Minneapolis drops complaint over council member's controversial tweets
A member of the Minneapolis City Council who used her city Twitter account to reveal the names, home addresses and phone numbers of critics will not be disciplined by the city's ethics board.
The council voted Friday to drop an ethics complaint against Ward 9 Council Member Alondra Cano.
The complaint stemmed from Cano's responses to constituents who sent her emails criticizing her involvement in a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the Mall of America in December 2015.
One of the residents who wrote to Cano, Stephen Dent, told MPR News in December that while he supports Black Lives Matter, he disagreed with the mall protest because it is private property.
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Dent added that he felt like posting his contact information online was an attempt by Cano to shame him and others who criticized her support for the protest.
The City Council backed a resolution that said while Cano's actions violated the aspirations of the city's ethics ordinance, they did not break the rules governing the use of city property. Cano had deleted her tweets containing the contact information, but didn't apologize for them.
"I did it out of a belief in government transparency and public discourse," Cano told MPR News in December. "This is not new, this is something I've done in the past, and this is actually a platform that I stand by on the City Council, and I've been very public on a lot of different issues."
Passage of the resolution means Cano will not be punished, said Assistant City Attorney Susan Trammell.
"In this particular resolution with the finding that there's a violation of ethical aspirations, there can be no discipline imposed," said Trammell.
Cano did not speak on the matter during the council meeting.
However, Cano's colleague, Ward 5 Council Member Blong Yang was not silent. Yang referred to an email Cano sent to Council President Barbara Johnson last month threatening to reveal violations by her colleagues if they upheld the complaint.
"I didn't appreciate that," said Yang, who added that Cano's behavior is one of the reasons people are losing faith in elected officials.
"Even if we as a council body don't impose discipline, I would hope the good folks in Ward 9 will take care of it next year," said Yang.
Cano's first term in office expires in 2017.