GOP-led effort to expel DFL Sen. Mitchell fails in Minnesota Senate; House DFL boycott continues
ST. PAUL, Minn. — An effort to expel embattled DFL Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell failed in the chamber on Monday.
Republican Sen. Jordan Rasmusson of Fergus Falls introduced the motion to expel Mitchell, who last year was charged with burglary.
However, the effort collapsed due to a procedural technicality that blocked the motion along a party-line vote of 33 to 33.
Rasmusson said, in addition to the burglary charges, Mitchell has "abused her position in the Senate to force a delay in a trial that would provide closure and justice for a real victim."
In response to the blocked motion, GOP Sen. Mark Johnson said Mitchell is abusing her status as a senator.
"Last year we heard time and time again how she deserves her day in court before we can decide on her status, and she has played both the judicial system and the Senate Rules to her own — and only her own — advantage," Johnson said.
Earlier this month, a judge granted Mitchell's motion to delay her trial until after the legislative session. The trial was set to begin on Monday, but it will now start within 60 days of May 19, court records state.
Mitchell pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary in August and has denied wrongdoing. According to the criminal complaint, Mitchell admitted to police she broke into her stepmother's home in Detroit Lakes last April to retrieve some of her late father's personal items, including his ashes.
An expulsion vote against Mitchell failed last year, though the DFL did remove her from her committees and caucus meetings. Rasmusson said that action means Mitchell has "forfeited her ability to effectively represent her constituents."
Before the vote, DFL Sen. Nick Frentz spoke in support of Mitchell and asked Senate President Bobby Joe Champion to find Rasmusson's motion out of order.
"This member of the Senate has not had her day in court," Frentz said.
Because of a vacancy caused by DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic's death, the balance of power in the Senate currently stands at a 33-33 tie. Dziedzic's seat will be filled in a special election on Tuesday. The district — 60, in northeast Minneapolis — favors Democrats.
Minnesota House remains in limbo
In a very visible sign of the dysfunction in the Capitol's other gallery, House Democrats continue to boycott the session, with Republicans unable to do anything official after the state Supreme Court ruled that since there are 134 seats, a quorum is reached once a single party has 68.
The parties were tied 67-67 on Election Day, but a judge nullified a DFL candidate's victory after it was determined he didn't live in the district he ran to represent, giving the GOP a one-seat edge — but not the quorum required to get any House business down. A special election for that seat is set for early March.
Another DFL House member won his seat by just 14 votes, but a recount led to the discovery that 20 ballots were thrown away at one precinct. A GOP-filed lawsuit followed, with a judge in that case ruled the victory was valid.
GOP House Majority Leader Lisa Demuth, who has called for DFLers who aren't showing up at the Capitol to have their seats put up for recounts, said on Monday she feels Democrats shouldn't be paid in their absences.
"Any other business, if they have employees that don't show up, those employees don't get paid if they're just staying out of work for a boycott or something," Demuth said.
DFL House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman reiterated her call on Monday for the previously negotiated power-sharing agreement to take effect once the March special election is complete.
"Certainly the biggest hang-up is that the Minnesota House DFL would like to operate under the power-sharing agreement that we negotiated once we return to a tie. The Minnesota House Republicans would like to continue to run the House as though they had a majority after we're tied 67-67," Hortman said. "The Minnesota House DFL thinks that it's really simple and straightforward, we just match the will of the voters, and we seat people who won elections, and we operate as a shared governing body when we're tied."
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon tried again to gavel in the official start of the House session on Monday, but adjourned members due to the lack of quorum.
