Minnesota Report
What just happened Secretary of State Steve Simon (DFL-MN) Adjourned the House of Representatives lacking a 68 member quorum and the Republicans ignored this and called the members back into session and ruled with 67-persons present the House was in order. Then they elected Rep Lisa DeMuth (R-13A, Cold Spring) as Speaker.
Our state is in a Constitutional Crisis.
What led to this situation is the following.
As the 94th legislative session prepared to commence, in the House the DFL would not be present, in fact all 66 members were sworn in on Sunday night by retired Judge Kevin Burke to the chagrin of others, who felt this was a violation of the Open Meeting Law. A few hours ago Scott County Judge Tracy Perzel, a Governor Mark Dayton appointee in 2019 ruled:
ORDER
1. Denial of this election contest is recommended and ordered, to the extent the Court’s authority in this election contest, described in Scheibel v. Pavlak, 282 N.W.2d 843 (Minn. 1979) and Minnesota Statutes,section 209.10, subd. 3, allows for such an Order.
a. Brad Tabke remains the candidate with the most votes legally cast in the 2024 General Election for Minnesota House District 54A.
b. This election is not invalid.
2. Neither an injunction nor a special election is warranted or ordered.
3. Unless this matter is appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Scott County Court Administrator shall transmit this Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order and the pleadings in this case to the Chief Clerk of the Minnesota House of Representatives no later than January 14, 2025.
This should now have settled this matter, but then the situation of the leadership in the Minnesota House still remains unresolved until the results from the Special Election in Roseville, HD 40B occurs. This is further complicated by the fact House Leader (Majority or Minority designation unclear) Lisa DeMuth (R-13A, Cold Spring) has refused to abide by the original power sharing agreement she had struck with Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-34B, Brooklyn Park) which allowed for committee cochairs and aneven number of members on the various committees. The final agreement over who would be speaker was not ironed out.
Now, DeMuth is declaring herself as Speaker Designate, and in spite of their being not 68 members present, but rather just the 67 Republicans, we expect they will try to pull some shenanigans and install their leader. We understand the Republican Caucus will not adhere to the position staked out by Secretary of State Steve Simon (DFL-MN) a former House member who put forward the following pronouncement on January 10th. january-10-2025-letter-to-representatives-demuth-and-hortman
After when Republicans made know their disagreement with Simon’s understanding plan to surge fully ahaead and elect DeMuth as Speaker and because the DFL will “likely” have only 67 votes will not be able to oust her until there are fewer members present and available to vote. We expect, when Hortman decides on the return date, there will be a battle of challenges to the different candidacies on both sides. The Republicans will open up with their challenge to Brad Tabke (DFL-54A, Shakopee) and in response the DFL with follow suit against a Republican. This tit-for-tat will hamstring the House until cooler heads prevail.
This resulted in another response from Simon yesterday. january-13-2025-letter-to-representative-demuth-and-representative-niska
This strategy works because then the person under question is not allowed to vote in their own interest and reduces their own side by one vote.
Face it, a tie is a tie and there is not distinct advantage to either side. Precedent is not a guide because in 1979, when the DFL under the leadership of DFL Majority Leader Irv Anderson (DFL-International Falls) did just the same.