I keep hearing that Democrats have been mayors of Minneapolis since 1974. Not true. I know that the right-wingers who are saying this want to implicate the Democrats in the awful things now happening, but there is no need to ignore Charles Stenvig, who was mayor from 1969 to 1973, but also from 1976 to 1978. He was an independent and not a Republican, but he was also very much a law-and-order politician who would have had the riot squad out in short order once trouble started brewing the other night. I can’t imagine him allowing the police to abandon a police station to protesters.
By the way, I hated the guy when I was a student at the University of Minnesota and got tear-gassed by the Minneapolis police in a riot there in 1972. My views of him softened when it turned out he was a big soccer fan, and as far as I know, he is still the most ardent soccer fan of all Minnesota politicians ever.
Anyway, please, people, don’t imply that the Democrats have been in office since 1974, because the actual date is 1978.
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