The Wrath of Herb

 By John Ramos

            Reporting on mayoral press conferences may be one of the least interesting duties of a professional journalist. As I am by no means a professional journalist, I was quite excited on the afternoon of May 23, 2006, as I rode the elevator to the Mayor’s Reception Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. One day earlier, the City Council had passed Ordinance 60, a law stipulating that the city be required to know how much development projects would cost, and where the money to pay for them would come from, before the city committed any funds to the projects. Mayor Herb Bergson and the Chamber of Commerce opposed the ordinance, claiming it would make it more difficult for them to create jobs in the community. The mayor had called a press conference to announce his veto of Ordinance 60.

            TV news crews from WDIO and KBJR were present, as was a reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Two activists, Peggy Marrin and Deb Kirpach, sat in the back of the room, holding small hand-lettered signs that read “NOT A PROGRESSIVE ACTION.” Members of the mayor’s staff wandered in and out. I identified Julio Almanza (City Administrator), Bryan Brown (City Attorney) and Tom Cotruvo (President of the Duluth Economic Development Authority). David Ross, president of the Chamber of Commerce, lounged along one wall, periodically jumping up to greet people. He shook my hand and said that he read and enjoyed The Cheerleader whenever it came out, though he wasn’t exactly sure when it did come out. I said that was good to hear. I wondered if he remembered Issue #3, which had featured his staring face under the headline “David Ross: Psycho?” He seemed friendly enough, for a hand-shaker.

            Mayor Bergson entered the room. Considering the beating his reputation had taken in recent months, what with his drunk-driving car crash, his bizarre firing of City Administrator Mark Winson, his failure to address the retiree health care crisis in the city, his failure to secure funding for the DECC, the investigation being launched against him by the City Council for his unauthorized release of state documents to the press, and the city’s impending bankruptcy, the mayor looked fairly self-assured. David Ross jumped up and shook the mayor’s hand, saying, “Thanks for doing this.” They chatted for a few moments, until Mayor Bergson, stepping to the microphone, got the proceedings underway.

Herb Bergson: Thanks for coming, and sorry about the short notice, but obviously I didn’t have much of an alternative. I asked for you to be here today because I will be vetoing Ordinance 60, the ordinance dealing with restrictions on development.

Economic development is very competitive, and in order for the City of Duluth to be competitive, we must have the best playing field possible. We can’t compete against other communities when we’re setting up rules that will assist us to fail. We cannot ask developers to be a partner in a project, to risk a lot of money—sometimes millions of dollars—with them believing that the city can yank the rug out from under them at any point.

I can respect what some city councilors are trying to accomplish here. I, for the life of me, can’t support it. I know that there are deep concerns about protecting the city. There’s also concerns about job creation. I could not stand here and tell the community that I would be successful in creating jobs—

Deb Kirpach [speaking loudly from the back of the room]: Where are the jobs?

Bergson: —with Ordinance 60—

Kirpach: Where are all the jobs? We were promised jobs, and there’s been no jobs.

Bergson: Does the media have any questions?

Rachel Slavik, KBJR: Is this your first veto?

Bergson: No, it’s the second. The first was to change the verbiage on the referendum concerning smoking in public places. It just changed—I asked the Council to change the verbiage so it wouldn’t dialogue—the verbiage could be understood on the question, so that it wasn’t confusing.

This one is important enough, um…you know, a project that we would not see happening would be Cirrus, who today employs upwards of 800 people. Um, that project wouldn’t have happened, it wouldn’t happen today, if this ordinance were in place. Bill King [a Cirrus vice president] has told us that. He’s communicated that to the City Council. Today, Cirrus is the fastest-growing manufacturer in the area, and will continue to grow, in part due to their recent expansion, that would not have been undertaken if Ordinance 60 had been in place.

John Ramos: Why wouldn’t it have been undertaken? I guess I’ve heard this a number of times, but why wouldn’t it have been undertaken?

Bergson: Too much risk. In particular, the Cirrus project, the biggest risk was contaminated soil. There was contaminated soil there, and, uh, we were able to find a way to pay for it. Getting very creative, but, um, we didn’t know at the outset that we could guarantee we’d do that. We were able to find a way, but I wouldn’t expect a developer, who’s trying to create two or three hundred jobs, to undertake that risk. Sometimes you just have to take risks.

Ramos: So you didn’t know at the outset that you would be able to accomplish that for them?

Bergson: I don’t understand the question.

Ramos: I thought you just said you didn’t know at the outset that you would be able to accomplish the cleanup of contaminated soils. Is that what…?

Bergson: I’m…I’m missing your point.

Ramos: I thought that’s just what you said. I’m repeating it—trying to repeat what you said back to you. [clears throat] The, uh, contaminated soils were the issue, and how would Ordinance 60—

Bergson: One of the issues. One of the issues.

Ramos: Okay. And how would Ordinance 60 have affected that?

Bergson: Well, Ordinance 60 requires that the developer, at the outset of the agreement, detail what the costs of the project are. Have you read Ordinance 60?

Ramos: I’ve read it, yeah.

Bergson: Well, what part of it don’t you understand? Tell me.

Ramos: Well, I don’t understand how the contaminated soils would hold up Cirrus.

