Current (and outgoing) Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges thought she had a connection with the people of Minneapolis. With the banning of plastic bags at convenience stores and other non-issue items made into law by Hodges and the current city council, we know there will be a change to extraordinary people to reset the city of Minneapolis politics; of course the placeholder mayor served her purpose.

By Don Allen, Publisher – Our Black News

In 2013, the Minnesota DFL African American Caucus, in fear of who would give them the best deal made an unprecedented move by endorsing two candidates; Jackie Cherryhomes and then city councilwoman Betsy Hodges for Minneapolis mayor in 2013 (Story here).

Both Cherryhomes and Hodges have connections to the black community and of course, would not have to do much in the black community to get elected. Many business-minded community members felt good about Cherryhomes because of her business background including her connections to the rebuilding of West Broadway and past successes in gaining funding to assist the black community in capacity building – like making sure the Minneapolis Urban League building project was completed. Cherryhomes has the right stuff.

Hodges, a silent partner on the Minneapolis City Council sat silent when the October 2010 “State of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise: Evidence from Minneapolis prepared for the City of Minneapolis. The report was issued in collaboration with NERA for a cost of over $500,000.00. The report that multiple times the city’s small business program was ruined and broken and cited racial discrimination as a factor in obstructing local minority owned businesses to do business with the city was ignored by Hodges and her cold hard city council seat:

The City’s SUBP is based upon a 1995 disparity study. The consultants concluded there was a “strong basis in   evidence” of discrimination for African American-, Asian-, Hispanic-, and women-owned firms. Adopted in 1999, the SUBP sets project goals for MBE and WBE participation, and bidders must meet those goals or demonstrate their good faith efforts to do so. Certification of a firm’s Program eligibility is performed by CERT, a consortium of local agencies. Minneapolis does not conduct its own outreach or assistance component for emerging businesses. It works with the other local agencies through CERT to provide information to M/WBEs on opportunities on City projects (NERA, 2010, p. 12).

Hodges, the victor in the 2013 race for mayor held post-elections community meetings on topics like fairness, education, employment and equity…the problem was Hodges was providing lip-service as she slowly came to figure out she is only a placeholder…until the DFL finds some new and better.

Enter Dr. Levy-Pounds, agent provocateur, law professor, former NAACP president and someone who will get her way in 2017, including being elected as the mayor of Minneapolis. You see folks, the plan is already complete. Sharon Sayles-Belton, R.T. Rybak, Hodges, were all a part of a master plan to keep the Minneapolis mayor’s office as liberal as possible. Unfortunately for the right-leaning folks, the Republican Party of Minnesota has missed several opportunities to pony-up on social justice only to fall back on its arrogance and candidate in training for a future of #neverwins.

Levy-Pounds will have no issue walking right into office. Congratulations, and well-played.