In this endorsement of Stehly I could certainly go on and on about her citizen activism and record of getting things done on the council (even if her initiatives don’t garner a single vote) But I won’t, because many know her record. In a recent online poll done by the Argus Leader 40% of the respondents recognized her by seeing an image of her. I’m not sure if I have ever known a city councilor to have that much recognition in Sioux Falls.
Today I want to tell you another side of Stehly that most people never hear much about; She will do ANYTHING for a friend. I could go on and on about her kindness and generosity. She has literally spent thousands of dollars of her own money (not campaign donations) putting out mailers and updates to citizens, because she felt it was the right thing to do. She has tended to the sick and dying spending numerous hours each week visiting people in the hospital and hospice. She probably spends another 20 hours a week responding to citizens questions and needs and is constantly trying to get transparent answers from public officials.
Theresa and I don’t always agree, in fact we have been in a disagreement about how she has been running her campaign, but that is what makes her a good friend. When most people disagree and they blow it off, it means they really don’t care about your point of view OR you personally. When I argue with Theresa (and many of her close friends do) I know it is because she cares about your point of view, which means she cares about you.
She often tells me and the media when she does things for the community, it is because she wants to give them a ‘big hug’.
Theresa may be a bit controversial and outspoken but she certainly isn’t deceptive in her ways, she does those things to bring issues to the forefront.
I bet if I took the time I could find a financial benefit every single councilor has received that has served on the council since the Home Rule Charter started except for Stehly (Brekke, Staggers & Starr). Theresa has never financially benefitted from being a citizen activist or councilor, like I said above, it has actually cost her money.
Theresa does all these things because she loves people and wants to help. That’s it! NO hidden agenda, no backdoor schemes, no financial benefits simply because of her belief in others and having good government.
There is a lot you can say about how Theresa approaches things and it may not be as polished as we would like, but I know as her friend, she does it because she loves us and that love is something that lacks these days in city government, we need 4 more years of her love and support.
Re-Elect my friend Theresa Stehly, there really isn’t another choice.
So there is a lot of talk about transparency as a candidate for city council but little action. While the blog up North wants to rip on Stehly for a tiny donation from a well known Democrat, there has been little mention of Jensen getting endorsements and donations from two well known Democrats, Jack Billion and Scott Heidepreim. I will commend the Count for at least talking about it.
But what is startling is the lack of transparency on his financial report. You spent all this money on ‘advertising’ but didn’t break it down? How much on consulting, meals, TV ads, Social Media, radio, publications, postage, printing, etc.
So why is this? I think he hired the blogger up North to run the whole campaign. So no one knows how much money is being made and where it is being spent.
The way one runs a campaign is comparable to how they will govern. If you can’t even tell us how much you spent on stamps, how can we trust you as an elected leader? We can’t. There is a lot of people running a cottage industry from making money from suckers like Jensen, and the ring leaders are cashing in. I took very little in when running 4 successful campaigns. Why? Because I believed in them and didn’t care about the payola.
And for the record, I have received NO money from the Stehly campaign and the only consulting I had with her was contentious conversations about how she was doing it wrong. That is why I respect Big ‘T’ because I can have disagreements with her and it is water under the bridge. I don’t owe her a damn thing, and she doesn’t owe me.
Jensen is running a ‘big money’ campaign not because he wants to win but because he is lining the pockets of those who are supposed to be helping him. It is pathetic, disgusting and the reason why politics have become so gutter.
While I have my issues with Theresa sometimes, I would NEVER question her intentions, integrity or looking at the bigger picture. Theresa could give ‘two-sh*ts’ about what it takes to win a campaign, she learned from the best of them (Staggers) that it is about human contact and connecting with constituents, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s why I think she will pull this off. Trust me it will be close, but I know who her supporters are, and they vote. If she loses, oh well, it will only fortify that scheming and scamming is the only strategy that gets BAD candidates elected.
A certain Republican blogger who lives 40 minutes north of us runs a campaign consulting and marketing business, the one he was running while working as Deputy SOS (which he had to ultimately quit because of the conflict). He apparently has been helping with marketing materials for Count Jensen. Yesterday around 40,000 (an estimate) Republicans in Sioux Falls got a mailer promoting Jensen and other Republican primary candidates. Many candidates who have advertised in the rag were told this was going to be a positive campaign mailer. They were misled. Some Republican candidates were also snubbed and not allowed to be in the mailer. Several of the candidates have actually reached out to Stehly apologizing and explaining to her how they were misled. While there are many positive stories in the mailer and ads there is a huge hit piece on Stehly. They even lied about her employment.
The sad part about this is that Stehly has been a life long Republican who essentially has been stabbed in the back by her party, mostly by that guy up north, sadly, in a non-partisan race.
If I were any of the candidates who paid to be in this piece of garbage mailer, I would ask for my money back.
I have never understood why the city races have become more and more partisan over the past few years – oh that’s right, because we continue to elect partisans.
If I was Stehly the first thing I would do next Wednesday morning is register Independent and tell the Republican party to go fly a kite!
I know I have posted about this before, but Alex’s record in the legislature is NOT that stellar. He voted for the highest tax increase in the history of the state which hasn’t helped the teachers one iota and has actually made food and utility costs go up even more, he voted against gun safety laws and voted for the transgender bill. If this is his ‘supposed’ great record in the legislature, I’m not sure if I would want someone like that. I also question his experience, while his opponent has spent well over 14 years being involved with public service (ran for council 3 times, served 4 years and managed two successful petition drives) his total political experience has been 40 days in the legislature. Heck, he has spent more time running for office than actually serving in office. As I have said before, Alex is a nice guy, but he certainly isn’t qualified to serve on the City Council, and this is the main reason he was picked to be a patsy, they wanted another rubber stamper that would work very little and ask very few questions.
I also find the endorsement of the former governor interesting. First off, Denny was the biggest donor ($10K) to Alex’s $85K war chest. Secondly, Denny doesn’t even live in Sioux Falls, he lives in Garrettson. And thirdly, I’m not so sure I would want a person who was involved with two major corruption scandals (EB-5 and Gear Up) to endorse me. It’s kind of like saying, “I know I was crooked, but hey, Alex is a good guy, somebody like me should know.â€
Lastly let’s bring up the ridiculous amount of money that has been raised to get Alex elected. Raising this kind of money to run for a seat that pays $19K a year should tell you something. Alex’s support doesn’t come the average Joe, it comes from the monied elites in town. What do you think his agenda will be if elected?
I’m not even sure what Stehly has spent, I haven’t assisted her this time around, but if I had to guess it was probably about 10% of what Alex has spent.
I would have given this race easily to Stehly before Covid hit, but I’m not sure who will win at this point, it is anybody’s game. The incumbent of course usually has the edge, but with a primary involved it could be a different game. I encourage everyone to vote for Stehly. But if she loses, we know there is only one reason why . . . MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!