By Rep. Jimmy Gordon
It’s been a month since I was sworn into the Minnesota House of Representatives for my first term, and it’s been a rather busy time considering very little has – officially – happened.
The House was at a standstill for nearly one month in terms of making formal progress on issues facing Minnesota because House Democrats did not come to work, Secretary of State Steve Simon continually overstepped his authority, and the Supreme Court enabled it all.
Much of this traces back to last November, when a Democrat candidate violated state election law by not living in the district he won. He was barred from taking office, leaving House Democrats at a 67-66 minority to start the session. Instead of showing up to start the session Jan. 14 as scheduled and serving in the minority, House Democrats stayed home to deny the Republican majority a quorum.
Official business in the House was obstructed for a month. All the while, Simon ran cover for this legislative shutdown while presiding over the House. He went beyond his constitutional powers prescribed to the executive branch by controlling the legislative branch and prohibiting the House from performing its duties. It’s disappointing the Supreme Court only added to the constitutional crisis with a suspect ruling on what constitutes a quorum allowing the body to organize and conduct business.
The good news is an organizational agreement has been reached allowing the House to fully organize after the House Democrats’ 23-day holdout. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but it’s the best result for Minnesotans going forward. Here are the highlights of the agreement:
- There will be a Republican Speaker of the House for the first time in six years.
- Republicans will chair the new House committee we established to investigate fraud in state government programs for two years and have a 5-3 voting majority.
- Republicans have committee chairmanships and majorities on all committees for the entire five-week period leading up to the March 11 special election in District 40B (Roseville).
- We will return to a split committee roster and co-chairs IF the Roseville seat returns to Democrats.
- Even if the House returns to an even 67-67 split, Rep. Demuth remains the sole Speaker of the House.
- It restores balance at the Capitol, ensuring a real line of defense against radical bills our state has seen passed the last two years under one-party control.
There is a ton of work to do at the Capitol this session, especially since we need to make up for lost time. As a member of House committees on education policy, elections and human services, I look forward to working especially close to those subjects.
I’ve been on the job and present at the Capitol since the session started Jan. 14. It is good to see my colleagues across the aisle finally showed up as well.
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