Better Minneapolis Podcast

Brief Introduction:

Mike Newcome is running for Minnesota governor as an independent with the Forward Independence Party, motivated by a belief that partisan politics and special interests have left state government disconnected from everyday Minnesotans.

Interview Summary:

Mike Newcome is running for Minnesota governor as a candidate of the Forward Independence Party, driven by a sense that the state’s politics have drifted away from the people it’s meant to serve. A lifelong Minnesotan from White Bear Lake, Newcome comes from a family deeply rooted in civic life and public service. After building and selling a successful Twin Cities–based small business, he spent nearly a decade as a stay-at-home dad, an experience he says sharpened his understanding of the pressures families face today. He describes his candidacy as a response to what he sees as a broken, overly partisan system—one that prioritizes party agendas and special interests over practical problem-solving and the everyday needs of Minnesotans.

Newcome says he chose to run outside the Democratic and Republican parties because he believes meaningful reform is impossible within their structures. In his view, Minnesotans are pragmatic and hungry for leaders who put collaboration ahead of ideological fights. He argues that the current “winner-take-all” politics at the Capitol have left residents feeling unheard and underserved, and that an independent path allows him to focus on solutions rather than party loyalty. His campaign message emphasizes respect, civility, and substance over name-calling or political theater, framing this election as a fight for the “heart and soul” of Minnesota.

At the core of Newcome’s platform are three main priorities. First is affordability, which he describes as a broad crisis affecting everyone from young people trying to get started to seniors struggling on fixed incomes. Second is public safety, which he says is foundational to quality of life; he proposes an early, nonpartisan public safety summit that brings together law enforcement, the courts, policymakers, and community voices to address both immediate crime concerns and long-term prevention. Third is creating a more welcoming and competitive business environment, particularly for small and mid-sized employers, who he believes are being driven away by high taxes, rigid regulations, and poorly designed mandates. Together, Newcome presents these priorities as interconnected steps toward restoring trust, stability, and opportunity across Minnesota.

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Interview Summary

Anders Folk, a lifelong Minnesotan and former federal prosecutor, is running for Hennepin County Attorney with a focus on restoring public safety and rebuilding the office’s reputation. Drawing on experience from the Marine Corps, the Department of Justice, and earlier work in the Hennepin County Attorney’s juvenile division, Folk argues that the office has suffered from weakened relationships with law enforcement and poor communication with the public. He stresses the importance of professionalism, transparency, and collaboration across the county’s public-safety ecosystem.

A major theme of the conversation is accountability—especially for youth—paired with compassion and long-term prevention. Folk acknowledges community frustration with repeat offenses, particularly car thefts and violent incidents, and says that consequences must be certain and clearly communicated. At the same time, he emphasizes that the goal is to prevent crime before it happens and ensure that those who move through the system can successfully re-enter society. He also calls for stronger support for victims, who he feels have not been adequately heard under the current leadership.

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Our conversation addresses broader public safety challenges, including gang activity, jail overcrowding, and high-profile use-of-force cases. He argues that the county attorney must be a strong partner not only to Minneapolis but to every city in Hennepin County, recognizing that crime often crosses municipal boundaries. His past work, including signing the federal indictment against Derek Chauvin, informs his view of the pressures and scrutiny that come with the role. Ultimately, Folk presents himself as a pragmatic Democrat focused on rebuilding trust, strengthening collaboration, and communicating clearly with residents about how decisions are made.

To learn more about Anders Folk, visit:

https://www.andersfolk.com/

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Brief Summary:

In today’s newsletter, we examine how Minnesota’s nonprofit fraud scandals have evolved from local oversight failures into a national political vulnerability for the DFL. With leaders slow to confront the scale of the problem, Republicans have stepped in with investigations, audits, and messaging that could shape the 2026 elections.

A Party Unwilling to Police Its Own

In October 2022, the Minnesota Reformer reported that a nonprofit connected to Ward 6 Council Member Jamal Osman’s family claimed to be feeding 2,500 children per day. Since then, several individuals associated with Stigma-Free International—an entity Osman previously transferred to associates—have been convicted of submitting millions in fraudulent invoices. Osman himself has never been held accountable by the DFL, and he easily won reelection in November. The DFL’s decision to position Osman as a spokesperson on fraud-related criticism of the Somali community has puzzled some observers, given the unanswered ethical concerns surrounding his own associations.

