RYBAK vs. MCLAUGHLIN HURTS KLOBUCHAR

If Amy Klobuchar was doing a good job as Hennepin County Attorney, then crime would not be the top issue in the Minneapolis mayoral campaign.

Everything said by McLaughlin and the Minneapolis Police Federation about Minneapolis' crime problem is a criticism of Klobuchar's leadership.

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Crime is top issue in mayoral campaign, candidates say

In the central debate of the 2005 Minneapolis mayoral campaign, Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin says he would make public safety the city's No. 1 priority. Mayor R.T. Rybak says he has already done that -- and that he does it better.

The Minneapolis Police Federation, the union that represents the city's rank-and-file police officers, has promised a continued publicity attack on Rybak, contending that he hasn't made public safety a priority.

The mayor counters that the union leadership is simply angling for leverage in the coming contract talks.

What is not in doubt is that public safety is the most debated issue of the campaign leading to the Nov. 8 election. Violent crime is up in the city.

Early in the summer, Rybak said, "Minneapolis is a safe city for those not involved in high-risk lifestyles."

The comment has become fodder for critics, including McLaughlin, who branded the mayor "out of touch with crime in the city because he lives in a part of the city that doesn't have a lot of crime."

McLaughlin has made public safety, better schools and neighborhoods the core of his campaign since he entered the race late last year.

While Rybak initially didn't emphasize public safety, he said he is no election-year convert.

"If people want to increase public safety," he said, "they should support me because I've shown how we can put more officers on the street, prosecutors in our precincts and officers in STOP," the police force's 50-member tactical unit that mobilizes to hot spots.

McLaughlin said Rybak's strategies don't work because they don't allow for community policing, the on-the-ground relationship-building that he believes is the essence of modern law enforcement.

"We've got violent crime going through the roof," McLaughlin said. "The mayor's good on intentions; he's not good on results."

Rybak counters that the uptick in crime is the result of a number of factors, not just policing. He repeatedly has said McLaughlin offers nothing but a "short-term gimmick" to address crime.

McLaughlin has proposed adding 150 police officers over five years through reductions in city debt payments and by using state aid. He says it's "easy" to pay for public safety if it's the top priority.

"How is it his No. 1 priority and he's not funding it adequately?" McLaughlin asked about the mayor.

Replied Rybak: "I've already shown how we can keep the books balanced and add 70 officers in this year alone."

After the Legislature restored some state aid to cities this year, Rybak pledged to add officers by next summer. So far, 26 are on the streets, his aides said.

Where's the beef?

Both candidates are DFLers who agree on the importance of public safety but disagree on who has a track record of results.

Four years ago, when Rybak unseated former Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, he stressed affordable housing throughout the campaign. But Rybak said he's made public safety a priority since the moment he arrived at City Hall in early 2002. He said the $5 million in budget cuts he and the City Council made early in his term aimed to protect the police and fire departments at the cost of other programs.

The mayor talked, too, about how other long-term community programs have come to fruition, such as the Northside Jobs Partnership that put 73 former criminals into full-time jobs and housing programs for the disadvantaged. He also takes credit for reducing the police administrative staff to put more officers on the streets fighting crime.

"That didn't happen overnight," Rybak said. "It's not an election-year issue."

McLaughlin, for his part, points to the work he did in the Phillips neighborhood just after the 1995 crime spike, when county probation officers were deployed at a police substation on Franklin Avenue. He takes credit for the many partnerships with businesses and nonprofits to rebuild the area.

"The problem is, the [crime] genie's been let out of the bottle again," McLaughlin said.

Everyone in the city should worry about public safety because it might affect their pocketbooks, he added. If some parts of the city deteriorate and homes there drop in value, more of the tax burden will shift to safer wards with higher property values.

With that argument, McLaughlin is appealing to residents of Rybak's home turf in southwest Minneapolis. In the 13th Ward, crime is low, but property values and voter turnout are consistently high. So far, Rybak has done well with voters in that ward, who for the most part don't put crime at the top of their list of concerns. Source: Star Tribune, October 3, 2005