Stehly and Starr on Jon Michael’s Forum about Public Input

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You can listen HERE.

As I understand it there may be some amendments to the proposal on Tuesday, ultimately leaving it at the beginning of the meeting with some other restrictions. At this moment that train is still moving, so I would prefer not to elaborate.

Gotta love Stormland-TV’s version of this topic. Thirty-Seven people talked Tuesday night about public input. Out of those people, ONLY 2 supported changing it, and both are former public/government employees. So guess who they interview? You guessed it, the TWO who wanted it moved, oh, and they threw in June Staggers to make it look fair.

Make no mistake, the Media wants this moved to the end so they can make their 10 PM news deadline.

Posted in: 1st Amendment, Open Government, Open Meetings, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls Board of Ethics gave NO OPINION on Petition Gathering

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I did not attend the meeting but was told by a foot soldier that the BOE told councilor Stehly they could not give her an opinion based on asking hypothetical questions. She did not tell them a specific petition drive she would be working on.

However she did argue that former councilor Staggers and Erickson have circulated petitions. Speaker of the House Mickelson lead a state wide petition drive and the county commissioners have circulated petitions in the past. The precedence is there. This isn’t rocket science.

It just sounds like they want to say NO but they need her to bring something forward solid so they can have a quasi-argument to say NO to.

Posted in: Elections, Ethics, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Theresa Stehly

TenHaken’s Deputy COS is running for a Republican Committeeman

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Deputy COS T.J. Nelson is running in Precinct 309 and City Councilor Greg Neitzert is running in Precinct 317 for Committee people in the Republican Party.

While the waters have already been tested by Erickson and Staggers for councilors as committee people (the ethics commission said it was OK because they are volunteer positions) that question has never been asked about appointed city employees who work for a non-partisan mayor.

While I don’t take issue with T.J. being a proud Republican party member, I wonder if he is testing the waters on this?

If I sat on the Ethics Commission I would probably OK it, but the optics of it don’t look good when your boss has promised to be a non-partisan mayor in the campaign. I’m wondering if T.J. asked an opinion of the Ethics Commission or the city attorney?

What do you think?

It seems T.J.’s name is coming up a lot as a partisan, I think this will hurt Paul in the long run.

Posted in: Greg Neitzert, Mayor TenHaken, Republicans, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, T.J. Nelson

Mayor TenHaken’s Deputy COS not a fan of liberals

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What has PTH said in the past about your employees posting questionable things on FB?

This is why political appointees are not a good idea. It’s probably a good idea to separate your campaign and transition team from your leadership team. I saw this with Darrin Smith when he was appointed to Director of Community Development and Parking after he cooked up a false ‘junket’ story about Dr. Staggers during the mayoral campaign. I also feel this is where Jolene failed by using a Democratic political operative to run her campaign instead of an independent consultant.

As for the comments about liberals, I would agree, he knows little about them. BHO was not a liberal, I would actually consider him a moderate to right leaning progressive, but definately not a liberal. I tell people one of the several reasons I left the Democratic party is because there are no liberals in it anymore, haven’t been for decades. But being a ‘liberal’ isn’t some dirty thing. We believe in helping each other, the social net, universal healthcare and education, embracing the arts, culture and diversity and we also believe in the right to free speech and peaceful protest. True liberals also detest war and try to solve problems diplomatically, we also accept all creeds, a major reason why we promote peace over war.

Good luck T.J., posting this will make it a very rough road for you and your boss.

I verified the comment, posted on July 11, 2017

 

Posted in: Mayor TenHaken, Sioux Falls, T.J. Nelson

Shawn ‘The Tornado’ Tornow, please, give it up already

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Shawn and the big book of obstruction.

This guy really needs to hang it up. Shawn is running again for the legislature. There are several reasons why this guy needs to be banned from any form of public service ever again in his life. Here’s a few reasons;

Some of those facts became public between Tornow’s termination in 2010 and his public censure in 2013, which was investigated by the Bar and affirmed by the state Supreme Court.

While working for the city, Tornow mislead then-mayoral candidate Kermit Staggers about the existence of a recorded phone conversation and tried to get a speeding ticket for his adult daughter dismissed.
Don’t forget dragging out Dan Daily’s case for 7 years and ultimately losing.
Some people you just don’t trust to serve in the legislature because you have a gut feeling. But this guy has a track record. Fired from the city for fixing a ticket, lying to elected officials he is supposed to be serving and getting censured by the Supreme Court and State Bar. And you want to be in the legislature Shawn? Who would vote for this clown? Please Shawn, crawl back into that deep dark hole you came from and never return.
Posted in: Sioux Falls, Tornow