Sioux Falls mayoral runoff dilemma

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Vote for the man with the Kangol hat.

As the Gargoyle Leader points out today, the runoff will probably give Staggers the edge because of his supporters and the low voter turnout;

An analysis of voting at precincts across the city shows that Staggers won in more polling sites – and he won big in many of them. However, Huether picked up enough voters citywide to come within 49 votes of Staggers to make it into the April 27 runoff.

Staggers did well in central Sioux Falls precincts and also some on the city’s north side. Huether claimed victories in several precincts on the city’s far west side and also in southeastern Sioux Falls.

Staggers is confident that his supporters, whom he described as very intense and very committed, will vote in the runoff.

“I certainly hope people come out and express their views because the city government has such a strong impact on all of us here,” he said.

Trust me though, Kermit IS NOT A SHOE-IN

Some things he will have to accomplish to get an edge on Mike;

1. Make sure his supporters show up on runoff day (this will be an easy one).

2. At least get the endorsement of two if not all three of his past opponents. I don’t think it will be a stretch to get Peterson’s and Costello’s endorsement, but even if he does not, I think real conservatives who voted for them, will vote for Kermit. I just don’t see a lot of conservative Republicans casting their votes for Huether (a Hildebrand Democrat). I also see an opportunity with some of Vernon’s supporters. It is no secret that Vernon is a registered Indy but he leans towards the left when it comes to city spending. I think Kermit will be able to pick up some support from Vernon in the senior citizen department. To tell you the truth, I will be surprised if Vernon endorses either candidate. He seemed to be rather miffed at Mike for the Events Center ad. I think Vernon knew all along the he couldn’t beat Kermit in the general and Mike was his main opposition.

3. A low voter turnout by Huether supporters will also boost Kermit. While I have no doubt that Huether has passionate supporters, I don’t think a lot of his supporters are as entrenched as Kermit’s are. I call Huether supporters ‘Obama-like’ who were caught up in the moment. Kermit supporters have supported him for years and don’t get all wrapped up in that Hopey-Changey stuff. We’ll see if Huether can keep them energized for another two-weeks.

4. Kermit must hammer Mike about his association with the Democratic party, unions and Hildebrand.

5. Kermit needs to ask direct questions of Mike about what he really did at First Premier Bankcard. I have yet to hear directly from the horse’s mouth about his role in fee-harvesting that resulted in the Feds making the practice illegal.

6. Kermit must make some calls. While I deplore robo-calling, there is no doubt in my mind it put Mike and Erpenbach over the top.

7. Kermit needs to keep wearing Kangol hats but ditch the tan suit.

Kermit Staggers; The ONLY choice for Sioux Falls mayor

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After following city politics for almost 4 years now, I will say this, everyone running for mayor in 2010 have qualifications to be the next mayor, BUT, Kermit’s qualifications overshadow them. Before I tell you why I think Kermit is the ONLY choice for mayor, I want to touch on my concerns about the other candidates. Like I said, all the candidates have qualifications that would make them ‘decent’ mayors but here is where I have my doubts;

Janoct Ajda; While Janoct understands the concerns of the working man, he has no understanding the workings of government.

Bill Peterson; Besides Kermit, Bill is probably one of the most intelligent candidates running for office. But there are two things that worry me about Bill. He wrote the flawed and possibly unconstitutional city charter and he seems hellbent on pushing a personal agenda, whether the public approves or not.

Pat Costello; I like Pat’s views on fiscal responsibility, but is that campaign talk or the real deal? I would find a Pat Costello administration as a third term of Munson. Pat’s contributors bought him and he would do the bidding of the special interests of Sioux Falls.

Mike Huether; Mike used to be my second choice, but it seems lately he has been getting desperate, attacking Kermit for being a dissenter (which I think will only backfire). While I think Mike is a guy who wants to listen to the public I struggle with his past business experience and the fact that he worked in a VERY PRIVATE industry. Something that is lacking in Sioux Falls city government is transparency, something I think Mr. Huether would struggle with, since he hasn’t been that transparent about what he did as a VP at First Premier. He talks about business experience but doesn’t tell us what he did. A lot of political double-speak from Mr. Huether.