Representative Ilhan Omar’s high-profile online sparring is a distraction with plenty of heat, but it shows little engagement with the systemic failures that allowed nonprofit fraud to expand unchecked. And while it is racist and inaccurate to paint the Somali community as monolithic or uniformly complicit, it is insufficient for party leaders to respond with messaging rather than meaningful oversight.

Minneapolis residents deserve more than talking points about citizenship; they deserve real accountability.

Fraud Has Outpaced the State’s Ability to Investigate

Recent reporting has detailed how some families negotiated kickbacks with fraudulent autism-service providers—effectively shopping between sham centers for the best payout. These stories underscore the scope of the problem: a vast network of shell companies, falsified invoices, and lax oversight that investigators cannot keep up with.

The sheer volume of fraud means many of the people responsible may never face charges because the system is overwhelmed.

The pervasiveness of the misconduct echoes a warning from writer David Frum in his 2019 story for The Atlantic, “If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will.” When established political leaders refuse to enforce standards, others—often with more punitive approaches—step into the vacuum. In Minnesota and nationally, Republicans have seized that opportunity, calling for federal investigations, statewide audits, and expanded scrutiny by agencies such as ICE and the Small Business Administration.

A visible, public reckoning from leaders like Ellison, Walz, Omar, and Osman could help reshape a narrative that is increasingly slipping out of their control. A meaningful gesture—such as visiting the empty offices that purportedly housed multiple nonprofits—would signal an overdue commitment to transparency. Without such actions, public mistrust will only deepen.

Two truths can coexist:(1) It is racist to attribute fraud committed by 87 charged individuals to the broader Somali community of 110,000 in Minnesota.(2) The scale of the fraud—over a billion dollars—required systemic failures and, in some cases, complicity from political networks and the community.

Recognizing both is essential to repairing a broken system.

Minnesota Nice—And the Political Math of 2026

If the election were held today, Walz and Omar would likely remain in office. For many urban voters, the prospect of Republican governance and the potential for cuts to social programs still outweighs concerns about fraud and oversight. The fear of losing these services is stronger than the frustration that fraud has already weakened them.

The people most harmed by fraud are the very residents these programs were created to support. They include Minnesotans experiencing homelessness, individuals seeking autism services, people with substance-use disorders, and families relying on housing and food assistance. When fraud drains resources, these groups feel the cut first.

Ward 6, entirely within Omar’s Fifth Congressional District, includes one of Minnesota’s most civically active immigrant communities. Their participation has helped secure Omar’s durability in Congress. Her substantial online following of 2.7 million X users has elevated her public profile, but has not translated into significant legislative impact.

A Narrative the DFL Is Losing—Again

The DFL wants to be known as the party that protects immigrants and counteracts racism. But their moral authority is tarnished, and their ability to govern at the federal level is in doubt. Just as “defund the police” became an unintentional gift to Republicans in 2020, Minnesota’s DFL failure to address fraud has now become a national wedge issue.

Republicans will not hesitate to use it:

“See what happens when Democrats run things? They’re soft on crime. They let fraud flourish.”

And if Democrats respond only by highlighting immigrants’ tax contributions, they risk signaling that they lack a substantive answer.

Minnesota’s political leadership still has an opportunity to reclaim the narrative—but only if they confront the underlying issues with transparency, urgency, and seriousness.

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INTRODUCTION

Today on Better Minneapolis, we’re bringing you a conversation with Congresswoman Angie Craig as she launches her run for the U.S. Senate. We talked about the experiences that shaped her—growing up in a mobile home park without reliable healthcare—and how that fuels her push to lower costs, improve community safety, and reform Washington.

We cover healthcare affordability, the $35 insulin cap, housing shortages, childcare costs, and what it will take for families to get ahead in every corner of Minnesota. She also opens up about surviving an attack in D.C. and discusses her work on mental health, addiction, fentanyl, and holding Big Tech accountable. And we dig into immigration and how she balances fighting harmful policies with finding bipartisan solutions.

