Judge removes commission chair

Jim Bernstein, a longtime member of the Minneapolis Charter Commission and its chair since 2004, has been dumped by a judge, to the surprise of other commissioners.

Chief Judge James T. Swenson of Hennepin County District Court opted instead to appoint Richard Gerdes to the commission, which hears proposals to amend the city's foundational governing document.

Gerdes gets a seat that Bernstein has held since May 1999 and will be one of six new commissioners Swenson appointed this year to the 15-member body.

"I was floored," said Todd Ferrara, who was reappointed.

"I was shocked," said Lyall Schwarzkopf, a new appointee.

Swenson said Friday that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on why he didn't reappoint the southwest Minneapolis resident. But he said that he generally receives little information on which to base his choices.

"I get a bunch of applications, no letters of support, no explanation of whether someone has been a good or a bad charter commission member," Swenson said. He also said he questions whether having one judge make the appointments is the best way.

For the past 10 years, he's called himself a DFLer. He oversaw tumultuous debates last year over ultimately unsuccessful charter proposals to abolish the Park Board and Board of Estimate and Taxation. He also helped sidetrack a medical marijuana proposal because it ran afoul of state and federal law, and he oversaw a massive rewrite of the charter with an eye toward simplifying it.

Approval or denial of that last effort has been pending before the City Council for more than a year.

The shift in membership comes as the Charter Commission is poised to take on the time-consuming job of redrawing political lines for city elections if a proposal headed to voters in November is approved.

"It's a mystery to everyone I've talked to," Bernstein said of Swenson's decision. He didn't attend Wednesday's commission meeting, though technically he's eligible to serve until Gerdes confirms by affidavit that he's accepted the appointment.

Barry Lazarus, the commission's vice chair, said an election to fill the chair's position will occur at the commission's Aug. 4 meeting.

Other new commissioners include Barb Lickness, Jan Sandberg, Andy Kozak and Jeff Peltola.