A pair of Minneapolis City Council members are claiming “defund the police” was never part of their planned “framework,” just days after a vote to move nearly $8 million from the department’s budget while homicide rates have soared in the city.
In an interview with KSTP Eyewitness News, Steve Fletcher and Phillipe Cunningham both concurred that the plan was never about defunding the police and implied the department was simply a casualty of unavoidable budgeting issues.
“‘Defund’ is not the framework the council has ever chosen,” Fletcher claimed.
Cunningham, according to the network, “audibly agreed.”
Fletcher continued, “If we’re going to look at how we fund different programs, it would be very hard to do that without taking that money from the Minneapolis Police Department.”
Last week, the Minneapolis City Council voted to “redirect” $7.77 million from the police department toward other programs.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye (D) said he would veto the proposed budget if any police officer positions were cut.
Minneapolis city council members backpedal and claim ‘Defund the Police’ has ‘never been a chosen framework’ https://t.co/Yj4L2Inf6L
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) December 17, 2020
RELATED: Minneapolis City Council Shocked By Surge In Crime – Two Months After Voting To Defund The Police
Minneapolis City Council Votes To Defund Police
It is rather difficult to take Fletcher and Cunningham seriously when they suggest the plan was never about defunding the police, especially when the Council is notably on record as supporting such efforts.
Over the summer, the council took numerous steps to redirect funding away from the department, including an amendment to remove $1 million from their budget and reallocate it toward hiring “violence interrupters.”
They announced their intentions in June, according to the Guardian, when “a veto-proof majority of council members declared their intent to ‘dismantle’ and ‘abolish’ the embattled police agency.”
As for Fletcher and Cunningham, the Daily Mail reports that they “appeared with seven colleagues on a stage bearing a huge sign reading ‘Defund Police’ during a protest in Powderhorn Park.”
Pressure to ‘defund police’ turns protest chants into action…Lawlessness Comes To New York City & Minneapolis https://t.co/IDliT111pR
— David, Ph.D. (@americanshomer) June 8, 2020
While these two council members play semantics on their phrasing of reallocating funds as opposed to defunding, the city suffers.
Compared to last year, according to Minneapolis Police Department data, murders are up 90 percent so far in the city.
Just two months after voting to defund the police, other Minneapolis City Council members were dismayed over a surge in violent crimes – which Fox News reports include daylight carjackings, robberies, assaults, and shootings.
Ahem… the Minneapolis city council members who pushed to defund the police are wondering where they are during the city’s time of need. Typical Democrats. pic.twitter.com/kTkIU1EJMD
— robjh1: The Conservative Black Cowboy (@robjh1) September 17, 2020
The Framework For Georgia Senate Candidates
The Minneapolis City Council’s efforts to defund the police should serve as a cautionary tale for voters heading to the polls in January for the Georgia Senate runoffs.
Joe Biden has made it clear to his fellow Democrats that defunding the police is a political loser, not because the idea isn’t supported, but that he thinks the party needs to hide their anti-law enforcement views from the American people until after the Georgia runoffs.
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“I also don’t think we should get too far ahead of ourselves on dealing with police reform in that, because they’ve already labeled us as being ‘defund the police’ anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing — which I promise you, will occur,” Biden said in leaked audio with several prominent civil rights leaders.
Biden told the civil rights leaders “to think about how much do we push between now and January 5th,” the date of the Georgia runoffs, regarding police reform, but still promised a “full-blown commission” to examine the matter.
It appears odd for Biden and Democrats to be concerned about the matter as it relates to Georgia – the media and fact-checkers insist that neither of the Democrat candidates in the Georgia runoffs support defunding the police.
So why would Biden be concerned?
Leaked audio of Biden bragging again. Shows his true colors as a neoliberal ghoul that he is. Looking forward to another crappy 4 years of chaos. pic.twitter.com/BDAIafGXlv
— Danny (@DanylYoung) December 10, 2020
The 2020 elections as a whole are another matter.
Audio of a wild conference call leaked shortly after the election featuring several members of the Democrat caucus “angrily confronting” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over their party’s election losses.
Several members of the caucus blasted radical progressives for tying the party to efforts to “defund the police”.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), specifically citing the Georgia runoffs, also urged his party to downplay “Medicare for all or defunding police or socialized medicine,” adding that if Democrats pursued such policies, “we’re not going to win.”
Their concerns are not without merit.
Politico reporter Marc Caputo shared the sentiment of a top Miami Democrat, who claimed that the calls to “defund the police” cost Democrats the state of Florida.
“We must have gotten obliterated by Hispanics…. defund the police killed us,” says top Miami Dem, citing a BLM backlash
Waving Che Guevara flags, even though it was by just a few, gets lots of attention in a community that sees him as a symbol of totalitarian butchery pic.twitter.com/Wq6V5ht0DP
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 4, 2020