You can find out more about her campaign by visiting:

https://angiecraig.com/

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Summary

Congresswoman Angie Craig opens the conversation by grounding her Senate run in her personal story: growing up in a mobile home park, raised by a single mom and grandmother, sometimes without health insurance or enough food. She frames her campaign around three core themes she’s already used to win a swing district: making life more affordable, keeping communities safe, and fixing a Washington she says isn’t working for ordinary people. That means capping insulin at $35 a month (a bill she wrote), backing a ban on members of Congress trading stock or becoming lobbyists, and supporting policing that is both effective and fair while also pushing for limits on military-style assault weapons.

Throughout the interview, Craig returns to affordability as the throughline of what she’s hearing on her listening tour—from Minneapolis to the Iron Range. In different places, it shows up as rent, childcare, healthcare access, or the difficulty of buying a first home, but the anxiety remains the same. She criticizes Trump-era tax cuts and Medicaid reductions for driving up healthcare costs, argues for a public option and letting people buy into Medicare, and lays out how uncompensated care cascades through the system into higher premiums and deductibles. She backs expanded child tax credits, wants more support for young families struggling with childcare, and calls for unleashing new housing supply through tax credits for first-time buyers and builders, modular housing, and confronting NIMBYism—while insisting a four-year degree can’t be the only path to opportunity.

Rep. Craig also talks candidly about being assaulted in her D.C. apartment by a man who was homeless, schizophrenic, and addicted, and how that experience deepened her commitment to the intersection of mental health, addiction, homelessness, and public safety. She highlights the Reconnections Act—recently signed into law—which invests more resources in community mental health and addiction services, and describes her push to hold Big Tech accountable when fentanyl-laced pills are sold on their platforms.

On immigration, she calls Trump’s attempt to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali Minnesotans “disgusting” and “inhumane,” pledging to stand with Somali communities in Minneapolis and across the state. She closes by describing her governing posture as “one fist closed, one hand extended”—ready to fight policies that harm Minnesotans while still working across the aisle to solve real problems as she seeks to serve as Minnesota’s next U.S. Senator.

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Brief

As Minneapolis leaders debate whether to add eight public restrooms downtown, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the City Council is considering a $700,000 budget amendment to build them. It’s a welcome recognition of a real need; private businesses shouldn’t be expected to function as the city’s bathroom system, but the proposed amount is far from the full cost.

What Practical Governance Looks Like

Good governance means budgeting for the entire lifecycle of a project, not just the construction price tag. And when it comes to public restrooms, the experience of other cities offers a clear lesson: whatever number you start with, the actual costs will almost certainly be much higher. Practical governance requires that the worst-case scenario be used as the basis for your planning.

A practical approach starts with an uncomfortable truth. We would like to imagine that public restrooms can be largely self-policing, used as intended, and integrated smoothly into downtown life. But most cities that have tried this have encountered something very different. The $87,500-per-unit estimate currently on the table is already below the Legislative Research and Oversight analysis the city commissioned—and far below the real-world range of $300,000 to $500,000 once you factor in utility hookups, ADA compliance, and the “vandal-proof” materials needed to withstand heavy use. And that is before ongoing maintenance and security, the two cost drivers cities chronically underestimate.

If city leaders want a preview of what these restrooms will require, they need only talk to the managers of Starbucks, McDonald’s, and other businesses that have been acting as de facto public bathrooms for years. Their staff routinely find themselves monitoring restrooms, timing visits, and dealing with drug use, prostitution, and unsafe situations. We had a friend quit her job as a barista because she was tired of being asked to clean bathrooms and monitor users. Some Starbucks locations in high-traffic areas have even closed because they could no longer guarantee staff and customer safety, despite on-site security.

A trip to the public restrooms in the main city library is an example of what will be required. It’s not unusual to see clothes being washed or people staggering out of stalls. These facilities need constant cleaning and attention. Police and paramedics are frequent visitors.

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Department of Public Restrooms

Adding public restrooms downtown is not a one-time capital project—it’s a long-term operational commitment. If the city moves forward, it must be done correctly, or Minneapolis risks building eight facilities only to shutter them later, wasting millions in construction and ongoing costs.

The reality is that these restrooms will require 24/7 staffing. Even at the new January 1 minimum wage of $16.37 an hour, covering three shifts across eight locations means at least 24 employees. Add one or two supervisors to handle scheduling, staff support, and the inevitable sick-day coverage, and you’re looking at roughly 26 staff members. At that scale, the annual cost approaches $1.5 million. If we use the official pay scale of the city, in which a maintenance worker earns $26.14 per hour, that total would jump closer to $2 million.

