Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Hennepin County HR Report: Yep, Sheriff Hutchinson is a Mess
Last December, Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson flipped his cop car while drunk driving at 125 mph (which he reportedly tried to blame on an Uber driver). Thankfully he survived, but, whew boy, a year later his train-wreck career is still slowly crashing into a wall. On Thursday, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted to censure Hutchinson, and a 10-page report from human resources details his racist, sexist, threatening, and very erratic office behavior in the months following the crash. That includes making staffers cry during a meeting, being creepy in general, and acting like Tony Montana in his last moments before the cartel came to take him out. The report details Hutchinson’s racist and homophobic text messages, megalomania, and lots of creepy comments made in-office. A few gems from Fox 9’s Tom Lyden, who also broke news of the investigation back in July:
"People are sick of black people getting things solely for being black"–a text of Hutchinson sharing his thoughts on an Black candidate running for sheriff
“Idk. Maybe. Fuck you, ya bald mumbling faggot”–Hutchinson to a coworker who asked him if he needed any info before an important phone call.
“Bring it on. There’s nothing that anyone can do to me”–Hutchinson in an email after learning he was being investigated for falsifying time cards.
"The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice"–Hutchinson to a Black female coworker
Hutchinson has been on medical leave since last May, and his last official day in office is January 2. Hopefully someone already took away his company credit card; last we heard he had racked up a $17,000 bill on plane tickets to Vegas, meals at Perkins, and a $240 white noise generator coworkers say he used to cover up his phone calls.
More Strikin' Starbuck Workers
In last Sunday’s New York Times, readers got a deep-dive look into the anti-union mind of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. The big takeaway? “He prefers to see himself as a generous boss, not a boss who is forced to treat employees generously,” write Noam Scheiber and Julie Creswell in "Why Is Howard Schultz Taking This So Personally?" Cool! Workers at two freshly unionized Twin Cities shops—one in St. Anthony, one in St. Paul—aren’t impressed with Schultz’s union-busting approach to leadership. Protesting alleged unfair labor practice, baristas at both locations walked off the job and onto the picket lines Friday; they joined around 100 other union Starbucks cafes in what’s being billed as the three-day “Double Down Strike.” Click here to see video of today’s local labor action, as compiled by our pals at Workday Magazine. Over 300 U.S. Starbucks locations have attempted to unionize, resulting in 262 victories. In Minnesota, nine have tried—six wins, one loss, one withdrawal, and one still open. “We make all of their profits for them. We have all of the power in this situation,” worker Kasey Copeland told us in August during her Minneapolis location’s one-day strike timed to the release of pumpkin spice. Give ‘em venti hell, Starbucks Workers United.
This Is a Good Idea!
The Pioneer Press's Frederick Melo has the scoop on a Ramsey County plan to revive an $800 million housing/office/commercial development along the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul. In 2018, the county selected an L.A.-based developer called AECOM to head up the so-called RiversEdge project... and since then? Crickets! But come Tuesday, the county board is voting on a new preliminary development agreement with AECOM, plus a $26 million commitment from the county that would go toward a nine-acre park complimenting the project. “We’re one of the last major river cities to activate the river,” Ramsey County Board Chair Trista MatasCastillo said. The urban park would be completed before the private development; MatasCastillo says the board wants to make sure the public knows that's their riverfront park.
MN Legislators Await New Lobbying Law with Dread and Confusion
When the state legislature goes back into session on January 3, some of its members might have to start taking a closer look at their outside jobs. A new law, passed as an amendment to a larger tax-and-budget bill, is designed to prevent legislators “from working for entities that exist primarily for lobbying or government affairs work,” MPR News reports. Says the representative who introduced the amendment, Steve Drazkowski: “There's a gazillion other jobs out there. Why should a legislator be focusing on lobbying no matter what state or country or where they're located?” Among the lawmakers drawing the most scrutiny are Republican Kurt Daudt, who serves as director of public affairs for the Virginia-based Stateside Associates, and the DFL’s Ruth Richardson, who works for Planned Parenthood.
