Night before Xmas Rybak Radio Ad

Imagine going through 16 weeks of grueling mental and physical boot camp-like training for your job only to be laid off just a week after you pass. This is the uncertainty faced by the recent 25 graduates of the Minneapolis Police Academy. For the past two weeks Chief Tim Dolan has plainly protested the grim news that the budget cuts being asked of the Minneapolis Police Department will take officers off the streets. The Council wasn’t swayed and adopted the new budget plan on December 7.

The outcry didn’t immediately come forth until an embarrassing moment at Dolan’s speech for the graduating class last week. He declared their commitment as officers for life even with the reality of their job future. After the press departed the photo op, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis immediately launched their response targeting Rybak that began running Friday. In a well-produced radio ad available on their website, a talented announcer starts off in a cheesy holiday movie trailer with Tchaikovsky’s “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy” in the background. Soon the generic movie trailer’s witty script reveals its intentions:

When Rybak fires cops its a big happy present, for burglars and robbers and people unpleasant.

And the real hook line and sinker:

Rybak’s not thinking about crime here at all, for he plans a future with a house in Saint Paul.

The job cuts which prompted all this drama are a point of contention since the Minneapolis Police Department admittedly went over budget by $4 million in 2009. It’s not quite obvious where MPD’s money went but Councilmembers have blamed overtime as most of it. MPD annual reports are available online.

The most interesting revelation to date is MPR’s Tom Scheck who elicited a heated response from the Mayor’s Office on this topic:

I have focused like a laser on making Minneapolis a safe place to call home, and we’ve had some great success: in the last three years, we’ve cut violent crime by 39%, violent crime by juveniles is down 47% and murders are at the lowest level in decades. The work of Chief Tim Dolan and officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, combined with that of neighbors across our city, have made Minneapolis safer by almost every measure. These facts are indisputable.

Rybak’s A-FIRIN HIS LAAAHHHZZAAAAARRRRRRRrr. Unfortunately to most of Minnesota, the Sin Cities of lust, crime and everything un-nice won’t really matter to his gubernatorial audience.