Does the dissolution of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Investigative Unit provide leverage for Mayor R.T. Rybak to puruse the gubernatorial post? (and more on the heel of Black History Month)
By Donald W.R. Allen, II
On Tuesday, February 24, Minneapolis officials held a meeting at the Minneapolis Park Board headquarters to address the city’s budget re-design, initiated by even deeper budget cuts, and the impact these cuts will have on specific departments in city government.
One department to fall victim to the budget redesign is the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Investigative Unit. Mayor R.T. Rybak plans to eliminate the department and transfer all civil rights complaints/investigations to the state level. A casualty of this department’s dissolution is its 21-member Human Rights Commission, headed by Commissioner Michael Browne, who has stated that if the responsibilities of the department are moved to the state level, it would be difficult to keep up with compliance issues and maintain the number of investigators to respond to issues at the city level.
Essentially, by eliminating the Civil Rights Investigative Unit, Mayor Rybak is sabotaging the process that has allowed the city’s African Americans and other people of color, as well as whites, to voice our grievances and feel as if we’ve gotten some resolution from the city regarding our concerns. Without the civil rights investigative unit, where will Minneapolis residents voice our concerns regarding the city and get results? The State?
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Investigative Unit must remain part of Minneapolis city government.
Transferring the Civil Rights Investigative Unit to the state level will create a failed state government. 1). City-level issues will overwhelm and backlog state-level government. As a result of the backlog, issues pertinent to Minneapolis residents will be slow to process, will be overlooked or denied the appropriate attention they deserve. 2). A backlogged state government, facing financial shortfalls, will be unable to hire additional staff and investigators, or effectively serve its Minneapolis and St. Paul residents. Low morale eventually will permeate the unit forcing staff and investigators to resign. 3). Once Minneapolis residents realize that state-level government is ineffective at handling civil rights complaints, they will voice their complaints elsewhere, or not at all (which is probably Rybak’s ultimate goal).
Mayor Rybak claims that the state’s budget deficit has prompted him to elimination of the city’s civil rights investigative unit and transfer its services to the state level, where similar services are already performed.
The city’s website discusses its financial deficit:
“…we face financial challenges today [because of] the state of Minnesota’s budget. Minnesota’s budget has not had the same long-term fiscal stewardship Minneapolis has had. For too long, the state has used short-term budget fixes, and avoided strategic choices. Today’s state fiscal crisis, like the one that happened in 2003, and the one we could expect a few years from now, could have been partly avoided if they adopted some of the long term fiscal strategy that has helped us restore fiscal stability to the city of Minneapolis.”
I assert that R.T. Rybak is dissolving the civil rights department to position himself for a gubernatorial run. The proposed budget deficit and departmental redesigns are his attempt to improve his chances for a run at the state’s top seat.
Minneapolis’ Department of Civil Rights has been plagued by incompetence and dysfunction for decades. Specifically, the complaint investigation unit has been notorious for failing to adequately investigate civil rights complaints, with cases languishing for more than five years without a resolution. After Browne’s appointment to the post, marked improvements were noticed within the department. In fact, the civil rights department became a little too successful, especially when it came to upholding complaints involving Minneapolis police misconduct. In 2007, under the direction of Michael Jordan, the civil rights commissioner who assumed the post after Browne, the department experienced a rash of staff firings, low morale and complaints from five high-ranking Black police officers who sued the city and the Minneapolis police chief for racial discrimination. Maybe Mr. Jordan and Mayor Rybak should look for new jobs? (Just a thought!)
With the civil rights department out of sight, Rybak is better able to leverage his mayoral successes within city government, as well as with his supporters and constituents, in his pursuit of the gubernatorial post.
Rybak’s rhetoric, which places the blame on state leadership for the city’s budget deficit is a political maneuver often used by elected officials who have their eye on future political aspirations. This kind of rhetoric is not new. For example, in coming months, many elected officials will be saying that they have no aspirations to pursue any other position, and that their first goal is to fulfill their current responsibilities. Before long, headlines will read that a certain official has been appointed to a certain position.
Mayor Rybak wants civil rights complaints investigated at a state level so that any light shed on internal wrangling and community complaints regarding police brutality are not reflected on him. If the civil rights investigative unit is transferred to the state level, Rybak is in a better position to leverage his successes as Minneapolis Mayor: He can claim that under his administration all departments operated smoothly; any departments that experienced difficulty were quickly corrected. More importantly, he can comment on how the civil rights investigative unit can be run effectively at state-level government, or recognize the department’s appropriate fit and transfer its operations back to the city.
What surprises me about Rybak’s decision to eliminate Minneapolis’ Department of Civil Rights Investigative Unit is that not one of the “self-appointed” leaders from the Black community has stood up to question or criticize the mayor for eliminating the unit, or to question the lack of transparency in Rybak’s decision-making process. They would have a valid case considering the number of slated construction projects that have received funding to hire or contract with African-American employees and business, but have so far failed to hire a sufficient number.
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Investigative Unit must remain part of Minneapolis city government. The fact that Rybak is cutting this department sends a message to the African-American community and other communities of color that “liberty and justice for all” isn’t valued by Mayor Rybak (as long as he is running for the governor’s post).
(View Stimulus Watch, the website that features “shovel-ready” projects for the city of Minneapolis).
Obama, ACORN – Follow the Money!
Obama Sued Citibank Under CRA to Force it to Make Bad Loans
Do you remember how we told you that the Democrats and groups associated with them leaned on banks and even sued to get them to make bad loans under the Community Reinvestment Act which was a factor in causing the economic crisis (see HERE and HERE) … well look at what some fellow bloggers have dug up while researching Obama’s legal career. Looks like a typical ACORN lawsuit to get banks to hand out bad loans.
In these lawsuits, ACORN makes a bogus claim of Redlining (denying poor people loans because of their ethnic heritage). They protest and get the local media to raise a big stink. This stink means that the bank faces thousands of people closing their accounts and get local politicians to lobby to stop the bank from doing some future business, expansions and mergers. If the bank goes to court, they will win, but the damage is already done because who is going to launch a big campaign to get the bank’s reputation back?
It is important to understand the nature of these lawsuits and what their purpose is. ACORN filed tons of these lawsuits and ALL of them allege racism.
Case Name
Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank Fair Housing/Lending/Insurance
Docket / Court 94 C 4094 ( N.D. Ill. ) FH-IL-0011
State/Territory Illinois
Case Summary
Plaintiffs filed their class action lawsuit on July 6, 1994, alleging that Citibank had engaged in redlining practices in the Chicago metropolitan area in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601-3619; the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant-bank rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with similar financial characteristics and credit histories. Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, actual damages, and punitive damages.
U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo certified the Plaintiffs’ suit as a class action on June 30, 1995. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 322 (N.D. Ill. 1995). Also on June 30, Judge Castillo granted Plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery of a sample of Defendant-bank’s loan application files. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 338 (N.D. Ill. 1995).
The parties voluntarily dismissed the case on May 12, 1998, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
Plaintiff’s Lawyers Alexis, Hilary I. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Childers, Michael Allen (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Clayton, Fay (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Cummings, Jeffrey Irvine (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Love, Sara Norris (Virginia)
FH-IL-0011-9000
Miner, Judson Hirsch (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Obama, Barack H. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Wickert, John Henry (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-9000
UPDATE: www.Hotair.com comments on this story HERE.
IBNNNEW- The Death of North Minneapolis… Donald Allen
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