Vernon Brown; Oh, where to begin with Vernon? Vernon does have some attributes; He is likeable and has done some great work on behalf of the homeless. Vernon also is a working class joe who has climbed the ladder all by himself, and I will give him credit for that. But after that, I’m not sure what qualifies him to be mayor. He knows how to ratchet up the rhetoric, being a reporter for Stormland TV News probably helped him in that department. But my major concerns about Vernon are simple. He doesn’t take stands and often flip-flops on issues, just look at his city council voting record. He seems to be on the fence about government transparency. And one thing you can be certain about, Vernon will spend money on unneeded ‘supposed’ quality of life projects like it grows on trees. We don’t need another Munson.

Now to Kermit. As I outlined above, this is why I think Kermit is the ONLY choice for mayor. I am not gonna go into a long rant as to why I think Kermit is most qualified, I have been doing that for months, but I will say this about him;

• Extremely Intelligent

• Caring

• Citizen Advocate

• Fiscal Conservative

• Government Experience

• Transparent

• HONEST

I think his honesty says it all to me. He is the only candidate who has been honest and sometimes has given the public the ‘Ugly truth’. That worries people. But don’t believe the Munsonites and there constant, “The truth is negative – but lies are positive.” boloney. It’s time the citizens of Sioux Falls were told the truth.

We can’t fix what is broken, if we don’t know what is broken.

It’s time to fix what is broken in Sioux Falls, and improve what is already great. VOTE STAGGERS – APRIL 13TH.

The SF city council agrees with Staggers, but it isn’t even a blip on the radar screen

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Want to make your home or business safer? The city wants to charge you for that.

The Gargoyle Leader is featuring two stories today about how the city council is at odds with Dr. Staggers (again) yet no mention of how they had a change of heart over one of Kermit’s suggestions. Last week Kermit suggested that a 23 page proposed city ordinance on alarm systems should go through committee first, because the ordinance is too far-reaching (it includes a licensing and registration fee to have a security system – that’s right kiddies, only in Sioux Falls would they find a way to charge you for making your business safer). At the time, most of the city council disagreed with Kermit and the PD proclaimed that they have spent “two years” writing the ordinance (like that makes it better). They felt that we should just ‘trust’ the PD. Well, big surprise in the informational meeting on Monday! After fielding many ‘concerns’ from constituents on the matter, the rest of the council decided it was a good idea to go to committee.

Once again, Kermit was with the citizens and right on the issue and the rest of the council was wrong. Is anyone detecting a trend here?

Now to the stories in the Gargoyle. The first one is a blatant attempt to smear Kermit a week before the election. It is clear that there is nothing wrong with Kermit wanting to exempt non-profits that help the homeless, but the rest of the council just can’t resist shooting him down, it was CLEARLY POLITICAL. Even Munson gets in the fight and tries to stifle Kermit (in between the babblings of Quen Be De Knudson).

Councilor Kermit Staggers introduced an amendment that would have added the proposed County Permanent Supportive Housing, St. Francis House and the Union Gospel Mission. “I think what we want to do with this amendment is to send a message that we are concerned about homeless people. I think that’s a very good message for us to send,” he said. Councilor Bob Litz, who proposed adding fire inspection fees to the exemption list, said Staggers’ amendment is veering away from the original intention of the ordinance. Since 1996, the exemptions have been applied toward projects involving volunteer labor and materials that promote affordable housing, city planning director Mike Cooper said. Cooper said the city would lose more money with multifamily projects such as homeless housing and estimated the city would lose a minimum $300 per unit for an apartment complex.

Cooper is concerned about the city losing a couple of grand while flushing $5 million down the toilet called the ‘River Greenway Project.’ Give me a f’ing break! This was clearly political.

