Minneapolis park Commissioner Scott Vreeland testified Wednesday that he had no idea that Hashim Yonis was running for another commissioner seat when Vreeland first asked him last summer about community complaints about the rental of soccer fields at Currie Park.

Vreeland said he met with Yonis last June 29 but didn't know until filings closed in August that Yonis was running for one of three city-wide seats on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Vreeland was seeking re-election to a separate district seat that included the Cedar-Riverside area and Currie.

Ira Whitlock, the lawyer for Yonis, is arguing that the felony theft charge against Yonis was motivated by park commissioner incumbents wanting to keep Yonis from displacing them. Yonis was put on administrative leave in mid-July after an investigation produced allegations that he pocketed money for rental of the fields. He later was allowed to resign after appealing his dismissal.

Whitlock said in his opening statement that it was known as early as January that Yonis was planning to run. He registered a campaign committee on August 23, but did not list any campaign fundraising or expenditures before that month.

Yonis was capitalizing on the recognition he gained as a park and school employee for which he'd received some citations, including a superintendent's coin from schools leader Bernadeia Johnson. Mayor R.T. Rybak took Yonis to the White House to tell President Obama about his experiences in a city youth job training program, and Whitlock suggested he'd wowed federal officials.

Whitlock sought to portray another commissioner, John Erwin, as running against Yonis for the three at-large openings on the board. Vreeland said they were competing for three seats in a field of about 10 people, but not running head-to-head as in a traditional election.

"It was a pretty crazy election with a lot of people running," Vreeland said. "Please don't make me explain ranked-choice voting."