Duluth Mayor Comm. Team Mum On Internal Review Process; 3 Of 9 Councilors Respond

DULUTH, Minn. — There were still unanswered questions Monday from Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert’s communication team and most city councilors about an internal review involving the mayor’s girlfriend and former campaign manager directly handling city business since he took office in January.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, FOX 21 asked multiple questions following up on the mayor’s announcement Wednesday in a news release and video online of the internal review being led by City Attorney Jessica Fralich’s office.  The city attorney is a mayor-appointed position.

In the video message on social media Wednesday, Reinert denied any intentional wrong-doing. But for transparency reasons, he said the city would conduct an internal review to make sure his office has acted correctly, legally, and ethically.

As of Monday night at 9 p.m., the unanswered questions to FOX 21 included:

How long does an internal review take?

What goes into an internal review?

Will the review be made public and also be sent to the council?

The council at any point can vote to have an external review, right?

As for the city council, FOX 21 reached out to each councilor on Thursday asking two questions: Do you have a statement about the internal review of the mayor? And do you plan to take any action through council?

Roz Randorf, Arik Forsman, Wendy Durrwachter

Only three councilors responded, as of Monday night: Council President Roz Randorf, Councilor Arik Forsman and Councilor Wendy Durrwachter.

“The City Council is closely monitoring this situation and anticipates receiving the results of the internal review once it is completed,” Randorf replied.

“I look forward to learning more about the internal review process and am in direct communication with Council President Randorf regarding next steps,” Forsman replied.

“I’m still working on attaining that info and will let you know when I receive it,” Durrwachter replied.

Meanwhile, FOX 21 reached out to Dr. Cindy Rugeley, UMD’s associate professor of political Science and head of the political science program, for her expert opinion on the mayor’s girlfriend handling city business.  Below is her full response.

Dr. Cindy Rugeley

“I think it goes into the age-old political question of crimes and bad form. I have no idea whether some crime or if some policy was violated. Ethics is a tough question and often subjective. I do think that it is generally a good practice to respect the professionalism of city employees and let them do their jobs without input from personal friends or family. Some people might call that input meddling. The Mayor can receive that advice in a less formal way.

I suspect it is uncomfortable for employees of the city or of any agency to be put into a situation in which they are given instructions by a spouse,  a partner, family member, or any outside person.  Having to respond to a minister without portfolio can, at times, be rough. I am sure there is more than a few people who read that story and it brought back unpleasant memories of interactions in the workplace.

The discussions regarding the Biden visit likely were channeled through the campaign out of an abundance of caution. The former Mayor was ripped a little bit for traveling to Washington for an event on the city dime.

I doubt serving on the selection committee  would have raised too many eyebrows. Your partner contacting city staff and requesting research or getting involved in city business is a different story and usually not a good idea, particularly if it is not rare. It does not have to be illegal to be something that is better not done.”