And staffing isn’t a simple matter of unlocking doors and emptying trash. Employees will need training in Narcan administration, CPR, and de-escalation. They’ll need reliable communications equipment for calling police, fire, or EMS. These are calls that will, based on the experiences of Seattle, Portland, and even our own downtown library, happen regularly. A clear policy manual will be essential to guide staff through situations such as overdoses, fights, people occupying stalls for long periods, or other unsafe activity. Oversight will be required to ensure staff follow protocols and maintain professional boundaries.

In short, if the city adds eight public restrooms, it is effectively creating a small Department of Public Restrooms. It’s an operation with real staffing needs, real training requirements, and real risks. None of these challenges are disqualifying. But practical governance means planning for them from the start, not after the doors open.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, given the present realities, adding public restrooms downtown requires greater commitment than a $700,000 budget amendment. We want to believe we live in a city and state that can manage basic public services well. Yet our mental health system remains overstretched, and programs for housing and addiction recovery are chronically underfunded and too often undermined by fraud and waste. It’s a discouraging sign of broader shortcomings that something as simple as a public restroom has to be treated as a public-safety challenge.

These same shortcomings will doom any restroom initiative unless leaders commit to practical, transparent budgeting and clear policies from the beginning. Launching new programs with insufficient resources may generate short-term goodwill, but it ultimately produces poor performance and deepens public frustration with the government.

Anyone who has hurried through downtown looking for a restroom understands the need. Minneapolis can provide them, but only with thoughtful planning. That means budgeting for the full cost, assigning leadership accountable for results, and treating operations as seriously as construction. Simply inserting a budget amendment without addressing the true scope of the work is an avoidable failure waiting to happen.

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The Bear Bones

Let’s start with a disclaimer: we haven’t spent the dozens of hours it would take to fully dissect Minneapolis’s proposed 2026 budget. At nearly 500 pages, it’s a beast. But one thing is immediately clear: if the City Council approves the plan in December, Minneapolis will spend about $140 million more in 2026 than it did in 2025.

To cover that increase, residents are being asked to pay higher property taxes. The impact isn’t uniform. Our own bill is set to rise by about 10%, while we’ve heard from others facing increases closer to 15%, and some under 5%. The formula behind these variations is opaque, not something the average resident can easily decipher.

What residents can see is this: the city’s total spending is climbing significantly, and households are being asked to fill the gap.

The Research

We had hoped to spend more time digging into the specifics, but several items already stand out:

* Salary and benefits account for 24% of the total increase—about $34 million.

* The largest jump in spending comes from Capital Equipment, which covers project design and construction. This category rises by $89 million, moving from $481 million to $570 million. That is a substantial amount of concrete.

The budget notes:

City financial policies provide for limited inflationary increases in non-personnel operating costs; the majority of spending changes between 2025 and 2026 are due to the rising costs of labor and new capital spending.

Another notable area is contractual services, which appear 85 times in the document. Spending here climbs by $13.7 million, from $598 million to $611 million. This is one of many reasons cutting the City Auditor’s office—as proposed—is a mistake. With so much outsourcing to consultants and nonprofits, robust oversight is not optional; it’s essential. In many cases, city employees are paid to manage work contracts that, some argue, the city could perform internally.

At nearly 500 pages, the proposed budget is dense with aspirations, qualifications, and 6-point-font footnotes. The goals and equity statements are admirable, but they can obscure the operational details driving costs upward. For example:Public Works already employs more than 1,000 people and is requesting 25 additional FTEs. Is that warranted? The budget explains:

Increased FTE count by 25 FTEs through administrative adds, which were offset by capital projects revenues.

Even if revenue increases, the need is unclear.

And then there are the oddities that reveal a consultant’s fingerprints. Take the Project Coordinator role: the city is reducing staffing from 2.3 FTEs to 1.4 FTEs. This fractional accounting is the kind of budgeting sleight-of-hand only someone with an MBA could love.

Recommendations

We know it’s far easier to suggest changes than to carry them out. Still, before the final budget is approved, there are several areas worth a closer look:

* Re-scope or Defer Capital Programs.Capital spending is the single largest driver of the budget increase. With construction costs still elevated, the city should consider prioritizing or delaying certain projects to avoid buying materials and building at peak prices. This review should include identifying duplicated efforts—especially in IT investments—across departments.

