Has Mayor Huether implemented a ‘No Hugs’ policy?

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In a very ‘Trumpian’ move the new rumor floating around city hall is that MMM will no longer give hugs, at least at public events where the news has it’s cameras (Trump won’t shake hands). I guess it stems from our local TV stations showing multiple clips of him hugging it out with his former BFF, Jim Sideras at his retirement press conference. He supposedly requested that the TV stations stop showing the clip.

It reminds me of when he requested a local business to take down pictures on FB of him drinking beers at their grand opening party. Hey mayor, Coors Light really isn’t ‘beer’.

CityLink to change their name to MMM-TV

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Why does the official webpage of the City of Sioux Falls only highlight Huether?Look at the page, it states RECENT VIDEOS but Huether’s Shut up and Listen should actually be third on the list by “recent” order. Doesn’t RECENT order mean the newest videos should be highlighted?

Why is it always about Huether and no one else? Oh yea, I know why…

Mayor Huether has never been a leader. He’s a bully.

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The AL Ed Board seem to be surprised that Huether isn’t acting like a leader when it comes to the Sideras incident;

OK, but that shouldn’t stop the mayor from doing his job, which is to lead. Leadership doesn’t mean only holding press conferences and being accountable when things go well. Quite the opposite. It means standing up and facing the music when things get messy.

Ironically, Sideras may not be the one that is in trouble, it may be the city. And his termination may be the city’s attempt of protecting themselves. Who knows at this point since no body is talking.

Even with all the secrecy and lack of transparency, no one should be surprised that Huether only gets things done by bullying. He has NO time for controversy, in his mind there is NO controversy if you don’t admit to controversy, just cover it up. That’s what he did when former assistant chief Patrick Warren complained about unauthorized vacation time back in 2011.

I do think the silence on behalf of the city and especially the mayor has little to do with his leadership style. I think many heads are about the roll. I struggle to think something so many agencies are involved with would have only one suspect. Jim is a smart guy, but I struggle to believe he is the only one involved. This may end up being Huether’s Watergate or Waterloo, because even if there is no direct wrongdoing by the mayor, he is the one in charge, and as Truman so proudly displayed on his Oval Office desk, ‘The buck stops here’.

As I predicted, Mayor Huether cries wolf again and uses the media to take the temperature of voters

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Time to collect some beer cans.

And he keeps getting the media to fall for it. Though I will give props to Stu for getting in some digs about his indecision, especially with including Jamison in the article.

He still hasn’t forgotten how Jamison attacked his ethics and credibility during the 2014 campaign by pointing to real estate investments held in office by Huether and his wife, Cindy, and questioning whether such interests impacted tax incentive decisions.

No wrongdoing was established and Huether went on to win with 55 percent of the vote. But he felt unjustly robbed of a landslide victory that would have more forcefully validated the successes of his first term.

I think wrongdoing was well established, but in the land of no ethics (and no ethics laws) there was really nothing the public or Jamison could do. Apparently family members can invest and benefit from tax dollars. Just look at the Huether’s Tennis Center.

“In my re-election campaign, our numbers were really positive, but what happens at the end of races is that sometimes people throw out everything to try to reverse that. The strategy in this case was that even if (Jamison) wasn’t going to be successful, he would make sure that Mike and Cindy Huether never got a chance to do this again. He decided to make it personal, and you can’t find a way to make it more personal than going after someone’s family.”

Classic Mikey, blame the messenger. He is the one who drags his family members into the fray then turns around and blames others for when he gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Recently he had his daughter be a part of a proclamation for her work organizing the ‘Walk for Science’ which was basically people complaining about Trump’s stance on science, ironically, Mike is a Trump fan.

Even in his 2010 race for mayor, the support of otherwise friendly business leaders such as Sanford and Beacom was more elusive than Huether anticipated, a lesson in party politics that shaped some of his later decisions.

This has always been a point of contention. While helping the Staggers campaign I found out that Mike’s departure from First Premier wasn’t exactly ‘smooth’. I have consistently heard from former FP employees and city employees that he isn’t exactly pleasant to work for. But this of course is all rumors, maybe if he runs for statewide office, we will get to hear more about his executive management style from some of them.

Nelson points to public projects that had “stalled out or become stagnant” under previous mayors but were brought to fruition under Huether. Much of that work came without collaboration with the city council, leading to criticism about the mayor’s oversized ego and strong-arm executive style.

I will never criticize Mike for his enthusiasm or getting things done, but I strongly disagree with his process. I have often said that Mike could have accomplished all the same goals with using honey, getting the public and council involved with decisions and using transparency at the highest level. When you step on toes, you piss people off, and if South Dakotans are good at one thing, it’s holding a grudge. Mike has made a lot of fierce enemies over the past 7 years.

Does that mean a bid for governor is unattainable and that U.S. House is more prudent? Is there a fallback position that says go for broke and then run for mayor in 2022 if you fail? Maybe Huether would be comfortable enjoying time with family and making memories without that burning need to succeed?

The stream-of-consciousness debate in his mind is political agony in real time, which some of his once and future rivals find distasteful.

“I see a guy who’s struggling,” says Jamison, who has yet to declare his own candidacy for mayor. “It’s like he can’t figure out the next step and doesn’t want to lose, but nobody likes to lose. If it’s really about public service and not just being the guy, why doesn’t he run for city council? That would be a great way to stay involved. But if he’s going to ride it out because he only wants the top job and that’s all he’s good for, I would caution him against that.”

