What's Wrong with a Strong Mayor? A conversation with David Fey about Minneapolis ballot question 1

John's guest is David Fey from Faith in Minnesota. David served as Deputy Mayor during RT Rybak's first term beginning in 2002. Speaking from his experience in Minneapolis City Hall, David explains why he's telling people to vote no on ballot question 1, which would shift control over the city's non-police departments to the mayor. John expresses his ongoing confusion over why the Charter Commission forced us into having this conversation as the police department has imploded in the year and a half since four of their officers murdered George Floyd. David says, "The police department is the most dysfunctional and least accountable department in the city, so the idea of expanding that model to the rest of the city departments - on the face of it - is really alarming." We talk about the implications of this power shift; why it might not actually be about good government; the benefit of bringing transparency to police policymaking that's currently done behind closed doors in the mayor's office; what should be done about rogue council members (Lisa Goodman, I'm talking about you); and the value of city hall that's equally accountable to all 13 wards in the city. David also talks about his support for questions 2 and 3.

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