* Control Labor Cost Growth.The city can take meaningful steps by closing long-standing vacancies, consolidating roles where it makes sense, and reducing excessive overtime, particularly within Police and Fire. These changes can curb recurring cost growth without undermining essential services.

* Scrutinize Contractual Services.With outsourcing on the rise, the city should reduce dependence on external consultants, combine similar contracts across departments, and renegotiate multi-year agreements—especially in high-cost areas such as IT and property services. A more disciplined approach to contracting can produce significant savings.

Conclusion

Elections can easily pull attention away from the day-to-day work of governing. Speeches, polls, and the constant churn of who’s up and who’s down often crowd out the deeper reporting we need on unglamorous but essential topics—like the city budget.

But nothing focuses attention quite like opening your property tax statement, reviewing your health insurance premiums, or filling a grocery cart for the holidays. When basic household costs are rising across the board, it becomes all the more important to ask why the city plans to spend $140 million more than it did last year. A closer look isn’t just reasonable—it’s responsible.

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Introduction

In this interview, Latonya Reeves shares her background and the priorities driving her campaign to become Minnesota’s next representative for the 5th Congressional District.

The seat has been held by Rep. Ilhan Omar since she won the DFL endorsement in 2018, defeating Margaret Kelliher. Any challenger—including Reeves—faces steep odds. Omar has demonstrated consistent strength in DFL primaries, winning by a wide margin over Antone Melton-Meaux in 2020, narrowly defeating Don Samuels by 2,466 votes in 2022, and expanding that margin to 16,087 in 2024. In Minneapolis, where the Republican Party does not mount competitive campaigns, winning the DFL primary effectively ensures victory. “Safe” districts such as this often allow members of Congress to serve for decades, as seen with Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky, 87 years old) and Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland, 86 years old), who have both represented their districts since 1981.

At the same time, the CD5 seat is largely symbolic at present. Rep. Omar has not sponsored a bill that became law since December 2022, when a post office at 100 South 1st Street was renamed the Martin Olav Sabo Post Office. This level of legislative output appears acceptable to most district voters. Her national profile continues to grow—particularly as she positions herself as a leading voice against Trump-era policies. Trump’s recent pledge to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota will likely heighten Omar’s prominence and make any primary challenge even more difficult.

We respect Reeves for choosing to run and for elevating issues she believes deserve greater attention. As Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory in New York demonstrated, long odds can be overcome—especially when candidates speak directly to the concerns of their communities.

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Interview Summary

Latonya Reeves opens the conversation by outlining her extensive political and public-safety background, including her roles as a DNC member, chair of Minneapolis’s Community Commission on Police Oversight, member of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, and president of the Hennepin County probation and parole union. She explains that she entered the race for Congress in Minnesota’s Fifth District after repeated encouragement from community members who felt unheard, divided, and disillusioned within the current Democratic Party. Reeves positions herself as a bridge builder who can negotiate, collaborate, and represent the full range of communities in the district.

Throughout the interview, Reeves highlights three core priorities: union rights, public safety, and housing. She argues for raising the federal minimum wage, strengthening collective bargaining, and shifting the public-safety conversation beyond policing to include housing, mental-health care, and economic stability. On housing, she stresses the need for both subsidies and homeownership pathways, and she calls for accountability in Minnesota’s housing stabilization programs, which she believes have been undermined by fraud. Reeves also emphasizes the importance of bipartisan work—particularly on housing and federal funding—while asserting that Democrats need clearer messaging that speaks to everyday kitchen-table concerns such as rent, food costs, and small-business vitality.

We close with discussions of immigration, health care, reproductive rights, and transgender inclusion in sports. Reeves calls for humane and consistent immigration processes, supports universal health care, backs drug-price negotiations, and firmly defends abortion rights and transgender participation in athletics. She frames these positions as rooted in dignity, equity, and practical outcomes for families. Reeves concludes by stating that many constituents in the district feel unheard by the incumbent and that she intends to refocus the role of the representative on listening closely to community priorities rather than pursuing personal agendas.

