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Taneeza Islam

David ZoKaites Elections Mayor TenHaken Taneeza Islam

UPDATE II: Brian Allen shows his bias towards Mayor TenHaken before and during the Sioux Falls Mayoral debate

l3wis 7Comments

Before the debate starts, moderators Brian Allen and Trevor Mitchell have a hot mic conversation on how they will do the debate. I found this exchange interesting and thought I would document it if it gets edited from video;

UPDATE II: During the KELO TV debate they addressed Paul as Mr. TenHaken, the correct protocol.

UPDATE: They did edit it out of the DakotaNews and Argus FB videos, so luckily I caught it;

Brian Allen, “I’ve done this a time or two, I know where the quicksand is.”

Mitchell asks Allen, “How do you plan on addressing them? First name?”

Allen then asks who I assume is his producer, and there is a quiet conversation and it is decided to call him Mayor TenHaken.

Allen, “So we are giving him the power of the incumbency during the debate? That makes sense, so it will be Mr. Zokaites, Ms. Islam and Mayor TenHaken.”

Actually, they all should have been addressed the same way, as this handy little guidance points out.

Also during the debate Allen made sure he thanked Paul for his response every time, “Thank You Mayor TenHaken.” That did not happen with the other candidates as often.

Trevor and Allen also had a discussion about the candidates in attendance before debate, and Trevor said, “I see Brekke and Pam Cole.” and Allen perks up and says, “Is Sarah Cole here?” Not sure what that meant?

I will give props to David (who I voted for and have been endorsing) I think he gave common sense answers to big issues. I think Islam has a lot of passion when it comes to the vulnerable and she is well studied on the issues and she took Poops to task several times. TenHaken was on the defense most of the night, and seemed frustrated at the beginning and a little agitated. That is because he is NOT cut out for the job and never has been.

I guess Stormland TV is having another debate tomorrow night at 8 PM, hopefully the council meeting will be done by then.

Downtown Rotary hosted a forum with the At-Large A Candidates today;

David ZoKaites Elections Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings Paul Ten Haken Taneeza Islam

While the media gets in the weeds about TenHaken’s text messages, the real corruption is city employee bonus bribes

l3wis 5Comments

I agree, the mayor shouldn’t be using insider information to sooth his followers hunger for pop rock, but that is small potatoes compared to giving city employees a bonus right before an election.

I’m sure Poops is enjoying the deflection of ‘text gate’ so no one will talk about the other gorilla in the room;

In an interview Monday afternoon, TenHaken said he’s “always looking for different ways to communicate with people,” and said he liked the “pure, 1-on-1 communication” someone could get via a texting service.

“People like to know what’s going on in their city,” he said.

LMFAO! Yeah Paul, I have been asking for almost 4 years! What is going on? Backdoor meetings about bonuses, deals with Sanford, deals with developers, all done in the secrecy of your armed guarded offices. When were you going to drop us a text about over stepping your boundaries and secretly negotiating a bonus for employees from a mystery fund?

Islam added if elected mayor, “I’ll always be transparent about any news involving one of our taxpayer funded buildings.”

Mayoral hopeful David Zokaites had similar concerns, calling it “a disgusting abuse of mayoral privilege.”

David also added this in another interview;

“This is unethical and appalling but not surprising. Sioux Falls government has corruption problems (a massively-overpriced parking garage) and tries to hide bribery (gifts of third party paid travel) ,” Zokaites said in a statement to KELOLAND News. “What’s a little insider information compared to bribery and corruption? Certainly this abuse of insider information should stop immediately and an apology should be issued.”

David is right, this is highly unethical it may even violate campaign rules but that didn’t stop Poops massive ego from spilling out;

TenHaken said in response that in any election with an incumbent, candidates are going to be “envious” of the platform that provides and the advantages that come with it.

“That’s part of what comes with being the existing officeholder,” said TenHaken, adding he remembered the feeling from his run four years ago.

Sounds like something one of his campaign GOONS would write.

First off, the obvious, there were NO incumbents last time around and the other candidates that would have had access to that information certainly didn’t use it to their advantage since they both lost miserably. Secondly, just because you are the current mayor doesn’t give you the right to use information that WE own against your opponents, as Taneeza points out;

“The Premier Center is owned by Sioux Falls taxpayers,” Islam said in a statement.

Any information about what goes on at that facility should be public information shared to everyone at the same time, even if the mayor knows in advance.

