Did we learn anything from 8 years of Huether?

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After the election results came in last night I’m starting to ask that question. I will give the TenHaken camp credit though, I have been hearing they ran a multi-faceted campaign that contacted people through social media, direct mail, robo-calls/push polling, radio and print media. Diversity works.

But I ask people if they recall this resume from 8 years ago from another candidate;

Business acumen and pro-business

Corporate Marketing experience

ZERO government experience as either an elected official or public employee

Someone who wasn’t afraid to wear Jesus on their sleeve

Lots of ‘promises’ on how they will make Sioux Falls better for EVERYBODY.

Someone who got the financial contribution support of the big banksters in town

Someone who used nationally proven strategic campaign techniques

While that was Mike’s resume, guess who’s resume this time around fits that bill? Only ONE candidate, Paul TenHaken and to a certain degree Loetscher. Did we learn anything about what a Marketing guru has done for our city? I’m guessing not.

While many may say Mike was a Democrat and Paul is a Republican, I have often thought Mike was a Democrat in name only and used the Dem stamp to get support from labor and the party resources. After he switched to independent he proved to me that he really never was a Dem.

I truly believe that Paul is using this run as a stepping stone for something greater (kind of reminds of someone else to? Huh?)

I think it will be important for the new council to get ahead of the game this time around, whether it is Jo or Paul as mayor. They really need to implement policies ASAP to assure transparency and open communication between the mayor’s office and council. It’s better to just write open government into ordinance than to take a ‘wait and see’ approach. We have been down that road the past 8 years, we don’t need to be there ever again.

Argus Leader endorses(?) TenHaken & Loetscher

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I was told last week that they were going to ‘endorse’ someone, I just didn’t think they were such big wussies they couldn’t pick just one. I figured Loetscher would be endorsed. There are many close relationships between the JO-LOET Camp and the Argus management. Jo is my 2nd choice, so I agree . . . with that proposal . . .

The TenHaken endorsement was done to try to save their Republican readership. Paul is Huether Part II. If it walks like duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.

Loetscher proposes SFPD uses precinct systems

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While Jolene’s idea is a good one, I would go whole hog on it instead of baby steps.

Jolene proposes putting in 5 precincts at the community centers. As I understand it these centers are already to crowded with activities.

I would tweak the plan by putting the precincts at the Fire Stations and expand them to provide public ambulance service. You would kill two birds with one stone and you would put public safety under one roof instead of multiple roofs.

Sioux Falls Mayoral Candidate Loetscher supports public ambulances

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Jolene was at Democratic Forum today. She talked about tablets that first responders use in Houston, TX. They have saved taxpayers oodles of money because it gives first responders the ability to direct patients to the right services if they don’t need an ambulance. So I asked Jolene if she supported public ambulances. She said she definitely would like to look at the option and mentioned that Houston has public ambulances.

My contention has always been that public ambulances would provide faster response times (each fire station would have one) and would pay for themselves through patient fees. We would probably have to hire a third party independent contractor to collect the fees. Most likely it would work on a commission basis.

No matter who the next mayor is, I think this has to be seriously considered.