Kartumu King was once convicted of malicious punishment of a child, though she was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor instead of the original charge, a gross misdemeanor. She’s been involved in 19 civil suits, most of them as plaintiff. She once fought eviction from St. Paul Public Housing. In a settlement, she was put on probation for a year.

King, who lives on St. Paul’s East Side, will be on the Ward 7 ballot this November for St. Paul City Council.

“I do not have any felonies,” said King, in an interview Monday. “I have a record. Yes, I do. Nothing would disqualify me from being a city council member. … Do I agree to those charges? Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”

Ward 4 candidate Chris Holbrook, a Hamline-Midway resident, was handcuffed and detained in 2014 after filming an officer in a Minneapolis public park.

Later that same day, the Minneapolis Park Police Department issued a public apology for his rough arrest. Filming public officials on public property isn’t illegal.

From underage drinking to arrest on suspicion of sexual assault, many of the 28 candidates for St. Paul City Council have had various run-ins with law enforcement.

Some of those cases have been dismissed in court. Often, they’ve been allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges. And some have pointed to their convictions as evidence of the failings of the criminal justice system.

One candidate currently has an active order of protection against him, filed by an ex-girlfriend who said he came to her home and repeatedly struck her in the head.

There was no political primary before the Nov. 5 election, which will be decided by ranked ballot.

Here’s a rundown, by no means exhaustive, of the candidates’ most serious legal encounters:

WARD 1

In February 2018, council member Dai Thao was charged with three misdemeanor counts of violating election law for entering a voting booth with an elderly Hmong woman and helping her cast a vote for him during the 2017 mayor’s race. He fought the charges in Ramsey County District Court and won.

A judge found that while he likely violated state law, the federal Voting Rights Act pre-empts it and allows voters to pick almost anyone of their choosing to help them vote if they cannot read a ballot, except for their employer or union boss.

“We’ve been exonerated … and we plan to file a lawsuit to change the state statute to allow more volunteers to translate” in voting booths, said Thao, who said he is in touch with the ACLU on possibly partnering on the matter.

In 2017, Thao was investigated by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension following a television news report that he had solicited a campaign bribe from a food packaging company. The Scott County attorney’s office examined the evidence but declined to press charges.

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Minnesota honors 10 refugees for their civic contributions In June 2012, at the age of 20, Anika Bowie was convicted of possession of burglary tools, a gross misdemeanor, as well as petty misdemeanor theft after Roseville police discovered her snipping security tags from products at a Marshalls department store. She served 30 days in jail, and a Ramsey County District Court judge placed her on probation for two years and ordered her to complete 100 hours of community service.

In September 2011, Bowie was arrested by St. Paul Police for allegedly trashing her ex-boyfriend’s apartment and writing angry messages on his walls in black marker. A charge of misdemeanor criminal damage to property was dismissed in November 2012.

WARD 2

At 74, Helen Meyers looks back on her three arrests with pride. “Hundreds were arrested at San Francisco State — hundreds — over the fight for women, black and Chicano studies,” said Meyers, who said she was thrown in jail for 45 days as a student in the late 1960s. “We closed the university down for a month.”

Then there was the time, also during the Vietnam era, when she and other anti-war protesters stormed a military base and came face to face with the military police, who held them overnight.

Meyers, a longtime union organizer running for city council under the banner of the Socialist Workers Party, isn’t planning on slowing down. “Most recently I walked on the GM picket line in Hudson, Wis., because that’s an ongoing fight now,” Meyers said.

In an effort to avoid paying property taxes, Sharon Anderson once declared her Summit Avenue home to be a religious institution — the Church of Justice Reform — and herself its reverend. Her newfound religion was not smiled upon by the courts, and she and her husband were evicted from the property in 1988. She runs for elected office annually while listing the address in candidate filings as if she still lived there.

“I have to make the city accountable,” said Anderson, in an interview. “I want my home back on Summit Avenue.”

Where does she live today? “It doesn’t matter,” said Anderson. “I don’t care if I haven’t been there in 20 years.”

Anderson speaks openly of her experiences in state psychiatric facilities in St. Peter and Brainerd. She was arrested repeatedly in the 1970s and ’80s on charges ranging from assaulting her husband and punching a police officer to contempt of court. She has never won elected office.

WARD 3

During his undergraduate years at St. John’s University, St. Paul City Council member Chris Tolbert, then 20, was convicted in Stearns County of unlawful possession or use of a driver’s license, a petty misdemeanor. A charge of underage consumption of alcohol was dismissed. He went on to become an attorney and was first elected to the city council in 2011.

WARD 4

In 2005, back when he was known as Tara M. Robertson, Tarrance Robertson-Bayless was charged with aiding and abetting felony theft in Stearns County. He served 30 days in the Stearns County Jail and was placed on probation. The case, which involved stolen money, was eventually converted to misdemeanor theft.

