SCANDALAPOLIS #2

3 probes of City Hall in 5 years

The investigation of Council Member Dean Zimmermann is the third federal investigation of Minneapolis City Hall in five years. The other two:

• In 2001, the last election year, Council Member Brian Herron resigned and pleaded guilty to extortion. He served a one-year sentence for taking money from Lake Street developer Basim Sabri. Sabri, who was captured on FBI videotape tape giving money to Herron, is now in prison in Leavenworth, Kan. In the Herron case, then-Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton brought in an outside lawyer to conduct an independent investigation. Mayor R.T. Rybak currently has no plan for a separate investigation of Zimmermann.

• In an unrelated matter, former Council Member Joe Biernat served 19 months for accepting free plumbing from a union official. Source: Star Tribune, September 10, 2005