BY ED FELIEN
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, Aug. 31, that the citizens of the City of Minneapolis do not have the right to govern themselves by deciding to require liability insurance for police officers or raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2022.
It was the opinion of the Court that state law prohibits the city from requiring insurance for police officers. The Supreme Court agreed with Judge Robiner of the District Court when she said, “the proposal conflicts with Minn. Stat. § 466.06 which regulates municipal purchases of insurance for tort liability. The statute allows a city to purchase insurance that covers ‘in excess of the limit of liability imposed by section 466.04.’ Minn. Stat. § 466.06 (2015). Yet, the charter amendment proposal forbids Minneapolis from purchasing insurance above the state statute’s tort limits except in limited circumstances: ‘The city may not indemnify police officers against liability in any amount greater than required by State Statute unless the officer’s insurance is exhausted’ (emphasis added). This is a direct conflict.”
Michelle Gross, board member of the Committee for Professional Policing, was not satisfied with the judgment: “We’re not done. There is overwhelming demand by the community to end the harm caused by police misconduct and taxpayers are sick of bailing out brutal cops. The city and state are on the wrong side of history on this issue. We will bring police accountability to Minneapolis one way or another.”
The board of the Committee for Professional Policing is meeting to consider legal and political options for continuing this work.
In their decision regarding the petition to allow a referendum on raising the minimum wage, the opinion of the Supreme Court was that policymaking authority resides with the City Council, and citizens may not draft ordinances or legislation.
Ginger Jentzen, executive director of 15 Now Minnesota, said, “The Minnesota Supreme Court sided with Mayor Hodges, Minneapolis City Council and the Chamber of Commerce to strip Minneapolis of the right to vote on a $15/hour minimum wage. While our charter amendment is blocked, the fight for $15 in Minneapolis is far from over. We forced the council to open a debate about an ordinance by the second quarter of 2017. The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed that the Minneapolis City Council has the power to pass $15/hour as an ordinance at any time. Now more than ever we need to keep up the momentum to demand the council pass our proposal for $15 as an ordinance.”
Municipal elections are next year. The mayor and City Council are all up for re-election. Blong Yang owes his seat to the fact that Don Samuels decided not to run for re-election after refusing to support the citizen’s right to vote on whether to pay for a new Vikings stadium. Jacob Frey beat Diane Hofstede and Lisa Bender beat Meg Tuthill principally on the issue of allowing citizens to vote on whether they wanted to pay for the stadium. Betsy Hodges won for mayor because Rybak (who said his re-election campaign would be the referendum on the stadium) decided he didn’t want to run for re-election after all.
These elected officials owe their seats to voters who rejected incumbents who refused to let them vote on subsidizing the new Vikings stadium. Their seats are on the line next year. They have refused 15,000 petitioners their right to vote on making the police more accountable. They have refused 20,000 petitioners their right to vote raising the minimum wage. They have just a few months before campaigns begin in earnest. They have said it’s their job to supervise the police and worry about the economic well-being of working people in Minneapolis.
Well, it’s time for them to get to work and do their job.
The Minneapolis Police Department is out of control. A City Heat motorcycle gang member is the chief spokesman for the department and for police policy. Ten months after Jamar Clark was killed by Officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze there is still no Internal Affairs report on the conduct of those officers.
A recent poll showed that 68% of the people of Minneapolis support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. If this mayor and this City Council will not listen to the voices of 20,000 petitioners and recent polls, then maybe the delegates at next spring’s DFL ward and city conventions should find candidates with better hearing.
