Even worse, one city official admitted she voted to uphold Boganey’s firing to appease protesters.
Curt Boganey, the city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, was fired by the city’s spineless council. His offense? He advocated for due process for the police officer in the Daunte Wright shooting, which is just following the law.
That’s what it has come to in America. City officials lose their jobs if they stand up for due process rights and the rule of law. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the police chief, Tim Gannon, might be next, even though his only offense was being transparent with the public by immediately providing details and body cam video on the shooting. (Update: Gannon has now resigned).
Got that?
This is what it’s come to. If you don’t immediately rush to judgment, off with your head, even if you’re a well-respected, veteran official like Curt Boganey. We live in a post due process society (that started with #metoo).
Despite looting and property damage and a city reeling from the shooting, the Brooklyn Center council held an “emergency meeting” on April 12, 2021, over the apparently pressing need to fire Curt Boganey after he expressed the need to give a civil servant due process. So ended Boganey’s 16-year career with the city.
Even worse, one city official admitted she voted to uphold Boganey’s firing to appease protesters.
She literally said that. Curt Boganey, by the way, is black. So, this official apparently thinks she’s appeasing Black Lives Matter protesters by unfairly voting to destroy the career of a black leader. Got it.
According to the Star Tribune, Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson “said she voted to remove the city manager because she feared for her property and retaliation by protestors if she had voted to keep him.”
“He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly,” she said, the newspaper reported. “I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”
Wow.
Curt Boganey drew the mayor’s ire when he appeared at a press conference and was asked whether he thought the police officer, who mistakenly used a gun thinking it was her taser, should be fired immediately. Boganey had power to determine whether to fire her.
He didn’t say he didn’t think the officer should be fired eventually or not. All he did was call for due process.
What Did Curt Boganey Say?
Here’s what Boganey said that apparently offended the Council so much, “If I were to answer that question, I’d be contradicting what I said a moment ago — which is to say that all employees are entitled to due process and after that due process, discipline will be determined,” Boganey said. “If I were to say anything else, I would actually be contradicting the idea of due process.” He’d also presumably be violating employment law, which does require that the officer receive due process.
This didn’t sit well with the mayor, who also was given control of the Police Department, and who said at the news conference that he thought the officer should be fired, contradicting the city manager.
“Effective immediately our city manager has been relieved of his duties, and the deputy city manager will be assuming his duties moving forward,” Elliott wrote on Twitter. “I will continue to work my hardest to ensure good leadership at all levels of our city government.”
He added: “Moments ago the council passed a motion 3-2 to give command authority over our Police Department to my office. At such a tough time, this will streamline things and establish a chain of command and leadership. I appreciate the other councilmembers who voted to approve this motion.”
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