with the probe.

Investigators with the South Dakota attorney general’s Division of Criminal Investigation obtained a search warrant as part of the probe, according to two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They said the case was referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation.

Sanford has not been charged with any crime. It’s not clear what evidence, if any, investigators used to obtain the search warrant or what they collected from the search. It’s also not clear how the investigation may have progressed since federal authorities received the referral or if it is still ongoing.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock. I wonder how long before the MSM in SD or SF picks this up . . .

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

Art Sioux Falls

What is the City’s Art’s Coordinator up to?

Uncategorized

The Anti-Bike Crap needs to end in Sioux Falls!

Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Jim Entenman Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

So Erica Beck wants to run for mayor? LOL.

1st Amendment Bishop Dudley House Downtown Sioux Falls Homeless Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council

The City of Sioux Falls doesn’t understand transparency and open government