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Introduction

This interview began after a chance conversation with Nancy Ford at her shop, Repair Lair. (Zelda, our dog, had chewed through a small shoulder pack we were dropping off for repair.) We started talking about how business was going and whether conditions in the neighborhood had improved. According to Nancy, the area around the 46th & Hiawatha transit station remains deeply troubled. Quick errands—like picking up dog food at 47th and Hiawatha—can involve witnessing public drug use, people in visible distress, and unpredictable encounters in nearby parking lots and alleyways. It’s hard not to wonder how the surrounding businesses manage to stay in operation. Many now rely on private security to make it possible.

Nancy’s neighbor, Amy Johnson, has also been documenting what occurs in the neighborhood. In 2021, she began the Instagram account @karenthecamera to raise awareness of the daily activity along the footpath that connects the light rail station to the neighborhood. Her account has grown to nearly 21,000 followers, and her videos regularly show car thefts, open drug use, and prostitution. Both Amy and Nancy have tried repeatedly to raise concerns with elected officials while also helping people in crisis where they can.

Across Minneapolis and the metro area, governments and nonprofits are launching programs intended to address homelessness, addiction, and mental health—from new shelter beds and affordable housing investments in Minneapolis, to Hennepin County’s Homeless to Housing program, to Metro Transit’s Homeless Action Team.

Despite these efforts, residents in neighborhoods like 46th & Hiawatha continue to experience daily disorder. The challenge might not be a lack of initiatives. It could be the lack of coordination among them. When systems overlap, duplicate effort, or work at cross-purposes, costs rise while effectiveness falls. Progress will require a unified approach between the city, county, state, and nonprofit partners—one that recognizes the complex causes of homelessness and addiction while also respecting the needs of residents and businesses most directly affected.

Interview Summary

Nancy Ford and Amy Johnson describe years of escalating public-safety problems around the 46th & Hiawatha light-rail station, including open drug use, harassment, theft, discarded needles, and unpredictable behavior from people in crisis. Nancy discusses how these experiences shaped her two City Council campaigns and ultimately contributed to her decision not to run again—citing a lack of institutional support, personal attacks, and the emotional toll. Amy explains why she created the Instagram account “Karen the Camera” as a way to document conditions that officials had dismissed or ignored, noting that images were often the only way to prompt a response.

Both women detail the significant steps they and Metro Transit have taken to mitigate the problems—from increased lighting and fencing to private security patrols—but emphasize that these interventions merely push the behavior around rather than address underlying addiction and service-resistant populations. They describe repeated thefts and safety threats to their homes and businesses, the burden of documenting crimes themselves, and the costly measures required just to feel safe in their own neighborhood. Despite some cooperation from Metro Transit, they express frustration with limited follow-through from city leadership and being excluded from community-safety discussions.

The conversation widens into a critique of Minneapolis’s broader public-safety landscape, where residents, city officials, the county, and nonprofits often shift blame rather than coordinate meaningful solutions. Nancy and Amy note divisions within the city about how to balance enforcement, treatment, and humanitarian responses—while emphasizing that the lived impact on their neighborhood has been severe. They argue that unless the city and county confront the realities of addiction and disorder more directly—and work together rather than in silos—residents will continue to bear the costs, and some, like Nancy, may eventually leave the city altogether.

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Introduction

In this interview, Becka Thompson and I discuss the upheaval at the Park Board, the realities of campaigning, and the growing strains on Minneapolis’s budget.

One of the biggest surprises this election cycle was the defeat of longtime Park Board Commissioner Steffanie Musich by Kay Carvajal Moran in District 5. Moran, a recent Augsburg University graduate with degrees in sociology and history, works as a case manager assistant for Hennepin County, helping tenants access rental assistance, mediation, and other supports. She is active with the Minnesota Immigrant Movement and centers her platform on expanding youth programming, strengthening economic opportunity, and promoting transit, green space, and pedestrian safety. Despite Musich’s decade of experience and deep institutional knowledge, voters favored Moran’s activist-driven platform and fresh political profile.

Moran received endorsements from several labor unions as well as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, highlighting the shifting political dynamics that shaped this year’s Park Board outcomes.

The Fraud Train Speeds Ahead

If Thompson and I had recorded our interview just a few hours later, we might have discussed the article Met Council audit finds ‘high risk’ that nonprofit misused federal funds. That story—focused on Move Minneapolis, a transportation-focused subsidiary accused of potential misuse of federal dollars—fits squarely within the concerns we raised about why government spending continues to grow while accountability lags.

