Some city councils have taken to detouring from municipal business to opine on topics completely outside their jurisdiction. Resolutions on topics like climate change or income inequity prove completely irrelevant and utterly useless.
The St. Paul City Council just took the tendency to another level. KSTP reports:
City Council members in Minnesota’s capital approved a resolution 6-1 on Wednesday that asks Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to refrain from certain commentary if visiting St. Paul.
The resolution denounces Trump for his recent anti-Muslim statements. Trump wants to bar Muslims from entering the country.
Council member Dai Thao said they may not have authority to stop Trump from visiting, but the resolution sends a strong message that “bigotry isn’t accepted here.”
As Thao references, they began considering a resolution to ban Trump from visiting St. Paul. The softer language they arrived at no doubt followed comments from the city attorney advising them that they lack the authority to arbitrarily banish individuals from city limits.
The one council member who voted against the resolution cited free speech concerns. Indeed, when any government entity starts dictating which speech is “accepted,” it raises red flags.
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