A few minutes late, but shortly after noon on the appointed day (today), MN Secretary of State Steve Simon gaveled into session the House of Representatives of the 94th Minnesota Legislature.
It was all so normal, except none of the House’s 66 Democrats bothered to turn up. Our man Bill Walsh was in the gallery this afternoon and took this photo of the half-empty room.
From there, everything proceeded according to script: Rep. Peggy Scott (R-31B, Andover) assumed her place on the platform as the temporary Clerk. After the usual opening pleasantries (prayer, pledge), she began to call the roll, but only the 67 Republicans who were elected last November answered the call. The 67 were duly sworn in and the roll was called again.
Fox 9 had a live stream going of the event and recorded the full thing, sights and sounds alike. At the 34:45 mark of the FOX 9 video, Sec. Simon declared a lack of a quorum, said the words “the House of Representatives is adjourned,” and then cowardly abandoned his post, taking no inquiries from the members present.
No motion to adjourn was made, no vote was taken. Simon simply dismounted the rostrum. At this point (35:05), someone cut off the sound. The action (and sound) does not resume until 35:28 of the Fox 9 video.
We pick up with the House, following the provisions of M.S. 3.05 installing “the oldest member present” (Paul Anderson, R-12A, Starbuck) as temporary Speaker, with the Secretary being absent and no longer available to continue the meeting.
Rep. Anderson then proceeded to declare a quorum present and preside over the election of Lisa Demuth (R-13A, Cold Spring) as Speaker. Demuth took the gavel and then things proceeded, business as usual for Day 1 of a session. Temporary rules were adopted (1:15:48) which included the creation of a new oversight committee to investigate the rampant fraud against state welfare programs. The House also voted (67-0) to rehire all of the House’s staff employees.
At 1:22:30 the Speaker appointed members of the Rules Committee, Republicans only. Chaired by the Majority Leader (Harry Niska, R-31A, Anoka) the committee met later in the day. The committee then did its usual Day 1 work, assisted by the newly rehired staff, of adopting policies and procedures to ensure the House is up and running.
In fact, for all committees, only Republicans were named as members today. The House also put off the election of a permanent Clerk and a Sergeant-at-Arms.
Finally, the House voted to adjourn for the day, having agreed moments before to reconvene at noon tomorrow (Wednesday). One would hope that Sec. Simon would have the good judgement, if not the good taste, to stay away.
During today’s session, no decision was made as to the statue of DFL Rep. Brad Tabke (54B, Shakopee). Although not present today, Tabke received the backing of a state judge in a preliminary ruling on his election case.
We’ll see what happens next. Republicans are in possession of the House’s Chamber, its website and offices, and are conducting committee hearings and the like. Democrats may choose to stay away as long as they wish, but business continues in their absence.
In the coming days, we’ll see whether the Governor and/or the state senate (itself evenly divided (33-33) go along with the current state of affairs.
A round up of media headlines that accurately describe what happened,
Star Tribune: Minnesota House Democrats boycott first day of session, GOP meets anyway
MPR News: Minnesota House DFLers boycott opening session; Republicans elect their own speaker
KARE-11 Minnesota DFL boycotts start of legislative session, GOP presses ahead, names speaker
KSTP-5 House Democrats absent to start session; GOP members carry on, choose speaker
AP Democrats boycott first day of Minnesota House session but GOP votes to appoint speaker anyway
WCCO-4 Minnesota House Democrats are no-shows amid legislative session’s bitter beginning
Fox 9 alone choose to pick the Democrats’ side in the dispute: MN House GOP pushes ahead without official quorum as DFL skips Day 1.
We’ll be back again, noon tomorrow!