 Friends and Neighbors, Since session began on January 14, House Republicans have been at the Capitol every day, ready to do the people’s business. But last Friday the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that 68 members must be present in order to officially hold session and committee hearings, and Republicans only have 67 members.  HOUSE DEMOCRAT SHUTDOWN Because House Democrats are boycotting session as they do not want to operate under a Republican House majority, we are unable to conduct any legislative business. Meanwhile, House Republicans were working on bills and trying to deliver for our constituents. The public needs to know that we were working for them and will continue to do so. They’ve earned it.  We’ve done the math. For every day House Democrats continue their shutdown, it is roughly $10,000 lost for Minnesota taxpayers. That’s your money being wasted on people who refuse to show up in St. Paul to do their work. House Republicans hold a 67-66 majority. Twice in our state’s history, 67 votes allowed the House to organize, select a Speaker, and conduct business. This shows what a kangaroo court is like when it ignores precedent. We have a lot of moving parts at the Capitol. Secretary Simon, who is now acting as House Speaker, is refusing to recognize any Republican on the House floor – which is something that is allowed under state law without 68 votes. So, the executive branch and the judicial branch are stepping in and saying we’re not going to operate under the law, we’re going to create our own rules. We want to do the right thing, but “rule makers” from different branches of government are controlling a separate, but equal, branch of government. ELECTION LAW CRAZINESS For more judicial craziness, look no further than the state representative race near Shakopee where the Democrat candidate received 14 more votes than the Republican. In that instance, 20 votes were thrown away, but the court didn’t think that was enough to order a special election. What is the next threshold? 50 tossed? 100? Other documentation shows 30 people voted twice and 96 voters don’t have voter records. What’s next? Separation of powers does not mean rule making and overreach by the executive and judicial branch. We can’t have rulemaking trump actual laws. That’s just plain wrong. FRAUD, FRAUD, AND MORE FRAUD It seems that every day, we hear more reports of your tax dollars being wasted due to criminal activity. On Tuesday, we learned the Department of Human Services has 62 active investigations into childcare facilities in the Child Care Assistance Program across the state. It’s more fraud, and it’s massive. Once again, this nonsense happened on Governor Walz’s watch and with no oversight from a Democrat-led legislature. Fraud is an abuse of the taxpayer. This is becoming a runaway train and thank goodness Republicans are stepping forward and working with the interested parties to make sure future fraud is eliminated entirely. |