Pat’s guest was Sioux Falls City Councilor, Christine Erickson. Pat drilled Christine about her and Neitzert getting their panties in a bunch over Knobe’s ethics comments. What I find funny is if you don’t think you did anything wrong ‘ethically’ why do you care what Knobe says? I think your reaction speaks volumes about your guilty conscious.
UPDATE: As I reported on January 31, it seems action has taken place;
The president and CEO of the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History is no longer employed with the zoo, according to the board chairman.
Elizabeth Whealy had been employed with the zoo since 2005. In an email to the Argus Leader, Jeff Hugunin, the chair of the Board of the Zoological Society of Sioux Falls, confirmed Whealy’s departure, saying she had left “to pursue other opportunities.”
As I said in the post below, I think it is unfortunate, because I think she really turned the organization around, not just appearance wise but financially. But you know what they say, money isn’t everything, and sometimes you have to treat the people you work with a little nicer.
The letter was supposedly sent to the non-profit’s board of directors, city councilors and I believe the mayor’s office. They are essentially complaining about the management style of the director/CEO and blame that person for the low morale and massive employee turnover. The letter comes from an anonymous group of current and past employees.
Let’s just say it is one of the major subsidies the city has under it’s umbrella. This paragraph is troubling;
We, as a collective, love working here, but unfortunately ‘The Director’ is extremely hard to work for and creates a toxic climate.
I know what you are thinking, ‘It’s the Pavilion’. It’s not, but if it was it would not surprise me. I have actually met the person they are referencing one time at an event, and enjoyed our conversation, and I think they have done a great job turning this entity around. But what can I say, success is usually achieved by a hard ass.
I’m sure this will come out in the MSM soon.
UPDATE: So it gets even better, Erickson actually went out and got nominating petition signatures for Neitzert, who is the sitting city councilor incumbent running against a Democrat. Ethics be damned!
Rick actually did two articles. ONE & TWO. He makes a great point;
City Council member Christine Vinatieri Erickson used her title on an invite raising money to a candidate opposing a sitting City Council member. Did she break the law? Probably not. But using her official title on an invitation to the event to me crossed an ethical line. Sure she can give money to any candidate, and she can use her first amendment right to speak in favor of or against any candidate, but sponsoring a political fundraiser to unseat a fellow council member to me is over the top. It crosses that ethical line.
Like I said a few days ago, completely legal, but it looks a little ‘sketchy’. I had a discussion the other day with a foot soldier about this topic, and he said something that made sense. “It’s because these people (Erickson & TenHaken) are partisans.” It started to make sense. In legislative races, this kind of activity goes on all the time, because they are partisan races. But in a non-partisan government like the Sioux Falls City Council, playing partisan games just doesn’t fly. It is even more curious, because the Mayor and at least 6 city councilors are Republican. Ethics aside, it just looks ‘odd’. Why bring these kind of games into a non-partisan race? At a recent council meeting, TenHaken compared himself to John Thune (I know, eyeroll). What is obvious to me is that he doesn’t understand the role of a non-partisan city government when he makes ridiculous and ignorant statements like this. If Stehly or anybody else decides to run against Jensen, it’s only going to get more partisan. I have a feeling this will become one of the messiest municipal election campaign seasons we have seen in a long time. Pull up your boots.
*NOTE: I heard today that the city council may have a special 4th meeting this month on February 25. They normally don’t have a 4th meeting unless they are backlogged or for something special. I guess the Fire Chief got his panties in bunch about the deferral of the supplemental appropriations and the claim that bids need to be HONORED ASAP or they won’t be locked in. Hogwash. You can lock bids without having the funding in place, especially if you are city government. This is an attempt by Mayor Selfie to get this pushed through before the council can pick it apart more.
Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM
Presentations on Coronavirus Update and a Falls Park Design Competition (no supporting documents right now)
Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #2, $95K into that money pit Sioux Falls Stadium
Sub Item #9,$74K subsidy to the Sioux Falls School District for transportation services
Item #31, 1st Reading, Ordinance, Amendment to lease agreement. I believe the property is where the Phillips Avenue Diner sits. The city is applying the new discrimination ordinance to their lease agreement, which is okay I guess, but not sure how it applies? All the restaurant is leasing is the ground under the Diner. They own the restaurant building and operate it.
Whether Stehly or someone else runs against Jensen they really need to look at his voting record. He never sponsored any legislation himself and only co-sponsored two bills, one failed.
He voted for the half-penny sales tax increase for teacher pay, that has failed miserably yet we continue to pay. So we know how he stands on tax increases.
He also has several votes discriminating against transgender youth.
He voted against background checks for concealed carry permit.
He also co-sponsored a youth minimum wage (which was later overturned by an initiative).
It seems Jensen’s ‘Proven’ record is higher taxes, less gun safety and discrimination against young people. With a record like that, who wouldn’t support him?
l3wis