Minneapolis Police Union Warns: Don’t Vote For Keith Ellison

In an unprecedented move on Saturday, representatives from the Minneapolis Police Union held an Emergency Press Conference just three days before the Election for Minnesota Attorney General, detailing the reasons why they believe Keith Ellison is unfit to be Attorney General.

Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation and other officers urged Minnesota Voters to reject Keith Ellison, saying Ellison has a long history of supporting cop killers.

“Minnesota the choice is clear: Keith Ellison’s Anti-Law Enforcement views are disqualifying. Mr. Ellison has a long history of supporting cop killers,” Kroll stated in the presser, noting that Republican Doug Wardlow is the Federation’s preferred pick for attorney general.

“As a young patrol officer, I had 3 years on I was working third precinct when officer Jerry Hoff was executed at the pizza shack…during that era, Keith Ellison was known as the gang attorney,” Kroll said.

“He represented Sherif Willis, who was suspected of plotting the execution at his home. His ties to the Vice Lords gang are disturbing,” Kroll said, citing the Star-Tribune newspaper’s denunciation of Ellison.

“Minnesota should be concerned about the prospect of him as our top law enforcement official,” Kroll said of Ellison.

“Most recently the domestic assault allegations speak for themselves. Someone with that type of history is not qualified for the office of top law enforcement official in our state,” Kroll said. Kroll noted that he speaks for about 900 officers.

“Keith Ellison has a long history, and it’s a negative history with the Minneapolis police department. He was an attorney involved with United For Peace, he represented Sherif Willis who was the leader of the Vice Lords at the time. He was a criminal defense attorney basically for all the gangs. We would see him all the time in representing your narcotics dealers, your gang members for shootings…”

Ellison is under harsh scrutiny from even the mainstream media for his reported past associations with notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, who is the leader of the Nation of Islam.

In 1992, Minneapolis Police Officer Jerry Haaf was executed at the Pizza Shack by 4 members of the Vice Lords Gang. The gang’s LEADER, Sherif Willis, was shown to have been involved in the planning of the murder, but he was never charged because police said they lacked sufficient evidence. At the time, Ellison was a Minneapolis attorney in private practice and Willis ran a group called United For Peace.

Following this public execution, within a month of Haaf’s murder, Ellison stood shoulder to shoulder with Willis, going so far as to participate in the organization of a gang demonstration against police. Months later, Ellison spoke at another demonstration in support of one of Haaf’s killers. Willis’ nephew was one of four people who were convicted for the officer’s murder.

In October, 1992, Ellison helped organize a United for Peace demonstration against the Minneapolis Police. Ellison stated, “The main point of our rally is to support United for Peace in its fight against the campaign of slander the police federation has been waging.”

Ellison publicly supported the Haaf murder defendants. In February, 1993, he spoke at a demonstration for one of them during his trial, leading them in chanting, “We don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace.”

In 2000 he spoke at a fundraiser for SLA member Kathleen Soliah, who had been a fugitive on the run from justice for 25 years, on charges of attempting to bomb L.A. police officers in 1975. In his National Lawyers Guild speech, Ellison had kind words of support for cop killers Mumia Abu-Jamal and  “Assata Shakur” aka Joanne Chesimard, who was wanted for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.

Kroll stated Ellison has a different agenda than his public stance of wanting good relations. He also dismissed Ellison’s plans to have the attorney general’s more involved with officer-involved shootings, adding it would be a “conflict of interest with his historical relations with police.

“He’s been on the other side, representing criminal defense against our officers for many years.” Kroll said. “I think he has a bias against police and I don’t think he can be impartial if he goes down that path. ”

The domestic violence allegations were brought up by Kroll as well. “Someone with that type of history is not qualified” to serve as Minnesota’s top cop.

The Federation represents over 900 police officers.

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