>
> dennis:
>
> "Delmonico is the union president for the police
> employees of the City of Minneapolis, the
> overwhelming majority of which DO NOT live in the
> City of Minneapolis. What exactly is the vested
> interest that's being expressed so adamantly and who
> benefits? What happens when the best interests of
> the residents (of Minneapolis) conflict with the
> primary interests with the Police Federation? Who's
> interests become subjugated?"
Nikki Carlson sez:
> Having more officers on the street is a benefit to
> the police: they are able to do their jobs more
> safely and effectively.
>
> Having more officers on the street is a benefit to
> the residents of Minneapolis: less crime.
>
> What is the conflict?
Police Federation represents bad cops (including
characters like Rick Stanek - who deservedly got asked
to step down by TPaw - who should never have appointed
him in the first place) - their interest is protecting
their members. In the same way teachers unions defend
their members - which including the bad apples among
the teachers. There are many good police
officers - but the city of Minneapolis has a poorer
record than St Paul in terms of police treatment of
racial minorities. Eric Mitchell told me he moved to
St Paul rather than to Minneapolis because of this.
I believe the opposite is true with police treatment
of the gay community (St Paul police department has a
way to go on that subject - Finney was known as being
anti-gay - I am not sure what current St paul police
chief is like on that issue). There are also
slanderous reports about thumping by those who like to
exploit the issue of police brutality for political
gain - but are not interested in seriously doing
something about it. The recent one about police
officer Jindra attacking a person he arrested with a
toilet plunger was one such example.
Unions never have the city's interest in mind, they
are representing their members. They have a different
interest than the politicians they endorse - who
should represent the taxpayers.
In my opinion Peter McLaughlin and the Police
Federation are being demogogic about the crime issue.
Peter's campaign has been negative to the extreme.
At the same time, Mayor Rybak hasn't given a clear
reason to reelect him. Rybak is being hypocritical
about the breath of fresh air.
Public safety isn't the only function of city
government. It's the one that gets talked about the
most. Road repair, street maintenance, street light
maintenance are all city issues.
Also - where do each of the Mayoral candidates stand
on the issue of Eminent Domain? Will they try to
increase revenue for the city by condemning low
property value property to help a condo developer
build - that would increase the property value - and
therefore taxes - to the city?
As I said before, the 13th ward is in an excellent
position having two excellent candidates running -
Mike Hohmann and Lisa McDonald. Why oh why didn't
Lisa McDonald run for Mayor of Minneapolis? Her
vision is strongly needed as Mayor. Neither
McLaughlin or Rybak come close to McDonald as a
quality Mayoral candidate.
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
Blogs:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
http://www.outletradio.com
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