Tag: Minnesota Senate Republicans

DFL Party Blasts Senate GOP for Voting to End State of Emergency

DFL to Paul Gazelka: Emergency Is Not Over

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, Minnesota Senate Republicans voted to end the state of emergency that Minnesota is using to combat COVID-19. Prior to that vote, Senator Paul Gazelka declared that “the emergency part of this pandemic is over.”

This comes despite the fact that over 3.3 million Americans, or 1 in every 100 Americans, has tested positive for COVID-19, and despite the fact that the United States is regularly breaking records for the number of positive cases that come in every day. Amidst this surge, the COVID-19 death rate has started to increase again after months of slowly declining. Continue reading “DFL Party Blasts Senate GOP for Voting to End State of Emergency”

Senate Republicans Cite Fake News Outlet on Voter ID

Outlet cited by the GOP was behind efforts to discredit women who accused Roy Moore of sexual assault

SAINT PAUL, MIINNESOTA – Yesterday, Minnesota Senate Republicans attempted to make the case for Voter ID by posting an undercover video produced by Project Veritas, an organization which has been described as a “right-wing disinformation outfit” by media researchers at Harvard University and a “discredited rightwing attack organization” in the Guardian.

Project Veritas is known for producing undercover sting videos that are deceptively edited and highly misleading. Some of their exploits include:

Ken Martin, Chairman of the Minnesota DFL, released the following statement:

“Project Veritas would not be an acceptable source for a middle school civics essay, and Minnesota Senate Republicans should know better than to post content from such a deceptive and discredited outfit.

“It is deeply disturbing that Senate Republicans are using a right-wing disinformation outlet to push a law that would stop eligible voters from casting their ballots. The same organization that Senate Republicans are using to make the case for voter ID was recently caught trying to spread fake news to discredit sexual assault victims. If Paul Gazelka and his caucus cannot make a good faith case for voter ID, they should drop the proposal instead of looking to liars and propagandists for support.”

The facts are clearly not on the side of Senate Republicans when it comes to voter ID. Study after study has found that voter fraud is incredibly rare. As the Minnesota Reformer noted:

“A Brennan Center for Justice 2017 study examined the 42 jurisdictions with a high share of noncitizen residents in the states where Trump alleged voter fraud. Of 23.5 million votes in the 2016 general election in those jurisdictions, officials referred an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting for further investigation or prosecution, or 0.0001%.”

Statement on DFL House Advancing Ban on Conversion Therapy

Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement in response to the Minnesota House of Representatives adding an amendment banning the use of conversion therapy on minors to their HHS omnibus bill.

“I strongly encourage Minnesota Senate Republicans to take up the ban on conversion therapy that the DFL controlled House of Representatives just voted on. Conversion therapy is a discredited practice based on junk science and it should not be used on the youth of Minnesota.

“For far too long, Republicans have fought tooth and nail against freedom, dignity, and equality for LGBTQ Americans. Their thinly veiled prejudice has to end.

“The DFL stands ready to protect Minnesota’s children by banning conversion therapy. It’s time for Republicans to join us and stop putting their extreme ideology before the youth of our state.”

Senate Republicans revive private school scholarships plan

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday that a proposal to turn tax credits into scholarships for low- and middle-income students to attend private schools is a priority for them, and they hope to make it the subject of late-session negotiations with Gov. Tim Walz and House Democratic leaders.

Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Roger Chamberlain is making another run at passing the proposal, which he also pushed in 2017 until GOP leaders dropped it amid a veto threat by then-Gov. Mark Dayton. Since then, Walz, a Democratic former public school teacher, became governor and Republicans lost control of the House. Chamberlain touted it as a way to reduce the state’s large achievement gaps affecting students of color.

“Certainly the governor has a lot of proposals that we have not been agreeable to,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said at a news conference, flanked by a racially diverse group of children who attend private schools. “But this is an important one to us. Negotiations at the end are a bit of give and take, and this is a high priority for us. … We’ll fight for this one. We think it matters for kids in Minnesota.”

View the complete March 19 article by Steve Karnowski on the Associated Press website.

Minnesota Senate rejects legalizing recreational marijuana

GOP senators shut down legalization debate

Republicans in the Minnesota Senate voted down a measure Monday to legalize marijuana for recreational use, abruptly ending debate on the subject — for now.

State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, who gave the bill a hearing as chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, said after the 6-3 vote that testimony from law enforcement, health experts and former Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger persuaded him that legalization is a bad idea.

Republicans also killed a last-ditch effort to create a task force to further study the issue, evidence that Senate Republicans were eager to dispense with the issue for the year.

View the complete March 12 article by J. Patrick Coolican on The Star Tribune website here.