Barbara Johnson

A battle royale within Minneapolis government escalated Friday when the park board’s lawyer, acting on behalf of a citizens group, filed a lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis. The suit asks a judge to force the city council to allow a referendum on the November ballot that if passed would give the park board new tax-levying autonomy.

Alice Rainville, the first female president of the Minneapolis City Council, died this morning. She was 80 years old.
Rainville was appointed to the post (then known as “alderman”) in 1975 and spent 22 years on the council, including a decade as its leader. The family’s political legacy has continued in the ensuing years: Her daughter, [...]

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council President Barbara Johnson recommended today that the city implement a hiring freeze. The proposal is slated to be taken up by the council’s Ways and Means Committee next Monday and likely will be voted on by the full council on December 12.

“These are among the most challenging economic times that our nation has faced in its history,” Rybak said in a statement announcing the recommendation. “Every sector of the economy is feeling the impact of this financial crisis, and certainly government is not immune.”

Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne included Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson in a column on how women in elective office view Sen. Hillary Clinton’s current travails. The nationally syndicated column included Johnson’s quotes alongside those from three U.S. representatives and the president of the Massachusetts Senate, and references to a couple [...]