South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sioux Falls

David Barranco Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: What do we know about David Barranco?

l3wis 1Comments

Sioux Falls City Council Candidate David Barranco has said very little about his past during the campaign, which I find bizarre considering he has only lived here a short period of time. Since then (mostly Republicans) have been reaching out to me and their regret in supporting this person initially. There has even been a sitting city councilor questioning their past support. I have encouraged them to reach out to Cody Ingle, get to know him and even better, cut him a donation check.

While I have heard a myriad of rumors, it’s been hard tracking down or verifying some of the accusations. What is mostly surprising from this Texas attorney and textbook author is the several gaps in his professional life that seem to have just disappeared from the internets.

This is what we know so far;

• Moved with his family in the Spring of 2018 to Sioux Falls from San Antonio, TX after selling his home there. Barranco has never given a reason why he decided to leave Texas because . . .

• Has never applied for or attained a SD Bar License and still maintains his practice in the state of Texas where he has his law license.

UPDATE: Someone mentioned to me today that maybe the reason he hasn’t applied for a SD Bar License is because he doesn’t want to submit himself to a background check. This doesn’t mean looking into his personal criminal history or finances but the cases he has handled and his record as an attorney.

• It was discovered in September of 2021 he was past due on his first installment of property taxes.

• He has had two campaign events where he has given away entertainment to kids of supporters.

What I would really love to hear from Mr. Barranco is why did he move to South Dakota if he really has NO intent to practice law here? His wife, as far as I can tell, isn’t pursuing a career here either though she has experience in the corporate world.

While I certainly could care less that David has only lived here 4 years and is interjecting partisan politics in a city race, I will defend his right to run for office, but it would be really nice to know what brought him here and why the sudden interest in local politics and legislating when you don’t make a single dime in this town?

Many have been asking the question. When will our media?

Elections Ethics Janet Brekke SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilor Brekke on Ethics & Open Meetings

l3wis 1Comments

Janet Brekke set a new standard for Sioux Falls City Council thought provoking discussion on June 19, 2018. During the discussion of the fake Public Input control ordinance Brekke had to remind the proponents and everyone else what goes into proper process.

We must remember, there is nothing lost if everything is in the open following proper process. The Selberg / Kiley fake Public Input ordinance controversy never had to happen. It was a brain dead proposal to shut off voices they did not want to hear, interfering in proposals they appeared to want hidden from us, the owners and customers of our city government.

To help everyone understand, the city of Sioux Falls is technically a public corporation run through by-laws (A.K.A. Home Rule Charter). The Home Rule Charter gives the administrators certain responsibilities and are answerable to us, the stockholders. We citizens are the stockholders of the corporation, not the special interests who pay money to have more influence or pay platting fees.

The last few years we have been teaching the public how and when they should redress their issues and concerns. This fake issue was shot down by the people, those who showed up and those who couldn’t. It appeared for the time being, the elected board of directors heard the message.

Mayor TenHaken Property Taxes Sioux Falls Taxes

Mayor TenHaken’s April Fool’s Joke

l3wis 1Comments

During Poops regularly scheduled monthly appearance* on the Belfrage show he said that just because your appraised value of your home may go up 18% that doesn’t mean your taxes will go up that much. This is true. But what he said next must have been his sad attempt at an April’s Fool’s joke. He proceeded to say that some people’s taxes may go down. Hilarious stuff. The only case where this could even be true is if you move into a special category next year that would qualify you for a tax reduction (senior, disabled veteran, etc.). The only entities in Sioux Falls that are getting (massive) tax breaks are the welfare queen Tifilicious developers and we are all paying higher taxes because of it. My taxes going down . . . my ass!


*This was Greg’s BS excuse to not make it sound like a FREE campaign advert.

Elections Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

Even if Amendment A fails the Sioux Falls mayor will still get a $10K raise next year

l3wis 1Comments

While most people have been chuckling behind the scenes about Poops endorsement of a NO vote on Amendment A (A $165K salary) he would still get a significant raise next year. If you base it on inflation of 7.5% his raise would be $10,312 which would bring him to $148,112 for 2023.

This is why we have consistently kept the inflation/deflation index for the mayor and council’s salaries, because it works.

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls Election may be lowest voter turnout in years

l3wis 3Comments

Besides the obvious signs, like very few absentee ballots coming in and early voting, there are some factors that may make this election a dud when it comes to people voting.

Just look at what the school district did, saying very little except on their website that there were 2 seats up for the school board and NO one challenged the incumbents.

The same could be said about the city’s role;

• Very little notice about voting registration or a sample ballot being provided only a couple of days before registration deadline and early voting started.

• A popular incumbent mayor who most people think will win with or without their vote (the mayor’s race is usually the driving force for people to vote).

• Several candidates with little name recognition. Most people have trouble naming our current council let alone new people running for the office.

• While the media has done several interviews with candidates, they have done barely any stories why it is important to vote in a local election.

• Luckily we have tons of great candidates running and remember Vote NO on both charter amendments and YES to Brekke, Pam Cole, Reistroffer and Ingle for council.

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