A December 2015 Alpha News report cited a petition that had been started to recall Minneapolis City Councilwoman Alondra Cano (Minneapolis Ward 9) after Cano posted critics’ personal information on Twitter. The Minneapolis City Council launched an investigation into an ethics complaint made against Cano relating to the December incident.
The Council convened with the Ethical Practices Board (a citizen board formed to review ethics complaints) behind closed doors to discuss their response to the issue in August. At that time, the Council decided to “continue” the issue. The decision to “continue” the issue instead of dismissing the complaint means that the Council may be publicly discussing their findings on October 7, 2016, though no date has yet officially been set.
In an email published by the Star Tribune, Alondra Cano lashed out at her fellow council members, stating:
“I disagree with the findings and have kept screenshots of the ways other Council Members, including CM Frey (Ward 3), Bender (Ward 10), Glidden (Ward 8), Abdi (Warsame, Ward 6) and others have used city property for ‘political purposes.’” She goes on, threatening to “speak out against the vote and circulate a press release to the media about the issue with the screenshots I’ve gathered since January of 2016” if the Council moves forward with approving the Ethics findings.
Calling the ethics complaint a waste of time, Cano excuses her behavior by saying her activity was things that “we all do everyday with our social media.” In an attempt to lessen the offense, Cano goes on to say, “The ‘breach of public trust’ is the same breach you each have made when you’ve voted for stadiums…the Latte Levy…the same breach of trust as when Blong (Yang, Ward 5) gets into name calling fights with his constituents on social media or when Abdi gets accused of beating up Ilhan (Omar – DFL, MN House of Representatives Candidate 60B).”
She also mentions that she and her lawyer “are ready to take this to the next level” and that she is “ready to speak publicly on this topic.” Repeating the promise that “everything will be in public…”
In an interview with the Star Tribune, Cano said, “I think that there are a few people here who are just really trying to take me down for those issues and they disagree with me politically, so they’re going to find any way to drag me through the mud on what I think is an issue that we should have resolved and concluded on.”
Updated 4:03pm 9/23/2016
Andrea Mayer-Bruestle
Andrea Mayer-Bruestle is a former writer for Alpha News.
