MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota State Rep. Ilhan Omar (D – Minneapolis) endorsed controversial Minneapolis City Council member Alondra Cano for re-election on Tuesday.
Cano, who was first elected in 2013, has been the center of several controversies since taking office. Cano boasted of her endorsement from Omar on Facebook Tuesday.
“Alondra Cano is a progressive champion,” said Omar. “She is a bold advocate for racial equity, with an authentic vision of justice that has never wavered.”
Most recently, Cano was formally chastised by the Municipal Building Commission (MBC) for her behavior during an October 28, 2016 anti-Dakota Access Pipeline sit-in in front of Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek’s office. The MBC claimed Cano physically touched security staff, and opened locked exterior doors from within so protesters could gain entry.
Earlier that October, Cano faced an ethics complaint after she tweeted the contact information of people who criticized her involvement in a Black Lives Matter protest in December 2015. The council found Cano in violation of “ethical aspirations,” ethical conduct that is not enforced by the ethics commission. As Alpha News reported, Cano threatened her colleagues leading up to the final decision.
Prior to the ethics hearing, a petition circulated to recall Cano.
In May of 2016 City Pages posted an inside look at Cano’s professionalism, or lack thereof.
“She’s always late to meetings. Sometimes she doesn’t show up at all,” an anonymous city council member told City Pages. “When she does, she hasn’t done her homework and has to wing it. That’s what she was trying to do here. The problem is this is stuff she’s supposed to know. It’s city council 101.”
The Star Tribune reports Gary Schiff, who held the seat until he ran for mayor when Cano won in 2013, is running against Cano and seeking his previously-held seat, citing Cano’s inadequacy as a motive for running.
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