Across every level of government—city, county, state, and the Met Council—public agencies now rely on an expansive network of nonprofits and contractors to carry out core responsibilities. Housing support, health care, transportation programs, violence prevention, and more are increasingly outsourced. As we noted in the interview, outsourcing can work only when paired with strong oversight and regular, independent audits. Those protections are often missing. Daily headlines about fraud and misuse of funds reflect a system where elected officials have limited incentives to intervene, particularly when the organizations receiving contracts also form part of their political support structure. Scrutinizing finances risks alienating key constituencies. It’s a convoluted system that rewards fraud and inefficiency.

Each outsourced contract also carries a hidden cost rarely reflected in public reports: the internal staff time required to monitor compliance, track outcomes, and verify billing. Without dedicated oversight, fraud and misuse become more likely—further eroding trust in government and harming the very residents these programs are meant to serve. With the DFL controlling the city, county, and state, the lack of transparent accountability becomes a significant vulnerability. It leaves residents wondering whether those in power can effectively oversee the systems they run or deliver the public services they champion during election season.

There is also an unmistakable link between rising fraud and a shrinking corps of investigative reporters in Minnesota. With fewer journalists scrutinizing public contracts and records, the likelihood of malfeasances being caught declines. In this case, the Move Minneapolis audit emerged only because investigators were already examining allegations that former Minneapolis Regional Chamber CEO Jonathan Weinhagen had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars. The discovery was incidental, not systemic.

Minnesota has an abundance of goodwill—but that goodwill is too often taken advantage of at taxpayer expense. What the state needs far more of is independent auditing, stronger investigative journalism, and a commitment to ethical standards that put residents first.

Conversation Summary

In this wide-ranging conversation, former Park Board commissioner and recent Ward 12 city council candidate Becka Thompson reflects on Minneapolis’s turbulent 2024 election cycle. She describes how the Park Board—long a relatively drama-free body—was reshaped by surprise losses, shifting endorsements, and what she characterizes as a disorderly DFL convention process. Thompson argues that the lack of transparency, inconsistent rules, and mishandled delegate data in both the ward and citywide conventions undermined trust and helped flip control of the Park Board, erasing crucial institutional knowledge.

Looking back on her campaign, Thompson highlights the intense demands placed on candidates—especially those juggling work and family responsibilities—and the steep learning curve of modern Minneapolis politics. She speaks candidly about the “gamesmanship” behind the scenes, the growing influence of organized factions, and how campaign messaging differs from the realities of governing. She also reflects on communication strategies, noting that while social media expanded her visibility, different platforms reached distinct—and sometimes hostile—audiences.

Turning to the city’s future, Thompson expresses deep concern about Minneapolis’s financial trajectory, pointing to rising property taxes, shrinking commercial corridors, and declining tax payment rates as warning signs of instability. She argues that the city has become too reliant on a patchwork of nonprofit contracts and calls for independent audits, stronger oversight, and a return to city-run services. Looking ahead to the new council term, she sees a closely divided body where a few swing members will determine whether Minneapolis moves toward fiscal restraint and transparency or continues on its current course. Despite her disappointment with the election, Thompson closes by affirming her commitment to the city she calls home.

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Introduction

Our interview with Phil Fuehrer and Bill Halter was a reminder that politics doesn’t have to look the way it does today. As we continue to search for a political home, we were reminded that there is another option beyond the current DFL/Republican duopoly. The newly formed Forward Independence Party is positioning itself as that alternative, with an emphasis on ethical candidates, problem-solving, and a willingness to work across traditional party lines.

The Forward Independence Party will announce its first slate of endorsed candidates for Governor, State Auditor, and Congressional District 6 on Thursday, November 20, at the State Capitol. You can learn more about the party and its candidates on their website: forwardindependencemn.org.

The DFL Listening Tour Gets an Earful

The DFL’s listening session at Sabathani Community Center on Thursday, Nov. 13, underscored the deep internal divide within the party. On one side are those urging the DFL to move toward the center; on the other, activists pushing for a platform closer to that of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). As expected, DFL State Chair Richard Carlbom was peppered with pointed questions and criticism, much of it from people who participated in the city convention and likely supported Omar Fateh, Jazz Hampton, or DeWayne Davis.

