Former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is angling for a new job — that of Ramsey County Commissioner. To do that, Fletcher will have to unseat his old boss, County Commissioner Tony Bennett, who co-chaired the committee to elect Matt Bostrom, who unseated Fletcher from the sheriff’s seat in 2010.
All three men were or are members of the St. Paul Police Department, and yes, there’s something of a Roman epic in this contest. No candidate debates have been scheduled prior to the August 14 primary, but that hasn’t stopped Fletcher from throwing down some public gauntlets.
On Tuesday, July 10, Fletcher emailed County Commissioner Janice Rettman and CC’d five reporters, asking her to support his proposed ordinance, which would roll back a salary increase the county commissioners gave themselves five years ago.
The April 17, 2007 vote increased their salary by 25 percent in one year ($16,052) from $64,000 to $80,000, following five years without significant pay increases. The commissioners currently earn $84,000. (At the time of the 2007 vote, Rettman cast the sole vote against the salary increase, which passed 6-1.)
“We have known each other for over 25 years – since the days that you worked in the Housing Office for the City of St. Paul,” wrote Fletcher, a former St. Paul City Council member.
He continued: “As you know, since that vote the economy has been in crisis and residents of Ramsey County have suffered job losses, salary decreases and property value reductions … At the same time Ramsey County property taxes have increased … for many residents in District One.”
“I am writing you asking for your support of the attached proposed ordinance which would rescind the 25% salary increase of 2008. I have spoken with candidates in District 2 and District 7. They are prepared to co-author the attached ordinance.”
Assuming all three candidates get elected — which is a big if — Rettman could be a possible fourth vote to get the salary reduction passed, Fletcher wrote.
(UPDATE: In an interview, Fletcher identified Sue Jeffers and Dennis Dunnigan as the two candidates he spoke with. “With Rettman’s vote, and some new faces from the suburbs, I think the ordinance has a practical chance of passing. I’m asking if she’d (Rettman) be willing to co-author it. I have the date on there as the first meeting in January. Realistically, I don’t expect that would happen before then, but I think it should.”)
On Tuesday, when the Scoop brought up the email following the commissioners’ weekly morning meeting, Rettman had no immediate public response, but Bennett sure did. He noted that there’s been more than one commissioner election since the 2007 salary vote, and no one has been unseated over it. He called the salary increase a dead issue.
While $84,000 is no small potatoes for what’s technically a part-time job, the county commissioners work long hours on complicated topics, he said. The 2012 county budget is $574 million, a decrease of $15 million, or 2.6 percent, from 2011.
“This isn’t a job you can do in four hours and then go home,” Bennett said. He noted that some commissioners have kids in college or kids heading off to college, and they treat their responsibilities like full-time jobs.
Bennett also noted that he never heard Fletcher ask for a salary decrease during his time in office. Fletcher earned $135,000 in his final years as county sheriff, lining him up for a sizable pension from the Public Employees Retirement Association of Minnesota.
(Fletcher went famously over-budget during the lead-up to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, spending some $300,000 to investigate potential agitators.)
Despite Bennett’s description, the salary issue isn’t entirely dead. In May, the Ramsey County Charter Commission debated a proposed charter amendment that would limit the commissioners’ salary increases to 2 percent per year. The effort to put the issue before voters in the November ballot failed on a 7-to-7 vote.
Since 2007, the commissioners have sought to keep their pay increases in line with that of the county’s largest unions, or skip increases entirely. Currently, the leaders of the second-largest county in Minnesota are also the second-highest paid. The Hennepin County Commissioners earn $97,000.
Bennett is a former St. Paul beat cop and U.S. Marshal, and Fletcher — who spent 16 years as sheriff — currently oversees the property crimes division of the St. Paul Police Department. Expect more sparks to fly before August, when the primary slims the four-way race down to two candidates. The others in the race are Shoreview council member Blake Huffman and lawyer Frank Mabley.