[Mpls] Murderapolis: Time to Move Beyond Triage

[Peter McLaughlin]

David Brauer wrote:

> And going forward, the bulk of the original question for Peter
> remains:  how you gonna pay for more than a few new cops, all those
> new promised firefighters, and the implied city worker raises above
> the mayor's and council's 2 percent cap?

A few comments are in order in response to David?s comments:

1)	On the police pension, it is an issue today.  If the Mayor hadn?t sent the
money back, we would have had the benefit of the state aid right now to put
police officers on the street right now, when we need them.  The Mayor chose
not to, so we don?t have the money, and we don?t have the officers on the
street.  And violent crime is up. . . . right now.  It?s a real issue that
the Mayor is responsible for.

2)	The benefits of the police pension money do not come, as David suggests, in
even amounts over the 30 years.  They are front-end loaded, thus providing real
benefits right now when we need them.  It?s not a silver bullet, but it is a
source of real resources in the short-term when we are experiencing this spike
in crime and shortage of officers.  I lay that problem at the Mayor?s feet.

3)	The fact that the Mayor has finally admitted that taking the state up on its
offer of assistance on the pensions is a good idea, does not eliminate it as a
campaign issue, as David suggested.  Please recall that the Mayor asked, and
I?m paraphrasing here, ?If there really were money available, do you think
I wouldn?t go after it??  For a long time he didn?t.  It now looks like
he has concluded, after the convention defeat, that there is money available,
as I claimed, and now he wants to go after it.   Elections are about assessing
the judgment of elected officials and candidates.   I think this is a real
issue about the Mayor?s judgment in the past and is clearly an issue in this
campaign.  And any claims by the Mayor that he made some huge improvements to
the deal are window dressing to cover up his failure to take advantage of this
state assistance in 2004.

4)	  Finally, the way this issue has played out is another example of the
Mayor?s mismanagement of relations at the State Capitol.  In 2004 our
legislators wasted their political capital on this proposal, only to have the
Mayor send the money back.  He failed to raise his objections in a timely
fashion in 2004 and now, in 2005, by waiting until his defeat at the DFL
convention, may have squandered his chance to get the assistance in this
session.  I hope we get it.  It?s real money that we desperately need to help
resolve our financial and public safety difficulties.

5)	As for the firefighters, the Mayor has just directed the Fire Chief no to
apply for federal funds for local firefighters (the fire equivalent of Clinton
cops).  At a time when the fire department?s re-accreditation has been
delayed, it?s no time to be turning down federal money.

Peter McLaughlin
Standish-Ericsson neighborhood
Candidate for Mayor