Democratic-Farmer-Labor members of the Minnesota State House of Representatives are not showing up for work at the Capitol. Republicans, all 67 of them, showed up as scheduled on opening day, Jan. 14. The DFL didn’t show up because they were a member short, at 66, and awaiting the outcome of a special election – the date of which is now unknown — for a seat won in November by a guy, DFLer Curtis Johnson, who, it became revealed, cheated because he didn’t live in the district, 40B, mostly Roseville.
Johnson lived in Little Canada.
In the real world, the second-place finisher, Paul Wikstrom, a Republican, would have been awarded the seat, not to mention that you’d be fired for not showing up for work. If the winner of, say, a stock car race, was found to have cheated, the second-place driver would get the trophy.
But the state House is not, nor bears any resemblance to, the real world. It is a world of their own making with rules and regulations not applicable to us. They live in a parallel world. We are expected to be patient, shut up and pay up. The DFLers won’t show up for work because they are terrified that being a member short for a few weeks will result in the Republicans doing terrible things, like voting for a speaker of the House, which the majority gets to do. They did. Lisa Demuth was chosen as speaker.
Melissa Hortman, the former speaker, is aghast. Harrumph, harrumph, how could this happen? She demanded, preemptively, a power-sharing agreement, which seems reasonable because if the winner of the special election is a DFLer, the house will be split 67-67.
Except you guys didn’t show up for the game. In the real world, that’s a forfeit. Your bus ran off the road and you’re still waiting for a tow truck. You weren’t there to craft power-sharing. Hortman is holed up in a coffee shop or her basement.
“I will be the speaker for the next two years,” Demuth said.
Oh, the petulance, the bristling, the gnashing of teeth. How dare the Republicans, those crude realists, name a speaker of the House. Well, let’s see. That’s right, they showed up for work.
Here’s how unreal the DFLers’ world is from yours and mine. Not only are they truant, but they expect be paid. They expect their per diems. They expect that the taxpayers will pay for their flurry of lawsuits and hearings. They ran to Tim Walz and said, “Governor, governor, you’ve got help us. Call a special election.” He obliged, but prematurely, according to the Minnesota Supreme Court in a ruling Friday.. They expect all this even after cheating. They cheated. They knew perfectly well that Johnson didn’t live in the district, but it’s such a safe DFL seat that they didn’t think anybody would notice, so they just let it ride.
Wikstrom noticed early on, tipped off by a source, long before the election! He had observers, logs, videotape. Johnson apparently leased a studio apartment in Roseville, but he wasn’t living there. When asked for more details, Johnson hung up on the Pioneer Press.
David Gottfried, an attorney, will face Wikstrom in the special election now yet to be scheduled.
A presumed Gottfried win – apparently the people of Roseville can afford the DFL – would result in a 67-67 House.
A Wikstrom win would move the earth under our feet.
The theater will be never ending. They have different rules than us.
Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.
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