Republicans preparing to take over the Legislature

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Sen. Amy Koch has just one quibble with her new office on the third floor of the state Capitol: the pencil that’s improbably stuck in the ceiling some 20-plus feet above the floor.

The incoming GOP Senate majority leader discovered the projectile upon arriving at her mostly empty office on Tuesday afternoon. Koch was joined by a pair of movers hauling a cart that contained 11 boxes of her belongings, along with a telephone and some wooden mail boxes that she inherited from former state Sen. Bill Belanger.

The spacious office in the ornate Capitol building stands in stark contrast to the drab, congested space she previously shared with her GOP colleagues across the street in the State Office Building. But the Buffalo Republican insisted that the trappings of power won’t go to her head.

“We’re fairly sober about what’s ahead,” said Koch of the state’s looming $5.8 billion budget deficit. “This is the easy part. The move is going to be the easy lifting.”

This week marked the symbolic takeover of the state House and Senate by Republicans. Stacks of boxes, couches tipped on their sides and carefully packaged pictures lined the halls of the Capitol and the State Office Building. Professional movers pushed carts of belongings through the underground tunnel connecting the two buildings.

The property of Senate DFLers was marked with blue labels, while the belongings of their GOP counterparts were affixed with red labels. A pair of moving vans were stationed on the drive in front of the Capitol. Outgoing DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller found his way to a new office in the basement of the State Office Building.

The transfer of power is particularly dramatic for the Senate. That’s because Republicans have not controlled the upper chamber for nearly four decades.

“This a historic day. This is a day we waited for a long time,” said Sen. Dave Senjem, GOP-Rochester, as he sat at his desk in the State Office Building on Monday afternoon surrounded by boxes soon to be carted across the street. “We’ve talked about moving to the Capitol for several years now and the dream came true.”

The daunting logistics of making sure that all 67 Senators are comfortably ensconced in their new offices when the legislative session commences on January 4 are being overseen by the Senate Sergeant at Arms Office. In order to advance an orderly process, the office has distributed a seven-page guide to staff members and legislators on how to properly prepare. Among the guidelines: “You will be responsible for moving personal articles such as fragile items, taxidermy, artwork, and any other valuables.” The goal is to have the move completed by mid-December so that any kinks can be worked out before the Legislature opens for business.

“We have an urgency to get this done, but we can’t have all air speed and no direction,” said Senate Sergeant at Arms Sven Lindquist, who has held the post for 25 years but never overseen a move of this magnitude. “At this point, it’s just kind of a game of cooperation and compromise and working through this. … Everybody has come to grips with the volume of what has to be done.”

The logistics of moving are less complicated on the House side. That’s because both legislative caucuses have their offices in the State Office Building – and because Republicans have held the majority as recently as four years ago.

Outgoing House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, has already vacated her fourth-floor office. It will soon be occupied by her successor, Rep. Kurt Zellers, GOP-Maple Grove.

That move will then set off a domino-like round of office swapping. DFLers will be clustered on the second and third floors, while the Republican majority will take over offices on the third through fifth levels.

Rep. Thomas Huntley, for instance, will move two floors down. He’ll take over the office currently held by incoming DFL Minority Leader Paul Thissen. On Tuesday afternoon, Huntley’s office was crowded with boxes pushed to the center of the room so that the walls could be given a fresh coat of paint prior to the move. “I’ve actually thrown about three barrels of stuff away,” said Huntley. “It’s amazing how important it was to you at one time and not so important today.”

Among the items that the Duluth DFLer will be carting with him to the third floor: a print of a painting entitled “Between Rounds.” It features a weary boxer slumped in his corner. A brass plaque affixed to the picture memorializes a different sort of pugilistic encounter: “2007 HHS conference committee.”

Since 2007, Huntley has chaired the Health Care and Human Services Finance Division. But when the House reconvenes, he’ll no longer wield the gavel in the influential committee. “Going into the minority is not going to be fun,” Huntley acknowledged. “You can’t get much done.”

Republicans will now be charged with making sure that the business of the Legislature gets accomplished in an orderly manner. Most notably, that will mean dealing with the state’s historic budget deficit.

Sen. Geoff Michel, the incoming deputy majority leader, will play a key role in that task. He will now occupy the office directly across the hall from Koch. On Tuesday he joined her on the journey through the underground tunnel from the State Office Building to take stock of their new digs. The Edina Republican expressed humility about the responsibility of Republicans running the Senate for the first time in the modern partisan era that started in 1972.

“We wanted to do this in a classy way,” he said. “First of all, just the physical move is a lot of work and it’s a pain. And I also recognize that there’s probably some leftover feelings from the campaign. We didn’t want to rub any salt in those wounds.”

Michel cited an adage from legendary Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant as the guiding philosophy for the transfer of power: “When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”