Tag: Lisa Bender

Foundation Run by George Soros Is Helping Fund ‘Yes 4 Minneapolis’ to Replace Police

Hayley Feland
George Soros

A foundation that is run by George Soros is helping to fund the Yes 4 Minneapolis initiative which is seeking to replace the Minneapolis Police Department. An arm of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Open Society Policy Center, donated $500,000 to Yes 4 Minneapolis. The Star Tribune reported that, “On Nov. 5, the executive director of Local Progress e-mailed Council President Lisa Bender, introducing her to Gretchen Rohr, who was leading a team at the Open Society Foundations working on justice-related programs in Minneapolis.” Local Progress, a national group that’s goal is to help progressive politicians share their ideas, is also funded in part by George Soros’ organization.

Read More

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender Unhappy That City Removed Graffiti in Uptown

Hayley Feland

After city employees went to clean graffiti off the streets of Minneapolis, City Council President Lisa Bender allegedly stopped the process. When Bender first heard about the clean-up work being done, she wrote that she assumed the city employees, “were talked into this [cleaning up the graffiti] by the business association.”

Read More

Minneapolis Council President: Critical Race Theory Should Be ‘Baked into Our Systems’

Minnesota Sun Staff
Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Bender

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said at a recent meeting that employees of color in Minneapolis have “been carrying the burden of white supremacy.”

In a May 28 meeting, Bender referred to an open letter which all city employees are invited to sign — anyone who signs the letter is acknowledging racism as a public health crisis, accepting responsibility for the “pain” they have caused as “stewards of the City of Minneapolis’s policies,” and recognizing that Minneapolis has been and continues to be harmful to the BIPOC community.

The letter was filed into the official city record and will be published on June 11 with the signatures of all who choose to sign, making it easy to know which employees decide not to sign the letter.

Read More

Minneapolis City Council Reinvests in Police Department: $1.2 Million for New Precinct

Corinne Murdock

Minneapolis City Council has approved the reinvestment of $1.2 million into a new department for Third Precinct police. The investment will be pledged annually for the next three years.
The decision took place in the council’s Policy & Government Oversight Committee meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Read More

Minneapolis Council Members Who Want to Abolish Police Have Received $63,000 in Private Security

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis has spent $63,000 on private security for three council members who want to abolish the city’s police department.

Council Member Phillipe Cunningham confirmed the report in a statement released on Twitter Friday night.

Read More

Council Unanimously Approves Plan to Dismantle Minneapolis Police

The Associated Press

The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.

Read More

Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls Minneapolis Police ‘Rotten,’ Can’t Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Them

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was unable to provide details on who will respond to violent crimes in her city without a police force, but said the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” during a Sunday interview.

“What takes its place?” CNN host Jake Tapper asked the congresswoman. “Who investigates crimes? Who arrests criminals? What happens?”

Read More

Minneapolis Council President Struggles to Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Police

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender made several appearances on cable news programs Monday and was unable to articulate who would respond to violent crimes if her city’s police department is actually abolished.

Read More