Unsettled Wednesday, then cooler before heating up next week

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson is apologizing for 

 the OccupyMN protesters at the Hennepin County Government Center as "socialists, anarchists, flower children" who were "very messy."

 today, Johnson, who also serves as Minnesota's Republican National Committeeman, said the remarks were unscripted and that he went for some "cheap applause."

 that he met with a few of the protesters.  He said they were "decent people with VERY different views from me of what ails our country."

  Johnson characterized our initial reporting of his comments as "hastily reported."  It should be noted that his comments were posted on the blog and ran on the radio several hours after he made the comments.  I also consulted with our political editor, Mike Mulcahy, as to whether Johnson's comments were worthy of reporting.  We decided to publish the comments since the protests were being held at Johnson's place of work - the Hennepin County Government Center.

Politics and Government News

Johnson apologizes for ripping OccupyMN protesters

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox