Is a prestigious Ivy League fellowship a “personal choice” or a “public benefit”? That is the question at the heart of the controversy surrounding Council Member Jeremiah Ellison’s move to Boston for a Harvard arts program
It became public in September that 5th Ward Council Member Jeremiah Ellison had received a prestigious arts fellowship to Harvard. Congratulations! The fellowship came with a $57,000 stipend. Felicidades! It is the opportunity of a lifetime. Mazel Tov!
Beginning in August, for the rest of 2025, the rest of his term of office, he would be quite unavailable to fulfill his council duties and constituent services. No, he didn’t think he would need to resign as previous council members did when they could no longer fulfill their responsibilities. He could no longer conduct constituent services or attend committee meetings, but he promised he would attend the bi-weekly meetings of the full council. And so, he should continue to collect his $110,000 public employee salary. Well, he was correct he would be unable to attend committee meetings, but he didn’t do so well at attending full council meetings either.
Well at least, since he was on the city payroll, perhaps he would sign over his stipend to the city, so he wasn’t double dipping. You know, every so often a police officer gets caught working part time while also on duty for the city. That usually results in at least a suspension without pay.
The news cycle moved on and public attention died down. Then, it was recently revealed he had sought to use city tax dollars for his planned bi-weekly air travel expenses to and from Boston. In his defense, there was nothing surreptitious about his request to use public funds. His staff ran it through channels, the City Clerk, who also consulted the City Attorney. The conclusion was, there was no public purpose served that would justify paying for his travel. It was his personal choice to be gone.
I haven’t heard that all of this raised any concerns with his majority block on the council, but it should.
How could this be done differently so that it was all above board and not just a wink and a nod from preferred colleagues?
Here is an experience I had while an MPD Police Inspector who went on extended travel for the city, to the FBI National Academy for eleven weeks. I think it satisfied public purpose and approval quite well.
About once a year, the Minneapolis Police Department was offered a seat at the FBI National Academy, known by graduates as the NA. The NA and a handful of prestigious leadership development programs, like the Southern Police Institute, are offered to the city, the NA free of charge. In either case, employee salaries continue.
When I attended the NA in 1993, the process was, that absences over a certain length of time required council action. The request needed to be brought to the then, Public Safety and Regulatory Services committee, by the Chief of Police, voted out, and voted on by the full council. For the most part, I think these requests were placed on the “consent agenda,” which is to say they probably wouldn’t be pulled out for discussion unless a council member chose to do so. Nevertheless, they were publicly noticed and acted on by council.
Though perhaps implicit, there was a public good for the city’s investment of my time. The NA coursework was accredited by the University of Virginia. The dialogue with the instructors and relationships established with fellow police leaders from around the world broadened my professional experience to serve our city.
Transportation? Why yes, the city provided me a perfectly good 1990 Ford Taurus to drive to and from Quantico at the start and finish of the NA. They also provided one airfare home and back mid-course. I used mine to come back for the captain’s test.
I was truly grateful to the city council for permitting me this rare opportunity for professional growth. I served MPD and the city of Minneapolis for ten more years after the NA. When I returned from the NA, I wrote a thank you to each of the council members for providing me the opportunity. Council Member Joan Campbell, then chair of Ways and Means remarked, “No one has ever done that before.”
In conclusion, I am just saying there needs to be a transparent policy and a demonstrable public benefit for such use of taxpayer dollars.
