Mayors’ recent decisions disregard democracy in the Twin Cities

The arrogance, some would call it chutzpah, of the heads of the two Twin Cities is disturbing, especially in light of the threats to democracy posed at the national level.

‘Misleading’ matter

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced last week that he will not implement a measure authorizing imposition of an increased property tax levy mounting to $110 million spread over a decade to be used for funding child care, even if the proposition is approved by voters in the capital city next month.

Terming the initiative “misleading” because of the limited number of families that would be aided, he offered some cogent reasons for his disinclination to implement the revenue-raising device. But the Mayor overlooked explaining why he intends to dishonor the will of the voters.

Flimsy fee

Across the Mississippi River, his Minneapolis counterpart, Mayor Jacob Frey, offered his own anti-democratic plan in announcing that he will ignore a measure to impose a carbon emissions fee of $452 per ton of emissions on the top three dozen perpetrators in the city even after the City Council, which already had unanimously approved it, rapidly voted 9-2 to override his veto of it while pushing the start date back seven months to next July.

Rather than economics, Frey premised his pronouncement to disregard the views of the elected representatives of his constituents on flimsy legal grounds that the effort to fund programs to restrict emissions has been deemed an “illegal tax” by his hand-picked city attorney.

While the mayors — and other elected officials, for that matter — are certainly entitled to express their views and advocate for their positions, refusing to abide by majority sentiment is reminiscent of the mentality underlying the insurrection attempt of Jan. 6 without the weaponry,  violence, property destruction and other unlawful behavior. 

In both instances, the DFL mayors have chosen to rebuke majority viewpoints. Their pronouncements amount to affronts to democratic processes while they support their party’s presidential ticket that warns of the danger to democracy emanating from the prospective election of former President Donald Trump.

The heads of the two adjoining municipalities are tone deaf. Perhaps that’s why they’re called the “Twin” Cities.

Marshall H. Tanick is a constitutional and employment law attorney with the Twin Cities law firm of Meyer Njus Tanick.

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