A message from your Senator
Constituents and friends,
The Senate adjourned our special session on Wednesday, ending this year’s legislative session in conjunction with the House, which had already adjourned its own session last week. We in the Senate remained in session for an extra week such that my Republican colleagues could take up consideration of several of Governor Walz’s unconfirmed commissioners. As they unfortunately showed last summer as well, they’re comfortable using the Senate’s advice and consent role as a political cudgel – they’ve allowed all but three of those 24 officials to serve in their roles for years without official Senate confirmation, holding the possibility of swift removal over their heads if they make decisions that Republican leadership doesn’t like.
As a result, Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Laura Bishop resigned her position on Tuesday to pre-empt her guaranteed removal by my Republican colleagues, who have long indicated their strong disagreement with her agency’s move to implement Clean Car rules in Minnesota. Thankfully, no other commissioners were ousted, though several informational hearings were held in which Republicans questioned commissioners’ job performance from a hyper-partisan perspective. Aside from this basic lack of necessity for our remaining in session an extra week, we wasted significant taxpayer funds in doing so: for all 67 Senators, the daily mileage and per diem allotments we receive add up to at least $8,000 per day, on top of salaries and staff expenses. This was nothing more than poor time and fiscal management by the Republican majority.