Dear Neighbors,
We are entering the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session which means much of our time beginning next week will be spent on the House Floor debating and voting on several omnibus supplemental budget bills.
As a reminder, last year, House and Senate Democrats spent the entire $18 billion budget surplus, raised your taxes by nearly $10 billion, and grew overall government spending by 40%. With government spending at an all-time high, there is no need for the more than $500 million in additional spending that Governor Walz and Democrats are looking to approve in the coming weeks.
You can count on me to stand strong for Minnesota taxpayers and fight hard to put an end to out-of-control spending.
Please keep an eye on your email inbox for additional information on these supplemental budget bills beginning next week.
Senator Mitchell Update
Many of you have reached out to me this week asking for my thoughts on the news that DFL Senator Nicole Mitchell was arrested and formally charged with 1st-degree burglary. If you’d like to read more about the incident including the long-form complaint that was filed by the Detroit Lakes Police Department, I encourage you to click here.
As a long-time Sherburne County Sheriff’s Deputy, I have had firsthand experience responding to 911 calls where an active burglary was taking place, and I can speak to the seriousness of these crimes. Breaking and entering an occupied residence is extremely dangerous to all involved and the details of the complaint are disturbing.
If Sen. Mitchell truly was concerned about the well-being of her family member, she should have contacted the Detroit Lakes Police Department and asked them to send an officer over to the home to do a wellness check. I conducted hundreds of these wellness checks during my time in law enforcement and they are very routine.
Sen. Mitchell deserves her day in court, and I am confident that the justice system will handle this case in a fair manner. Public officials are and should be held to a high standard. If any other person in a position of trust, such as a police officer or a teacher, was charged with a crime of violence, they would have been placed on administrative leave and not allowed to come to work until the case was adjudicated.
Stay tuned to this as it is likely to have several more developments before it is resolved.
Staying in Touch
Make sure to reach out to my office if you plan to be in St. Paul anytime soon. It would be great to meet with you. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-4237 or via email at rep.paul.novotny@house.mn.gov.
Have a good day,
Paul