And once again, Kermit has proven that he is on the right side of another issue;

Mayoral candidate and current City Councilor Kermit Staggers hopes that doesn’t happen. “I hope he wins,” Staggers said of Wiedermann. As a city councilor, Staggers has spoken against the cameras, often casting the lone vote for their removal. Countdown-number systems that show pedestrians and motorists how many seconds remain until the light turns yellow have been installed at some downtown crosswalks. Those systems are the proper way to deal with intersections that see a lot of foot traffic, Staggers said.

But Vernon can’t resist the urge to claim all drivers that go thru that intersection, “Guilty until proven innocent.”

Vernon Brown cited the death of Argus Leader employee Edie Adams, who was killed at the intersection of 10th and Minnesota as she crossed the street in 2003, as a reason that location needs the camera system.

That has always been my concern with the cameras. I assume the person who killed Adams was prosecuted and handed a punishment. So why do the rest of us have to pay for the crime? It is clear what kind of mayor Brown would make. He would probably ramp up code enforcement to an even higher level of ridiculousness. We need a mayor who trusts us as citizens to do the right thing, not presume we are all guilty.

HERE is Kermit’s TV spot

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMu7pbxMUyA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Has KELO-TV turned into a propaganda wing for Vernon Brown also?

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It seems not only does the Gargoyle Leader have to put Staggers down, Stormland-TV news cannot resist either. At their six-o-clock news it was clear that Kermit had won their poll, but instead of presenting those results they showed Vernon as having the top favorable rating;

Not only is this misleading, it borders on deception and libel. Doesn’t matter if you like Oklahoma State or Nebraska, it only matters who wins. Kermit won the poll, the poll you paid for. I like Santa Claus, doesn’t mean I would elect him to mayor.

This election is about qualifications, something your editors, news directors, camera men, photographers, journalists and probably janitors lack. You are pathetic source of news and you wonder why day in and day out people tune out the news? Because you try to influence instead of inform. In these last 12 days, I beg you to report the news, as is. In fact, I challenge you, because it seems you struggle with it.

As a blogger, it is MY job to influence, not inform. But it seems now days I’m the one that has to put the truth out there. How sad coming from a guy who does it in his underware while listening to his I-Pod.

From my email box • Todd Epp on Dr. Staggers as mayor

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“Yeah, like, I support Mike Huether for mayor, even though I can’t vote for him. Becuz, like, I think Sioux Falls is so great, I moved to Harrisburg.”

I sent out a mass email yesterday steering people towards the Argus Leader interview of Kermit, I tried to only include people in Sioux Falls, but apparently I included a couple of people who don’t live in Sioux Falls (Epp lives in Harrisburg). In expected ‘Todd Epp’ style he responded to my email and pulled his normal ‘reply all’ (Like the other people on my email list actually give a rat’s ass about his opinion).

But now that I think about it, I would love to respond to his email, in the best way I know possible, on South DaCola.

Scott:

Thanks for the Kermit Staggers info.

However, I think I can summarize Kermit’s positions on the various issues facing Sioux Falls thusly: No, I don’t like it, no, no, no, no, against, no, against, no, no, no, against, no, no, against, I don’t like it, no, no, against, and no.

It is pretty obvious that Todd did not bother to watch the interview, he would find out that Kermit is a very much a yes man, a guy who says, “Yes we can get it done if we work together to solve problems.” But since we are addressing ‘NO’s, let’s go there. I have often said, either Kermit is psychic or he has the pulse of the citizens. Here’s some facts about Kermit’s ‘NO’ votes;

• Kermit was against the Rec Center, voters agreed.

• Kermit was against the indoor pool, voters agreed.

• Kermit was against a tax increase to build arterial roads, that was supposed to be a 50/50 partnership. It turned out to be a gigantic boondoggle in which taxpayers have put in over 15x more then the developers.

• Kermit was against a 3rd penny sales tax to build an events center (ironically Huether, who Epp supports followed suit) and the legislature agreed.

