A day after a tense Duluth City Council debate over funding for Sister Cities trips, Councilor Sharla Gardner in an interview with the News Tribune called Councilor Todd Fedora sexist and abusive.
"It was an attack directed at me to embarrass and humiliate me," Gardner said of Fedora's series of questions. "I think he is out of control. I don't think he should have a right to behave like that."
Before the council voted Monday on whether to allocate $34,000 to Duluth Sister Cities International, Fedora introduced an amendment to bar councilors from going on Sister Cities trips using money from the nonprofit. The amendment was a response to Gardner's trip last fall to Ohara, Japan, for a Sister Cities exchange. Last spring, the council voted 6-3 to give $60,000 in tourism tax money to Sister Cities.
Fedora's amendment Monday night failed 6-3, but not before heated words were exchanged between him and Gardner. Fedora, in essence, said Gardner had a conflict of interest and repeatedly tried to make his point, but Gardner said she was "shocked" that someone would "impugn my integrity."
The debate lasted for nearly 25 minutes and at times was so intense that Gardner appeared to be fighting tears.
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Gardner said Tuesday she paid most of the Japan trip's cost herself but relied on money raised through a Sister Cities fundraiser to pay "a few hundred dollars" of her airfare.
But Fedora didn't back down Tuesday. He called the trip a conflict of interest and said Gardner should not have taken it.
"How objective or impartial can an elected official be if they're receiving financial assistance from the very group they're approving contracts for?" Fedora asked.
Fedora called charges of sexism and abuse "absurd."
"Councilor Gardner's invitation to make this personal will not be accepted, as I will focus on the issue and policy at hand," he said. "My line of questioning would be no different for any other elected official under similar circumstances."
Gardner accused Fedora of practicing destructive politics and consistently trying to embarrass and tear down others. "Todd is a nonproductive person; he is a destructive force on the council," she said. "He doesn't know how to work with somebody who ... has a different ideology.
"I really wonder if any of the men on the council, if they had gone on that trip, would they have been subjected to this kind of abuse -- because it was nasty psychological abuse," Gardner said.
Gardner said Tuesday that "not a dime of city money" went into her trip, which she made to represent the city. "I paid for everything myself. I paid for all of the gifts, my meals," she said.
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Councilor Jeff Anderson -- who is supportive of Sister Cities -- said he felt Fedora was out of line and that he attacked Gardner.
"I think he confused the council chambers for a courtroom," he said. "We're not there to cross-examine people. I'm not sure what purpose that serves other than to embarrass someone."
Fedora said he would wait for an opinion from City Attorney Gunnar Johnson on whether Gardner's trip was a conflict of interest before deciding whether to take any other action.
