The compromise seemed reasonable and logical after House DFLers threatened not to show up for the first day of the 2025 legislative session in St. Paul. A power-sharing agreement with House Republicans was needed for them to do their jobs, the DFLers insisted, after the November election left neither party with a controlling majority of members. But that changed this month when a judge ruled a winning DFL candidate didn’t live in his district and a new election was scheduled for Jan. 28. The ruling gave the Republicans a 67-66 advantage, even if it is expected to be short-lived, with the special election likely to return the seat to the DFL.
On Tuesday, the DFLers — all of them, in obedient lockstep and blind groupthink, including Duluth’s Reps. Liish Kozlowski and Pete Johnson — followed through on their threat to shirk the work voters sent them to St. Paul to tackle. And then House Republicans carried on anyway, ignoring, just as shamefully, the reality that they didn’t have a quorum of 68 members necessary to conduct business.
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What a mess. What an embarrassing, disgraceful, politics-as-usual mess. Nope, our state apparently isn’t any better than our elected officials on the national stage. Forgive Minnesotans for feeling let down and disappointed.
Politics in Minnesota has “gotten as bad as I’ve ever seen it, and it isn’t getting any better,” as former state Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, said in a Star Tribune report. “There was a time when there would be Republicans and Democrats who were moderates and who could come together ... and get things done or stop things that shouldn’t happen. That really doesn’t exist anymore.”
Apparently not. Look no further than the compromise that seemed so reasonable and logical and that could have kept our elected legislators working on our behalf instead of focused on their serves-only-them partisan power plays. The deal proposed by Democrats would have acknowledged the Republicans’ present 67-66 majority and their control of the House, with the stipulation that, if the Jan. 28 special election is indeed won by the DFL candidate, re-establishing a 67-67 tie in the House, a power-sharing agreement the two parties already negotiated would go into effect.
As fair and as in recognition of reality as that compromise seemed to be, talks regarding it between the parties’ leaders broke down, subjecting Minnesotans to the ridiculous mess that played out Tuesday.
Not all was lost, however. While the House was in shambles, the Minnesota Senate, also left with equal numbers of DFLers and Republicans following November’s election, “gaveled in without incident,” as Forum Communications’ Mary Murphy reported . Senators then passed a power-sharing agreement they had reached Sunday.
So, the Senate can get to work, but how much can actually get done with almost half of House members taking their ball and going home? Delays caused by those no-show Democrats and by uncompromising, reality-ignoring Republicans jeopardize the entire session.
And that’s with the Legislature needing to pass a two-year state budget before May or risk a government shutdown. That task is tough enough, given the crippling, $5.1 billion state budget deficit expected by 2029, according to the latest state budget forecast, released last month. A delay on top of that? Oy.
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A delay in legislative work comes also with mounting critical needs everywhere in Minnesota, the urgency for state action exacerbated by lawmakers’ inexcusable inability last year to work together to even pass a bonding bill, their top priority. In just Duluth and St. Louis County, state dollars are needed to complete Aerial Lift Bridge and water treatment plant improvements, create an integrated solid waste management campus in Canyon, and fully fund education, among other needs detailed on legislative priority lists prepared by the city, county, and Duluth Public Schools.
All of those priorities are in doubt now with the 2025 legislative session off to such a horrific start that not even a reasonable, logical compromise could be made. In the weeks and months ahead, Minnesotans must demand better. We certainly deserve better.
The Trust Project
