Rep. Zack Stephenson’s stint as House DFL leader has got off to a disappointing start.
Back in 2023, the “historic” DFL trifecta enacted a 1% sales tax in the seven-county metro area intended to fund transportation projects. But, Alpha News reports:
…Anoka County says Stephenson introduced legislation earlier this year that would take millions from the county’s share of those funds and send them to the City of Anoka to fund a pedestrian bridge along the Rum River Dam.
Stephenson represents the City of Anoka and a portion of Coon Rapids in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Last month, he was elected leader of the House DFL Caucus.
While Stephenson’s original bill did not advance in the House, a version of it was eventually folded into an omnibus bill that passed into law in June. Thus, $6.2 million is primed to be taken from the county and sent to the City of Anoka for the pedestrian bridge.
To block this, Anoka County filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) last month asking the court to stop the allegedly unlawful transfer of funds. As Alpha News reports:
Under the Minnesota Constitution, special laws targeting a single jurisdiction are prohibited unless that jurisdiction approves of that law. Since the Anoka County commissioners have not approved of the fund diversion, the county argues that such a diversion is unlawful.
“In its lawsuit, the county was pointedly critical of the proposed pedestrian bridge and Stephenson,” Alpha News continues:
According to Anoka County, the bridge “marks the first stage of a dubious boondoggle of a plan to build a whitewater surf park on the Rum River,” the surf park is not an eligible use of the funds in question, and the bridge “would be the third pedestrian crossing over the Rum River within just a quarter-mile stretch in downtown Anoka.”
“Anoka County’s elected officials and voters have no interest in building a third pedestrian crossing over the Rum River when the existing two river crossings are perfectly functional and well-maintained,” wrote Anoka County. “Presumably realizing that, Rep. Stephenson slipped his pet project into a large transportation bill that the Legislature considered during the special session called in June 2025.”
“Rep. Stephenson’s proposal received scant attention from legislators working hard to finish their legislative session and Rep. Stephenson managed to secure its passage,” the lawsuit continued. “Anoka County was not even notified of this proposed legislation in advance, much less given an opportunity to consult about it.”
Additionally, the county said Stephenson “singled out Anoka County to bear the entire cost of his plan” and warned that other legislators could try the same thing.
“If Anoka County can have its county-wide transportation funds diverted to a city that will support a single legislator’s pet project, then so too can every other Minnesota county. Any legislator who wants to pursue a project that lacks the support of county leadership or taxpayers can introduce a similar bill to strip a county of its transportation funds and give those funds to a more sympathetic or politically advantageous government entity instead.”
“This type of backroom politics is bad government,” the county added. “It is an unlawful abuse of power that threatens every single Minnesota county.”
As Golden Turkey season gets underway, Rep. Stephenson has handed us strong contender.
