Coppers Get Commish as Stanek Trumps Olson
Rumors around City Hall just a week ago had Minneapolis Police Chief Robert Olson holding a news conference announcing his resignation. Some minds reeled, but the general consensus was that Olson had been tapped by Governor HockeyPuck to head Minnesota's Department of Public Safety.
Any such press conference would have been premature, however, because: 1) As any good politico knows, you don't quit one job before you get the other, and 2) Olson didn't get the post.
Funny how rumors turn out to be just that.
Instead, Tim Pawlenty annointed Rich Stanek, a controversial Minneapolis police officer and a Republican state rep from Maple Grove. The choice surprised many, given Stanek's somewhat nefarious reputation as a cop--he has been sued more than once for police brutality--and his impolitic approach to politics.
But to close observers, Stanek's stock had been climbing over at the Capitol this session. He heads the House Judiciary Committee, and orchestrated a hearing last Wednesday in front of several reporters and television cameras that allowed members of the Minnesota Gang Strike Force to plead with legislators to save their funding.
(More recently, Stanek prodded the public safety department to move quicker on reviewing grants to fork over anti-terrorism money.)
The strike force is becoming increasingly popular these days, as more and more city and state leaders realize that "homeland security" is where the big cash is while every other budget gets cut. And Ron Ryan, the statewide commander, is an avuncular, self-described "copper" who can charm just about anyone. It's a trait that Stanek, who has made more than a few enemies as captain of the city's second precinct, apparently has noted, if not exactly honed.
"Rich was very impressive today, don't you think?" Ryan asked me after Stanek's judiciary hearing. "We used to be very adversarial, but I think he's really come around to be a true leader."
A very tired Mayor R. T. Rybak, who had just flown in from a mayor's conference in Washington, D. C., this morning, told me this afternoon that he was happy with the choice.
"I haven't had a chance to talk to the chief yet, and we hate to lose [Stanek]," Rybak said, referring to the leave Stanek will take from the force. "But here's a person who clearly understands some of the very real public safety issues facing us."
(Chief Olson, who continues to dodge the federal mediator that keeps visiting Minneapolis, has been long-rumored to have his sights somewhere on the horizon, far away from the mayor who tried to oust him a year ago.)
A somewhat surprising stance from Rybak, given that he once was critical of most MPD practices and cops like Stanek.
Even Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, a staunch DFLer, was quoted in today's Star Tribune saying Stanek had "'distinguished himself' as both an officer and a legislator."
And how. Take from that what you will.
At any rate, the jury's still out on whether Stanek the Commish will be as bulldoggishly conservative on such issues as racial profiling and handgun control as Stanek the State Rep or Stanek the Cop. But there's no doubt his star is rising, as a national trend of "enforcing" "homeland security" becomes a priority on just about every governmental level.
Meanwhile, no one is shedding a tear for Chief Olson, Stanek's former boss. Instead, some are wondering what move Smilin' Bob will make next.
Finer Point
If you doubt there's a war against the terrorists next door, read this excellent LA Weekly interview with William Bratton, the new police chief in L.A. Bratton is largely credited with miraculously reducing the crime rate in New York, and has been declared a tough, but innovative, cop by more than a few. It's interesting to watch him feel his way around the city of angels (for starters, I notice he's "Bill" now, not "William"), which, for all the sunshine, has some very dark places indeed.
Anyway, it's very clear whom he considers to be the real terrorists, and we most certainly have a new coded language, all bundled up beneath the warm covers of patriotism.
Shout-Out: Gary Schiff
Last month, I wrote a little item about this very issue of beefing up anti-terrorism measures on a local level, here in our great city of Minneapolis. In that piece, I noted that some city leaders were suddenly very interested in fighting gangs, whereas six months ago they hadn't been, when the MPD held two public hearings on the subject. Suddenly, they were all gathered in south Minneapolis in December, ready to hear Chief Olson's rerun from the summer.
Went on holiday vacation, returned to a voicemail from Gary Schiff, Minneapolis City Council rep for the Ninth Ward. Schiff claimed to be at the gang-update meeting over the summer, as well as the December forum, and added that he's been very interested in curbing gang activity for some time.
Then he repeated that he was at the summer meeting, while City Pages was not.
Whoa, whoa! Hold on there, council member! Down, boy. I was, in fact, at that sweltering summer forum at Powderhorn Park (and another on the North Side), that's why I was so confident that the city leaders present in December were jumpin' on the old bandwagon. At any rate, I decided to check my notes, and found I made no notice of Schiff, but that I did talk to Council Member Dean Zimmermann (Sixth Ward).
Even so, I'm willing to give Schiff the benefit of the doubt: If he says he was there, I'll believe him. Now he should return the favor, don't you think?
4:04:12 PM 
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