Category Archives: Kermit Staggers

First the AL Debate (I love watching the steam come out of Mike’s ears when he is questioned about Union money).

& the KELO Debate

Now that Huether has turned the race into a partisan affair, one wonders what is at stake for both parties.

On the Democratic side, they view Mike as a rising star in the party and the mayoral seat as a stepping stone. If he gets elected, and is successful as mayor, he could run for governor or even US Senate. Trust me, Mike may be telling you to your face that this is non-partisan, but it is pretty clear he wants this to be a win for Democrats. As Argus Leader political reporter Jonathan Ellis said the other day on his and Patrick Lalley’s web program, “(Republicans) May be looking to choke the baby in the cradle.”

And that brings us to Staggers. It is no secret that Kermit isn’t your typical Republican, and it shows in who votes for him. He has wide support amongst all parties, but how does his party feel about him? Do Republicans want a true fiscal conservative with Libertarian beliefs, such as civil liberties, representing their party as mayor of Sioux Falls? Who knows? It was clear that Pat Costello was their dog in the race. Are they willing to look past Kermit’s big ‘L’ behind his name just to pull off a win for their party, or more importantly stopping Huether?

I truly wish Mike would not have brought partisanship in this race. I support Kermit for his values, his intelligence, his transparency and his willingness to work with ALL citizens, not just the special interests. I could care less if he was a Republican or a Democrat.

I want to give a little ‘Liberal’ advice to my Republican friends, let Mike be the partisan candidate, leave Kermit out of it. That means, let’s stop talking about gay rights and the Freemasons. While these are huge political debates, they play no part in a mayoral race.

Harry Browne wrote: “We should never define Libertarian positions in terms coined by liberals or conservatives – nor as some variant of their positions.”

Cake anyone?

Some people are upset that Kermit said this yesterday at the Chamber forum;

“There seems to be some confusion,” he said. “Once again, I am the Republican, Mike’s the Democrat.”

I don’t think Kermit ever wanted to say this, but he had to. There were several rumors swirling around out there and some undecided voters were unaware of the party affiliations. Kermit just wanted to set the record straight, something he has done his whole political life.

And what was Mike’s response;

“This isn’t about politics,” Huether responded. “The last thing you wanted to hear about is politics and this is what we started with. How incredibly sad is that?”

It’s sad alright, sad that you are such a hypocrite. First off, running for office is political, it’s not a dirty word. Secondly, when you mail out a postcard with Daschle’s picture on it, you hire one of the best Democratic strategist’s in the country to run your campaign (so did Erpenbach), you donate thousands of dollars to the Democratic party, you take money from the unions and use Democratic resources and volunteers to help with your campaign, then you turnaround and are mad that ‘politics’ have been dragged into this race? You dragged them into this race. Staggers was perfectly happy with not bringing up his party affiliation, even though he knew it would help him garner votes, he avoided it. If you are not proud of your association with the Democratic party, why are you a Democrat, or better yet take full advantage of their resources?

Heck, Michelle can’t even admit to the newspaper she is a Democrat. Makes you wonder what she was telling voters before the election? Apparently she wanted them to assume she was an independent.

City councilor-elect Michelle Erpenbach, who attended the breakfast, said the mayoral election is a nonpartisan race and should stay that way.

She won the Central District council seat April 13 and was asked her party affiliation by voters on the campaign trail.

“I would always say this is a nonpartisan race and we are all in this for the betterment of Sioux Falls,” she said.

You can’t have your cake and eat it to. If you are using the Democratic party to get yourself elected, you are being partisan. Plain and simple, there are no two ways around it.