As for the comment about being ‘envious’. WOW! You really are more arrogant than I thought. Trust me, I have had a lot of emotions about how you have run this city, like your lack of courage, ethics and transparency when you make decisions. But trust me, I don’t think I have ever been jealous of those qualities, just embarrassed that our city is being run by a bunch of toddlers in a clown car going around a track in a secret room in the basement of city hall. AND I can pretty much guarantee your two opponents are not jealous either.

Elections Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls Taneeza Islam

Want Diversity in Leadership in Sioux Falls? Vote for TenHaken’s Opponent!

l3wis 20Comments

I often chuckle when I hear White, Christian, Republican Men talk about diversity;



“Representation matters,” TenHaken said. “So, as this community gets more diverse in a variety of different ways, people need to see leadership positions filled by people of all different backgrounds so they can aspire to the same thing.”


Five of the 12 people on his city executive team are either minority or female. TenHaken has directly hired four of those five individuals during his four years in office.

Ironically, I don’t think a single woman or minority has helped with Poops mayoral campaigns, except his wife. In fact his current campaign assistant used to be the Executive Director of the SD GOP.

What I find so ironic is that if you want to promote diversity in city leadership, you should vote for Paul’s opponent, an immigration attorney who is a Muslim female minority that has bi-racial children with her white husband. If anyone would promote diversity I think the choice is clear.

Paul’s talk about diversity is all smoke and mirrors. He knows his true supporters will NEVER vote for his opponent. In fact in the last election cycle when a minority was running for city council, the rumor was he got the door slammed in his face on several occasions. Paul has had several opportunities to promote minorities into leadership roles, and to his credit, he has, but NOT in key departments like public safety. The two fire chiefs and one police chief have all been white males and he has refused to do a national search only promoting from within leaving very little wiggle room for the diversification of these departments within their leadership. Poops had a great opportunity to find us a Police Chief with some diversity experience, but instead picked the guy with the best sideburns.


And let’s not forget his complete denial of the LGBTQ+ community existing in our city.

If you truly want diversity, don’t vote for Poops.

Corona Virus David ZoKaites Elections Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls Taneeza Islam

No City or State Officials attend Covid Press Conference today in Sioux Falls

l3wis 40Comments

To say I am not surprised would be an understatement;

It was only Avera and Sanford doctors and media relations staff along journalists at Thursday’s news conference. In many previous news conferences, people with the South Dakota Department of Health or City of Sioux Falls have also attended. 

While I appreciate them reaching out, I ask why we are relying on the private sector to inform us? There is NO mention of this presser on any of the City of Sioux Falls multiple media sources.

A candidate for mayor said this in an interview;

Taneeza Islam, a lawyer who announced her run for mayor in October says the more information the people have on COVID-19 the better. She would like to see weekly updates from the mayor’s office and…

“When the city council voted to encourage masking, the people of Sioux Falls listened, all they needed was little extra encouragement, that was not a mandate, and I’m not talking about new regulations but just the mere encouragement for people in our community to take this seriously once again really explain how serious it is needs to come from the mayor’s office,” said Islam.

As I have mentioned before, the mayor’s job, according to charter is to not legislate and write policy, the job is running the day to day operations of the city. That means informing the public and instructing staff to keep the public safe, but he seems to want to blame people in Councilor Neitzert’s district for the problem;

“The northwest quadrant of our city for instance has a much lower vaccination rate than the rest of the city so we’ve done research to understand why is that and how can we counteract the messages whether it’s, in some cases its just availability and we’ve set up a mobile vaccine unit that goes out to those communities,” said TenHaken.

What I find ironic is that TenHaken, with the power of executive order, could mandate a vaccination requirement for ALL city employees, or at least those in close contact with the public, he doesn’t need the blessing of the city council. I see police officers all the time not even wearing masks in public. Towards the end of the story, Tom Hansen said that the mayor said the city is dealing with skeleton crews in many city departments because of (covid) sick city employees. I have argued that a vaccination mandate for city employees is a taxpayer protection for our investment in their health and well being. What do you think it is costing us as citizens for healthcare costs associated with covid for employees who choose NOT to be vaccinated? I have even said we should give city employees a bonus for getting a shot.

Islam went a step further on her FB page;

Being mayor isn’t just sharing good news, it means having hard conversations about challenges facing our community. It means using the tools in your toolbox to keep our city safe.

I like that last sentence 🙂

Besides Covid, this city faces many more challenges, but you will never hear it from Poops. I have no issues with the power of positivity, I have no issues with having faith in a higher power, I have no issues with lauding the great things going on in Sioux Falls. But effective leaders take the good with the bad. Mayor Poops philosophy is we just ignore the bad, hide in your basement, tell some dad jokes, heat up the gravy and it may just go away.

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