Bergson: Well, they—

Ramos: And if Ordinance 6—and if Ordinance—

Bergson: —they would very much have held up the project at Cirrus.

Ramos: So you’re saying that the city did not know how much this might cost to clean this up, but we agreed to do it anyway—

Bergson: No.

Ramos: —and then later on we found a way to do it.

Bergson: No. That’s not what I said.

Ramos: Okay, well, that’s what I thought you said.

Bergson: No.

Of course, that’s what the mayor had said, as the transcript would eventually bear out. Bergson, a one-time police detective for the City of Superior, had spent a lot of time in courtrooms being grilled by attorneys. He evidently thought I was trying to back him into a corner of some sort. When I tried to paraphrase his words, he switched from explanation to flat denial. As I had had some experience with the Superior justice system, and Mayor Bergson, before (see “Guilty As Hell,” in Issue #5 of The Cheerleader), I was      not surprised by this aspect of Herb’s performance. I was, however, a little surprised that he would be so foolish as to condescendingly inquire what part of Ordinance 60 I didn’t understand. Nothing gave me more delight than to be insulted by a panicky leader. Whatever else one might say about our mayor, it was clear the poor fellow had no sense of self-preservation at all.

Our story resumes.

Unidentified Female Reporter, WDIO: Mayor, so you’re talking about a lot of risks that business developers would be hesitant to go into developing, because of the risk involved. But isn’t the city at a risk, to be able to open up—I mean, isn’t—isn’t—um, Councilor Stewart, I was talking to him earlier today, he says you’re essentially writing a blank check for a lot of organizations. And, uh, I mean, we’re—with the SMDC expansion and things like that, we are taking on a lot of costs as a city. As a city that does have a lot of serious financial problems, how can we afford to continue as we’re going with these projects?

Bergson: We…We don’t have any money into the SMDC project to build a parking ramp. The SMDC project was constructed by the [incoherent mumbling] We’re building a public parking ramp, but that’s not the SMDC project, and this does not preempt the city from stopping a project. Take the time to read it.

Reporter: I’ve read it. I’ve read it. Please don’t—

Bergson: All it does, is it allows the City Council to vote on a project-by-project basis. They can vote NO on an SMDC parking ramp. They can vote NO on a Cirrus project. They can vote NO on a risky brownfield site if they want to. It just allows them to look at it on a case-by-case basis, that’s all. That’s all we’re saying, is, you know, if you like a project, vote YES. If you don’t like it, vote NO. But don’t set up a blockade that prevents us from attracting a developer in the first place.

Ramos: Wouldn’t Ordinance 60 also have prevented a number of projects like the Great Lakes Aquarium? Wouldn’t that have thrown up a roadblock to stop it?

Bergson: I don’t know. I didn’t support the Aquarium.

Ramos: I mean, you keep using Cirrus, I could use the Great Lakes Aquarium. It’s the exact same argument.

Bergson: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Kirpach [pipes up]: Skywalks.

Bergson: The administration that was here before me supported the Aquarium. I can’t say.

Ramos: Well, you can answer it pretty well for Cirrus Design. Why can’t you answer it—

Bergson: [snaps angrily] Because I worked on that project! I’m not gonna argue with you! I’m here to tell you I’m vetoing this, period! I’m not gonna debate it with you!

Ramos: Well, you sh—

Bergson: Write your story, and be critical!

Ramos: Well, you should—

Bergson: I’m—I’m—I have no intention of debating it with you!

Ramos: Well, you’re debating it with me right now.

Bergson: No. I’m not going to debate it with you. 

            Fair enough. Nobody said the mayor had to debate anything with anyone. But if he didn’t want to debate, then why were we all here? Mayor Bergson could veto Ordinance 60 in the safety of his office, without holding a press conference. Press conferences generally meant the mayor wished to send a strong message of solidarity to someone. I was fairly certain that I was not the intended recipient. So who was? A few moments later, the mayor provided a clue.

 Slavik, KBJR: Mayor Bergson, ah, I spoke to Jim Stauber today, as a DEDA member. What about the argument that they’re going, as DEDA, where you don’t have the authority to veto, they are going to basically pass this same ordinance through them?

Bergson: Well, they’re entitled to do that. DEDA is DEDA. But I have to look out for the people who are trying to create jobs in Duluth, and, you know, I’m not standing here alone. Obviously, I’m with David Ross, but, in spirit, I’m not here alone. There are a lot of very connected businesspeople that understand job creation in Duluth, and—

Kirpach: Aren’t they the ones that keep benefiting from—

Ramos: Which ones in particular?

Bergson: Well, I’m not going to get into that.

Peggy Marrin [pipes up]: The same six.

Bergson: I told you, I’m not going to debate it.

Ramos: That’s not a debate, that’s a question.

Bergson: Write your story.

And there it was. The mayor was vetoing Ordinance 60, not for the masses, but for “a lot of very connected businesspeople.” Though he declined to name them, it was not hard to guess their identities. The recent front-page picture in the Budgeteer News of Mayor Bergson splashing giddily into a pool at the new Edge Waterpark, owned by the fabulously wealthy Goldfine family, said it all.

___________
Published in the Reader Weekly, 6/1/2006.