St. Paul candidate Melvin Carter says it's been a 'tough week' after political mailer

St. Paul mayoral candidate Melvin Carter said Saturday it has been a difficult week, after a mailer went out implying guns stolen from his home were directly tied to a rise in gun crime in the city.

A political action committee backed by the St. Paul Police Federation sent the mailer. It followed a letter sent publicly Tuesday by the federation, which also criticized Carter after his home was burglarized and two guns were stolen.

"Our family was targeted this week by a special interest group funded by big businesses and the police union, who chose to exploit one of our most vulnerable moments for political gain," Carter said Saturday to volunteers who were gearing up to go door-knocking for his campaign.

Federation president Dave Titus had criticized Carter, saying the candidate had not cooperated with police in the search for two stolen guns after an August burglary at Carter's home. Titus said the theft put two more untraceable guns on the street and because police didn't have serial numbers of the pistols, they could be difficult to get out of circulation.

The situation escalated Thursday after the mailer went out tying the theft of the guns to the rising number of shootings in the city.

The Carter campaign called both racist and disingenuous. The mailer was also condemned by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Carter's opponent, Pat Harris, who has been endorsed by the police union.

Harris said he's thankful to have support of rank and file officers, but called the leadership's tactics "dog whistle racism."

"I believe strongly that the leadership of the federation should step down," Harris said. Coleman also said the board should step down.

Carter, the son of a retired St. Paul police officer, praised the officers who worked on his burglary case and caught the burglar. He also said the union doesn't speak for all officers.

"I appreciate Mayor Coleman and Mr. Harris and everybody else who's called out saying that this isn't the type of city that we want to be and that we have to do better," he said. "As far as St. Paul is concerned, I think we deserve a police union that works well with city leadership, a police union that acts in the best interests of our city and that represents rank and file officers."

Dave Titus, the president of the police union, declined to comment Saturday. In a statement sent out Friday, he took full responsibility for the political actions of the union.

In a separate statement released Friday, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell condemned the federation's actions, saying their questions about the burglary were not in the interest of the investigation and instead were meant to further its own political agenda.

Other organizations that had given money to the political action committee Building a Better Saint Paul, which sent out the mailer, also condemned the mailer.

In a statement, Brian Bergson, the chairman of Building a Better Saint Paul, said the PAC is ceasing all activities and taking the steps to dissolve the organization.

"As the chairman for Building a Better Saint Paul, the buck stops with me," he wrote. "I accept full responsibility for the actions of the organization and the direct-mail postcard that was sent to voters."

Carter said the entire controversy has brought to light important racial issues.

"This has been unfortunate on every level," he said. " It's been challenging for our campaign team to deal with, it's been challenging for our family to deal with. It also does unearth very clearly something that we have been arguing that we have to address as a city."

St. Paul's mayoral election will be held on Nov. 7.