Steve Allender hit Rapid City mailboxes last week with this postcard showing all sorts of Rapid City residents endorsing him for mayor… including at least five who can’t vote for him:
I’m less interested in the kids and more interested in the presence of Rapid City Council member Charity Doyle. Councilor Doyle, who faces no opposition in her bid for another term, dislikes Mayor Sam Kooiker for multiple reasons. Like Allender, Doyle has faced criticism for questionable views on race relations.
Doyle’s endorsement might be impossible if she were in Aberdeen. Our city ordinance I.VI.7.02 says “[N]o city employee shall knowingly or willfully participate in any aspect of any political campaign on behalf of or opposition to any candidate for city office.” I’m not sure if “employee” includes “council members” (although they do draw a check), but it’s a pretty stern warning against conflicts of interest. As far as I can tell, Rapid City code contains no such prohibition.
Stay tuned: I’ll have more on the other endorsements in the Allender–Kooiker mayoral contest coming up!
Looks like having an endorsement especially on campaign literature from Charity Doyle would be a liability.
She has her hat cocked to the side jauntily like they did in WWII. Remember that look, Grudz?
R: that’s her hairdo, dude.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/mayor-claims-racial-bias-played-a-role-in-police-chief/article_2ff289a4-d320-5564-87db-be70b9f960b8.html
Charity Doyle is a well documented racist that is endorsing a self-professed racist that would hire racist to work in city government, that is the way things swing in Rapid City.
The Indian community seems to be solidly behind Sam and some are working to get the vote out. Congratulations to them.
We could possibly see a backlash with this mayoral contest. As most know, Rapid City has a serious problem with race relations, Allender will pick up many of those anti-Indian voters while Native Americans and reasonable white voters will support Sam.
In good news, the Rapid City Journal Sunday edition endorsed Sam by a slim margin.
If Allender is elected mayor, the existing racism will not only permeate city government it will give license to the community that racial hatred is okay and perhaps even legal.