What’s a SD Democratic Party endorsement worth? About 108 votes.

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To be honest with you, I feel bad for Dimitrios Gliarmis, if Dobberpuhl wasn’t in the race, I would have supported him. A very progressive candidate. Gliarmis decided NOT to raise or spend any money, which is fine, he also got the least number of votes. But in reality, he is the real winner because he paid $0 per vote.

But what I found ODD was the SDDP’s email endorsement of Gliarmis ONE day before the election;

First off, the Dems have supported INDEPENDENT Dobberpuhl in the past, and like I said, party shouldn’t matter anyway because this was a non-partisan race, until Mickelson brought in the dark money of the SD GOP.

Even with the Dem’s endorsement of Gliarmis, it still seems Dobberpuhl picked up their votes.

But this post isn’t about Gliarmis OR Dobberpuhl, it is about how pathetic the SDDP is in their endorsement of Gliarmis. They are constantly getting on their high horse about running candidates for the smaller races like school board, city council, etc., so now that they had a candidate in Gliarmis, they don’t do any fundraising for him, NO phone banks, no volunteers, no support whatsoever except for an email endorsement a day before the election. That’s some pretty badass strategy.

If the SDDP is serious about running candidates in ALL the races, they need to support these candidates. If I was Gliarmis, I would have kindly asked them NOT to send out the email, he probably would have garnered MORE votes.

Posted in: Elections, SF School District, Sioux Falls

Big Money in the Sioux Falls School Board Election (at least one candidate)

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I’m still waiting to get the actual financial filing documents that the school board candidates had to file yesterday, but the early results are startling.

Mickelson seems to have the SF GOP behind her in fundraising (though she says she is independent from her husband). She has raised $20,000 and spent $7,800. Makes you wonder if a couple of invoices were held off until June 1st. Like I said before, her signage alone around town has to be close to $10-12K.

Dobberpuhl has raised around $2,000 and spent the entire amount.

Not sure if the other candidates have raised any or spent. I do know that Robinson does have some yard signs up and has given out printed handouts.

I expect a full on media push by Mickelson in this last week. Like I said, though the school board is a non-partisan race, the SD and SF GOP just can’t stand to let one of theirs lose, so they will outspend the other candidates, which seems at this point by ten-fold.

Pretty pathetic when voter turnout MIGHT hit 2,000 voters. Divide and conquer, the Republican way.

Posted in: Cynthia Mickelson, Randy Dobberpuhl, SF School District

Open seat on SF School Board

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The Sioux Falls School Board will be having an election in June. They are expecting the voter turnout to be so low, they are going to hand count the results (I don’t expect over 2,500 votes). There is only one school board member on the ballot (I have encouraged the board to also put the school start date on there, maybe as an advisory vote, maybe they would get a bigger turnout).

Either way, Doug Morrison has decided to NOT run for another term, so it will be an open seat. While no one has formerly announced, I guess the Tuthill Fairies have been in high gear to replace Doug with a ‘McKennan Park Mommy’. While I have heard a few of the names being thrown around, I won’t speculate if they are running or not, but let’s just say the last name will be recognized.

Hopefully we can get Randy Dobberpuhl to run again! GO RANDY!

 

Posted in: SF School District, Sioux Falls

Three out of FIVE! Woot! Woot!

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To tell you I am astonished is putting it lightly. Having three candidates I endorsed all win is pretty surprising. I was hoping to get at least 2 of them elected. This is the first time in my blog history all of my candidates won.

Cameraman Bruce and I worked on a strategy that was based on targeting historical voters while betting on a low voter turnout. The planets aligned. And while I can pat myself on the back a little bit, I will admit there were several other factors that made these THREE victorious.

• We had fantastic, experienced, smart, engaged candidates that worked their asses off. Neitzert alone was on full nitro since he announced. It really came down to their amazing campaigning.

• No incumbents in the race.

• The two big winners got Argus endorsements

• Poor strategies by their opponents, which we jokingly called “throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall”

• We kept a vigilant eye on the city clerk, the county auditor and the SOS office for any mishaps (which there were a few – we will be talking about them in the near future).

I congratulate the candidates that won, and I wish the losers the best of luck in the future. Candidates like Srstka, Fenner, Noble, Dobberpuhl and Warren have tons of potential and should run in the future.

I guess you could say we didn’t listen to the NAYSAYERS.

Posted in: Elections, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

VOTE EARLY – VOTE SMART

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I have voted early in almost every election for the past 4-5 years, ever since musical precincts started. The nice part is it is at your convenience, and it is fast (I have never had to wait in a line) You simply go to the County Auditor’s office, show them your ID, they hand you a ballot for your precinct, you vote at at the box and turn in your ballot. A lot easier then trying to find time on election day.

South DaCola’s voting guide/endorsements;

Entire City (Minnehaha & Lincoln County)

School Board: Randy Dobberpuhl (The two top vote getters win seats)

At-Large City Council: Theresa Stehly

Amendments to City Charter: YES on all (A-C & E) EXCEPT NO on ‘D’ which could have a mayor serve up to 10 years. Full explanation in this PDF Document; charter-amend

District Races

Northeast: Pat Starr

Northwest: Greg Neitzert

Southwest: Manny Steele

I believe all the candidates I have chosen will be the most ready on day 1 to serve the public. I also believe this group of candidates are good legislators who would build bridges, get important work done for all citizens and support open and transparent government.

Remember, in the council races, a candidate must receive at least 34% of the vote to avoid a run-off election.

Posted in: Elections, Greg Neitzert, Lincoln County, Minnehaha County, Patrick Starr, SF City Council, SF School District, Sioux Falls Airport, Theresa Stehly