Personally, I think if Huether decides to ride it out for 4 years to run for Mayor again he has a strategy to keep him in the limelight. It is no secret in certain circles that he recruited Diamond Jim to run for mayor. IMO, if Jim wins, he will make Mike his Chief of Staff, and in essence, allow Mike to run the city for the next 4 years. I know this sounds like a crazy conspiracy, but just look how crazy the last 4 years have been.

There is also the possibility of Jim resigning after a year and having a special election for mayor in which Mike could run.

It took 7 years, but the mayor finally admits to his Hubris

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Before we get to the mayor flapping his trap and not really filling us in on what he is running for, I still predict he will be running for Congress. Once you read the article you get the hint that he doesn’t like losing, and Congress would be his best bet. Remember, it is only two year terms, and in 4 years he could run for governor or mayor again. I think the mayor is weighing this heavily, but I also think he realizes what is going on around him. I may be wrong about the congressional run, but remember, I predicted Staggers and Huether in the run-off for mayor 6 months before the election.

What I found interesting about Whitney’s article is that Huether finally admits to something we have known about him and his leadership style for a long time, he is a dictator;

“First of all, this is the executive branch,” he says of the governor’s seat being vacated by Dennis Daugaard. “It’s not the judicial branch. It’s not the legislative branch. And I don’t care who the candidate is – I’ll put my qualifications up against any of them, particularly if you want to bring business acumen to government. OK? If it were a non-partisan race, I would have thrown my hat in the ring already.”

As usual, what Mike has never understood is that all 3 branches of government must work together in a democracy. But for 7 years he has enjoyed a city attorney that follows orders from the guy who appointed him and a rubber stamp council.

He is going for broke. Nothing but victory will suffice.

“I don’t handle losses very well,” he says. “I would struggle if that happened. I’ve had people encourage me to run for things and say, ‘Do it and just get your name ID out there. Establish your foundation for the next race.’ No. That’s not how I do things. There are no fallback positions. That is not how I do it and I know that people don’t understand that mentality – but that is me. That’s a problem I have and it’s an issue I must deal with as a person. And I struggle with it. I do.”

Win at all costs, no matter who you destroy or if it benefits the citizens or not. It was his mantra while running against Staggers, it was his mantra while pushing for an EC, Pool and Administration building. Mike doesn’t give a rip if what he proposes helps a damn soul as long as HE is WINNING. And it is a piss poor and disgusting attitude for any politician to have.

More importantly, with help from Hildebrand’s consulting firm, he coordinated a get-out-the-vote effort that pushed him past Brown and Costello and into a runoff with Staggers, the penny-pinching city councilor that he knew he could beat head-to-head.

Since I was partially involved with the Staggers’ campaign, I can really tell you that it was Hildy’s get-out-the-vote strategy that put Mike over the top. Not only was Hildy suckered by Mike, but Sioux Falls Democrats helped Mike to. And what has Mike done to the pro-labor party? First he took a dump on the unions then he left the party all together. Remember, win at all costs no matter who you trample.

“I’ve taken a lot of heat, but that’s exactly what we should be doing in government,” he says. “And I know not everybody in the press likes that. I don’t care. I don’t give a crap. It should be run like a business, looking for productivity and service improvements and getting better bang for your buck. That’s what I did in business and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for Sioux Falls.”

His business acumen philosophy will probably bankrupt our city. The signs of over borrowing are already starting to rear their head. By the end of his term, it will be obvious what his ‘business acumen’ has done for us. We will have a lot of bond payments for play things and little money to keep up our infrastructure.

He became estranged from his former campaign strategist on the events center issue, as Huether favored building at the convention center complex and Hildebrand spearheaded the Build It Downtown campaign. Huether claims to have lost other friendships in that battle, but he came out on top – just as he stuck to his guns to override the city council on a $25 million administration building plan.

Win at all costs, screw friends, who needs them.

Hildy describes the mayor as I have described him for years, an out-of-control dictator;

“There are people who have known Mike Huether for a long time who still don’t know what drives him,” says Hildebrand. “Some might argue that he’s been a strong leader, but saying ‘my way or the highway’ is not being a strong leader. That’s being a strong dictator.”

And he has certainly proved that, time and time again.

He admits that the statewide odds are against him but feels he can find a “perfect storm” to stir up voters, pointing to name recognition and favorability ratings while refusing to comment on whether he has conducted internal polling for a potential run.

Once again, just because you ‘say something’ Mike doesn’t make it true. If you have actually conducted a poll, tell us that, don’t just pull the old, “I’m popular, just ask me.” routine.

“Try to outwork me,” he says, leaning in again with competitive flare. “If there’s one thing I love to do, that is engaging in people. Actually engaging the people. Going to where they’re at. And that makes everybody else unbelievably nervous. There are still people in South Dakota that actually want you to earn their vote instead of buy their vote. They actually care that you shook their hand. Or that you listened to them. Or that you had to agree to disagree on something that they challenged you on. They respect that more than someone who’s out there raising millions of dollars from people outside of South Dakota and pretending to represent normal voters. And if I do run, that’s what I’m banking on.”

Yet he knew he couldn’t beat Staggers in handshakes, so he spent well over double of what Kermit did.

Nothing new in this article, just the same old hubris. Surprised he didn’t mention his chain-smoking alcoholic father . . . oh, sorry, that will probably be in Part II of this intriguing in depth article into a Hayseed Egotist from Yankton.