Amazing how someone who votes NO all the time has a majority of voters agree with him. Heck, he even has his closest competitor agreeing with him.

Kermit’s a great pick if you think it is 1953 in Sioux Falls.  I’d rather see any of the other candidates win than Kermit.  At least they want to see the community move forward, not backward.  Sioux Falls needs a mayor who has ideas and wants to do things to improve the community, not just complain about spending money and being against anything that might make Sioux Falls more competitive and attractive to prospective, new, and longtime residents.

Todd obviously has spent too many days worshipping at the altar of Argus Publisher Beck, and reading the moronic comments on the Argus forum boards.

Kermit has proposed instituting a Hoover commission after he is elected (Bill Peterson suggested it too, but a day after Kermit proposed the idea, another candidate trying to ride the coattails of Dr. Staggers).

Kermit wants the city to move forward, but he knows you don’t have to do this by spending tax dollars. He has suggested;

• Deregulation to help clean up the older neighborhoods faster

• Revising the city ordinances and codes and taking out the unneeded ones

• Tax breaks and community development loans to small businesses to help with expansion

And Sioux Falls has an impact on the region and state that makes it vital that the community does well so the rest of South Dakota can do well too.  When Sioux Falls sneezes, the rest of the state gets a cold.

As a Harrisburg resident, however, I have no official say in the matter.  But also as a Harrisburg resident living in the shadow of the city, I do know I want Sioux Falls to be a place of job opportunities, good parks and recreational facilities, safe streets and neighborhoods, culture, and most importantly, a positive attitude.

You are right, you have no say in the matter, even though as a Sioux Falls taxpayer I subsidize your city through my taxes and water fees. Something Kermit wants to put an end to, and rightfully so.

We have that now and several of the other candidates, including my friend Mike Huether, will continue to foster such a Sioux Falls and improve on what other business, political, social, and cultural leaders have done in the past to enrich Sioux Falls.

This isn’t about Mike, but I knew you couldn’t resist mentioning him. You can yack away about Mike all you want, but Kermit has a proven record, Mike has ‘talk’.

For about ten years in the 1970s and 80s, I went to college, lived, and worked in Topeka, KS, a comparably sized community.  But because they had leaders like Kermit who basically were against everything, didn’t want to spend money, wouldn’t compromise, and only could see the problems with new ideas and not the opportunities, the community suffered.  It lost population.  It lost business.  More importantly, it lost it’s self-esteem and ability to bring people together to find solutions.  Topeka has only recently started to rebound because of leaders like Mike Huether (and some of the other candidates), who have had to change Topeka’s Kermit-like No/I’m Against Everything mindset.  As much as I enjoyed living in Topeka, a beautiful, historic city, I have enjoyed living in Sioux Falls even more because our community leaders in most every endeavor come up with solutions.  They also believe tomorrow will be better than today if we work hard, bring people together, see problems as opportunities.

This paragraph alone proves you know nothing about Kermit or watched the interview. Some things that Kermit wants to pursue in Sioux Falls if he becomes mayor are;

• Making the Pavilion more accessible and affordable to the public

• Securing a more private sponsorship of public art

• More transparency in government – you know, the little pest we call the First Amendment, that you know so much about, Todd 🙂

• And most importantly treating every citizen and their opinions with respect.

I commend you being involved so passionately in the political process.  But I find Kermit is a surprising choice for a young, creative person such as you who has made Sioux Falls your home.

That is why I support Kermit, because he is a passionate creative person who also has the intellect to succeed as mayor.

Kermit also has an amazing sense of humor, something I have never mentioned before. He is not a person to get ‘upset’ or ‘paranoid’ when he is attacked politically, in fact he often laughs and brushes it off. I haven’t had that experience with any of the other candidates running for mayor, in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them carry a mirror around with them. Be careful not to break it. Kinda wonder if that is what happened at the beginning of the Munson administration?