Our view: Krug’s meeting behavior was out of order

Duluth City Council President Linda Krug more than earned the ire of her colleagues and others last week when she waved a scolding finger, raised her voice in anger and gave her gavel three sharp raps on her desk, one for each word in “out of order,” which was her accusation of a fellow councilor during a meeting.
Councilor Jay Fosle called the confrontation a “blowout,” and it could cost Krug her presidency. Fosle is drafting a resolution that’s to be considered Monday to remove Krug from the position that allows her to run meetings.
Krug’s “outbursts” are an ongoing issue, Fosle said in a News Tribune story three days after the meeting. She has a disturbing habit of cutting off other councilors while they’re speaking, and this time was “the last straw,” Fosle said.
“It has happened before,” Councilor Joel Sipress said this week in an interview with members of the News Tribune editorial board. “I do share Jay’s concerns. I think it was appropriate for him to bring it forward because I think that when someone in a position of responsibility has a pattern that raises concern with the public we need to address it.”
Rules of civility are printed atop every City Council meeting agenda. Councilors ought to regularly remind themselves of those rules, Councilor Emily Larson said in a telephone interview yesterday with the Opinion page.
“I do think there were parts of that meeting that broke the code of civility we have with the public and each other,” Larson said. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Krug should lose her presidency, especially with just four meetings left before the end of the year and before the expected promotion of Vice President Larson to president.
“I don’t think two wrongs would make a right,” Larson said. “I think the public just wants us to figure out how to get along and get our work done. … A really important part is finding civil and honest ways to disagree and doing that really well. And I don’t think that has happened. That’s disappointing to me as a councilor.”
Councilors’ responses have been encouraging, whether or not their sentiments lead to removal or to some other sort of reprimand. Uncivil public behavior demands to be called out as unacceptable. Elected leaders can expect to be held to that higher standard.
There’s a line between controlling meetings and losing control. And there’s a difference between a leader unafraid to take charge and one who gets results with behavior that can be characterized as bullying. Krug certainly crossed a line.
“It was not one of my finest moments, absolutely not, and if I could take it back of course I would,” Krug told the News Tribune Opinion page yesterday. “It doesn’t happen all the time. I think that the issue is more about what the council wants in a president. In part it is a style thing. I’m kind of no-nonsense, let’s do our business and move forward.
“Councilor Fosle has been busting my chops since the very first meeting,” Krug also said. “At the end of that meeting … a couple people in the audience applauded, and I let it go. And at the end of the meeting (Fosle) publicly chastised me for running a terrible meeting and for not having control of it. … He has never once talked to me” about it.
Our Duluth City Council clearly needs to talk - productively and with reverence and civility. And it needs consistent, strong leadership that’s effective, respected and in line with the expectations of the electorate as well as individual councilors.