mpls-57-sauceMinneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak finally got a big public payback for his early backing of Barack Obama as candidate for president when Obama gave the city a shout-out in his address before Congress tonight. Speaking about the beneficial effects of the federal stimulus package, the president said:

There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make.


Obama was referencing a revised city budget that Rybak, a Democrat, unveiled yesterday that applied stimulus money to patch holes in Minneapolis’ public safety budget caused in part by decreased aid from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s cuts in funding to cities.

Rybak had been rumored to be in the running for a job in Obama’s administration, but last month announced his intention to seek a third term this fall — while keeping open the option of a 2010 run to replace Pawlenty.

Rybak first made the claim about the stimulus saving 57 police positions on Monday in a speech to unveil his revised 2009 budget. Note two subtleties that Obama passed over: Rybak acknowledges one-time stim funds will only preserve the jobs for one budget cycle, and along with the stim funds he credits cost-trimming that includes reductions in overtime (so while not layoffs, effectively less policing):

If the Governor’s cuts were passed on directly to the Police Department, it would have led to the elimination of 57 sworn police officer positions and 19 non sworn employees. We will not have to do that because of two factors. First, working with Chief Dolan, we are proposing elimination of $1.5 million in non personnel costs, including overtime.

Second the federal Recovery Act’s one time public safety grants arrived just in time. President Obama said he would help cities keep police officers on the job and he has delivered. Because of this funding I will be proposing no personnel cuts in the Police Department. Next time someone asks you what the Recovery Act will do, start by telling them it will keep 57 police officers working on the streets of Minneapolis.

There is a catch, and it is a very, very big catch. The money we are using to avoid those public safety cuts are one time dollars. They can be stretched over 18 months but then they are done. In the 2010 budget and beyond we have to make up the funding for these officers and, as you will see in a moment, the 2010 cuts the Governor is proposing would lead to even deeper cuts in public safety funding.

 It didn’t take long for the White House Blog (yes, there’s a White House Blog) to pick up on the 57-cops line in a late Monday post. And Rybak kept up a drumbeat on Twitter right through Obama’s speech:

Ready to use federal stimulus funds to save and create jobs in Minneapolis www.MayorRybak.us
5:53 PM Feb 20th from web

Revised 2009 city budget has no cuts to public safety, thanks to commitment to debt reduction and using federal stimulus www.MayorRybak.us
5:36 PM Feb 23rd from web

I wish the Governor would quit criticizing the federal stimulus. It is being used to keep 57 police officers on the job in Minneapolis
8:00 PM Feb 23rd from web

White House blog posted on my budget proposal to use stimulus funds to keep police working in Minneapolis www.whitehouse.gov/blog
about 24 hours ago (approximately 7:45 a.m., Feb. 24) from web

Barack said it tonight but you read it here first: The Gov’s cuts would have eliminated 57 police jobs. The stumulus (sic) saved them.
about 10 hours ago (approximately 9:45 p.m. Feb. 24) from web