Minneapolis Council Member Ellison asked city to pay for flights to and from Harvard fellowship

Minneapolis City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, who has been out of state for much of the final six months of his term in office for a Harvard University fellowship, asked city officials if the city could pay for his flights to and from Boston.

Ellison, who was first elected to the City Council in 2017, has been traveling back-and-forth between Minneapolis and Massachusetts during the final 4½ months of his term before he leaves office in January. He did not seek re-election in November.

In that time, he missed six of the 13 City Council meetings since August, and all of his committee meetings, according to a review of council attendance records. Before that, he rarely missed a meeting.

Ellison caused some consternation among his colleagues and constituents by continuing to accept his nearly $110,000 annual city salary — on top of a $57,500 Harvard stipend — even though he largely missed the last third of the year.

He also asked to use city funds to pay for his flights, according to internal city emails obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune and first reported by KSTP TV.

In July, his policy aide, Bethany Turnwall, emailed City Clerk Casey Carl asking if the Ward 5 office budget could be used to cover Ellison’s travel expenses “to attend full City Council meetings” every other week while participating in the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University, which began in mid-August.

“Specifically, we are looking to fund bi-weekly round-trip travel between Minneapolis to Boston so that CM Ellison can fulfill his legislative duties in person for scheduled Council meetings,” Turnwall wrote.

“The Loeb Fellowship, while a prestigious and valuable program, is a personal professional development opportunity, not something that has a direct connection to the work of being a Council Member in the City of Minneapolis, thereby qualifying as an expense serving a ‘public purpose,’” Carl wrote.

Carl added he was open to discussing other options “that may be available to ensure legislative duties are fulfilled.”

Past council members, such as Andrew Johnson, have resigned their seats before their term ended to take new jobs. In explaining his decision to stay in office, Ellison told the Star Tribune in September he intended to participate in the year-end budget process. However, Ellison missed most of the three-day marathon budget markup sessions, although he did vote on the final budget and helped carry a budget deal across the finish line.

Council Member Linea Palmisano said given how valuable a role Ellison played in getting the budget done to avoid a veto, she would’ve preferred to have him around for the rest of the budget-amending process.

Ellison has defended his decisions, saying by staying through the end of the year, his replacement on the council has enough time to “get their feet under them” rather than be thrown into the “hardest part of the year” — budgeting.

Carl has previously said Ellison hasn’t broken any rules or laws by embarking on the the fellowship, even though he ceased attending council committee meetings, causing a brief kerfuffle over who should replace him, if anyone.

When news of his participation in the fellowship became public in the summer, other council members and constituents questioned whether Ellison would be able to adequately represent his north Minneapolis ward.