Earlier that year, Robertson-Bayless had pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated after being stopped with a blood-alcohol level of 0.16. He served a few days in jail and was placed on two years’ probation.

“That was at a period of time in my life when I was struggling with addiction,” he said. “I knew that something had to change or I was going to die. I had dropped out of college at that point. I was homeless.”

That same year, he enlisted in the military, where he developed a substance abuse program for the Minnesota National Guard.

Now a Bronze Star combat veteran and major in the Minnesota Army National Guard, the candidate has served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan over the course of his 14-year military career.

Robertson-Bayless, who underwent gender-reassignment surgery in 2016, is currently employed as a project director for diversity, equity and inclusion with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

“I overcame drug addiction and a prior felony before,” he said, pointing to his blue-collar roots on the Iron Range. “For me, these issues are extremely real. I’ve faced them. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”

WARD 5

After his arrest on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in 1997, Bob Blake pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in Hennepin County District Court and was convicted of having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more.

He completed community service and paid a fine. He went on to build a career working security for high-profile celebrities such as Prince and 50 Cent before going into the solar-energy field.

“I was a couple beers over the limit. I was actually out (of the Richfield jail) in a couple of hours,” said Blake, who years later ran into the same officer at a party. “I told him, ‘Brother, don’t worry about it. I was over the limit.’ … If you were to pull the report, it shows nothing but respect for the police officer.”

In July 2000, Blake was charged in Dakota County with misdemeanor DWI but the charge was dismissed. He was convicted of careless driving and placed on probation for a year.

WARD 6

Alexander Bourne’s legal history includes various accusations of theft and violence. In 2016, he was charged in Ramsey County District Court with taking another person’s dog and selling it for profit. The case was dismissed. In 2017, he was charged in Ramsey County with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and ordered to stay away from the alleged victims after allegedly entering his ex-girlfriend’s apartment complex and threatening to stab her and her brother with a knife. That case was also dismissed.

An ex-girlfriend obtained an order for protection against Bourne this year, claiming that on April 23, he arrived at her home, ripped her dress, put socks on his hands and punched her ears. In a May 7 incident, she told the court “he came over to my apartment drunk … refused to leave. He started pushing me, calling me names, threatened me and he called the police.”

She said Bourne returned May 22, pushed her and spit in her face three times until Eagan police escorted him out. She also said he threatened to hurt her or have someone hurt her.

In March, Bourne was arrested following a dispute with a recent girlfriend on Payne Avenue over a car they maintained in common. He was not charged in the incident.

In February of this year, Bourne accused a fellow city council candidate of assaulting him and demanded that St. Paul police arrest her. When they refused, he allegedly told them, “Guess what, if I have anything to do with the city council, you’re not gonna get more officers,” according to a police report. Police noted at the time that the dent on the driver’s-side door of Bourne’s car — which Bourne blamed on the woman — matched Bourne’s footprint in the snow.

In 2015, Bourne was jailed in New Orleans after customers of his shoe repair business complained that he had failed to return their merchandise. Bourne fought four counts of felony theft, as well as a series of lesser charges. In 2018, he agreed to plead guilty to a single count of misdemeanor theft under $750, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail on a suspended sentence. He was also ordered to pay $2,000 in victim restitution.

“I had a wealthy client whose wife didn’t get her shoes back on time,” said Bourne last January. He said at the time that the experience has given him special sensitivity to the plight of the formerly incarcerated. “They just ran me through the system for four years.”

As a college student, Bourne was arrested on Oct. 12, 2011, on suspicion of sexual assault, but prosecutors at the time declined to press charges in light of insufficient evidence.

“It was investigated and concluded in my favor,” Bourne said.

In August 2015, Danielle Swift pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to driving after suspension of her driver’s license, a misdemeanor. A charge of driving without carrying insurance was dismissed.

Over the course of proceedings, a warrant was issued that July when she failed to show for a court hearing. She was arrested and later sentenced to a day in jail, with credit for a day served.

WARD 7

In January 2017, Kartumu King pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. She was given credit for five days served in jail and placed on probation.

In April 2013, King was convicted in Ramsey County District Court of malicious punishment of a child, a misdemeanor, after school officials discovered that a child in her care was having trouble walking due to a severe belting. A second malicious punishment charge was dismissed. She was placed on supervised probation for two years, with credit for one day in jail. A no-contact order was lifted after three months.

In January 2013, King was convicted in Scott County of refusing to submit to an alcohol test, a misdemeanor. Charges of DWI and criminal damage to property were dismissed. In 2008, she was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in Ramsey County, but the case was dismissed. Related Articles St. Paul City Council approves $600,000 charge for downtown improvement district

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King has been involved in 19 civil suits, including lawsuits against an auto parts store, a Roseville-based staffing agency and individuals she accused of owing back child support. She once fought an eviction from St. Paul Public Housing, settled and was placed on probation for a year.

Said King, when asked about the cases, “I’m a born warrior, sir.”

Michelle Griffith contributed to this report.