Only about a quarter of those who wanted to speak actually got a turn at the microphone. The hour allotted to “listening” was too short—especially given that roughly 20 minutes were consumed by a polished PR presentation that boiled down to a message about prioritizing “affordability.” It’s reasonable to assume the 40 or so people still in line would have voiced frustrations similar to the dozen who did speak. Carlbom did his best to acknowledge the dissatisfaction and said he wants to “enlarge the DFL tent,” but there weren’t many in the room who seemed convinced.

The schism in the Minneapolis DFL may not significantly affect statewide races; many disillusioned voters on the left have nowhere else to go if they are aligned with the DSA platform—they’re not about to vote Republican. The bigger challenge for the state DFL may be in the suburbs and rural Minnesota. Party leaders must persuade those voters that, despite the fraud, waste, and abuse that have occurred under Walz and Flanagan, they remain the safest pair of hands to guide the state’s future. That task becomes harder when they must also explain how the state DFL differs from the more liberal Minneapolis DFL. For many outside the city, Minneapolis is already viewed as a crime-stricken, morally adrift “other.” If they come to see the DFL as a quasi-socialist party as well, those voters may be out of reach.

The Property Tax Shakedown

This week, Hennepin County’s Proposed Levies & Taxes statement arrived in the mail. Ours shows a 10.1% property tax increase—in a single year. The county’s tax levy is set to rise 7.79%, pushing its annual budget above $3 billion. While a few outlets cover Minneapolis city politics, coverage of the Hennepin County Board is sparse. That gap is a symptom of a weakened news ecosystem: good reporting is expensive, and it’s increasingly hard to sustain a local media business. Covering levies and county board meetings doesn’t drive clicks.

We live in District 4, represented by Commissioner Angela Conley who was one of the commissioners that voted to raise their salaries by 49%. Her biography on the Hennepin County website notes that she “has worked tirelessly to change systems at the macro level, both at the state and county, in ways that are holistic, person-first and seamless.” Her stated goals include “focus[ing] on housing as a fundamental human right, eliminating race-based disparities in Hennepin County and improving the health and well-being of all Hennepin County residents.” These are worthy aspirations.

But aspirations are not a substitute for accountability. In 2022, Conley ran unopposed and received 98.5% of the vote. In 2026, she will hopefully face an opponent—someone who will talk about the budget and how the county can better contain costs. If no one is willing to challenge her from within the DFL, the Forward Independence Party may become a springboard for a candidate who is tired of constant cost escalation and the ever-rising tax burden. Residents deserve leaders who can balance “person-first and seamless” systems with the everyday pocketbook realities that are making Hennepin County increasingly unaffordable for many of the people who live here.

Conversation Summary

The conversation opens with an introduction to the newly merged Forward Independence Party of Minnesota, represented by state co-chairs Phil Fuehrer and Bill Halter. Phil describes his long history in third-party politics, beginning with the original Independence Party and campaigns dating back to the Jesse Ventura era. Both guests emphasize that the merger of the Forward Party and the Independent Party alliance emerged from a shared frustration with the increasingly polarized, zero-sum nature of two-party politics—and from a belief that Minnesota voters want candidates who prioritize listening, pragmatism, and collaboration over party-line warfare.

The guests detail why the two organizations chose to merge and how aligned their visions already were. They describe a party structure centered on “candidate-forward” flexibility—encouraging candidates to shape their platforms based on the needs of their districts rather than conforming to rigid ideological mandates. Much of the conversation highlights systemic barriers in Minnesota’s party system, including ballot access rules, major-party thresholds, and campaign finance limits, all of which make it difficult for independents to compete. They argue that becoming a major party is essential for leveling the playing field and attracting strong candidates who don’t want to navigate petition requirements or rely on PAC money.

Finally, the discussion turns to the substantive issues the Forward Independence Party hopes to elevate—responsible governance, fiscal realism, political ethics, and forward-looking policy areas like the future of work and artificial intelligence. They stress their commitment to recruiting ethical candidates, embrace evidence-based problem-solving, and can bridge political divides. The episode closes with reflections on election reform, spoiler-effect criticisms, and their belief that Minnesota voters are increasingly ready to consider a viable alternative to the DFL–GOP binary.

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