Capitol Retort: Bonding blockage; Flynn case dropped; read on Reade

Editor’s note: Answers are edited for length and clarity. Any instances of agreement are accidental.

Question 1: This will be printed long after these interviews, so the status of a bonding bill could be known as this is being read. Nonetheless, it is true that GOP House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt threatened to block the bill unless the governor ends the peacetime emergency. How did you react to that move?

Mike Freiberg, DFL House State Government Operations chair: I don’t think it was a helpful move. It is unfortunate that he is jeopardizing lots of jobs and something that would help with the economic recovery, just to make a political statement. Ultimately, I don’t think it will amount to that much and we will get an agreement on a bill. But it’s certainly not helpful at the moment.

Dave Ornstein, former Bloomington city attorney: Negatively. I don’t think the two need to be tied together at all. And from what I’ve read, Senator [Paul] Gazelka, [R-East Gull Lake, the Senate Majority Leader] agrees. And he is supportive and doesn’t think there should be a nexus between the bonding bill and the governor giving up his emergency authority. Which, in my opinion, is both lawful and necessary during the pandemic.

Jennifer DeJournett, chair, Women’s Conservative Caucus: I don’t think you can tie the two together. I think there are needs of the state that need to be taken care of and the emergency powers of the governor are a completely separate matter. I would hope all elected leaders would see it as such.

Amy Koch, former GOP Senate Majority Leader: You need all four caucuses, right? I think, really, what the former speaker is saying is, include everyone. Which has been the theme of this session anyway, especially post-COVID. I think that is what he was trying to say and that is true, you need all of their votes. I think that you are going to see not only cooperation in the end, but I think you are going to see that, going forward, there might be some special sessions. And I think it’s going to be a lot of like group effort with Republicans and Democrats coming together to solve a bunch of these issues.

Question 2: It was like old home week to see a juicy Trump administration scandal that didn’t involve COVID-19. His Justice Department is dropping the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, even though he has pleaded guilty in two separate court admissions. What’s up with that?

Freiberg: It seems like just standard corruption in the Trump administration. It’s unfortunate that we’ve become so immune to it. It’s really pretty appalling if you think about it, but it seems to be par for the course for this administration.

Ornstein: It’s just another example of Attorney General [William] Barr being a Roy Cohn imposter and doing Trump’s bidding. Inevitably, there probably would have been a pardon for Flynn anyway, but he is saving him the inconvenience and perhaps politically negative impact of pardoning Flynn. But I have heard from some sources that it still needs to be approved by the judge and that is not a guarantee at all. The judge wasn’t very impressed with defendant Flynn during the course of the judicial proceedings. It wouldn’t be a shock to my system if the judge turns down the Justice Department’s recommendation. [Editor’s note: Roy Cohn was counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the communist scare of the early 1950s and later went on to become a mentor to businessman Donald Trump. In 1986, he was disbarred for unethical conduct.]

DeJournett: That is the story that just won’t go away! We have plague, we have murder hornets and yet the Russiagate just won’t end!

Koch: I don’t know what’s up with that. I always wondered exactly what was going on with Flynn, anyway, the whole thing. I would hope that justice is being done. I hope it’s not a scandal and that if he has not done everything that they said he did, that he’ll get the right outcome. But I haven’t really followed it.

Question 3: Joe Biden’s accuser, Tara Reade, has gone public suggesting he should get out of the race. Her detractors, in effect, are asking her to do the same thing. What do you make of her story?

Freiberg: I don’t know enough about it. Certainly, anyone who makes these accusations needs to be treated seriously and fairly. But there should be an opportunity to respond, as well. So I guess at this point, I am just waiting to see how it plays out.

Ornstein: Not much.  I question the timing. This alleged incident occurred long ago, in 1993, and the claim of sexual assault is recent. And based on her rather bizarre support of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Russians and Bernie Sanders and some of the other crazy things I have read about her, I have strong doubts about her credibility.

DeJournett: I think all women’s allegations should be heard—just like all the allegations against Al Franken deserve to be heard. I think we all need the facts and there should be a full disclosure. All of the records should be opened and then the public can decide whether to consider it or dismiss it. But hiding behind the bookshelves of the University of Delaware is not the way to go.

Koch: First of all, I believe it, and not just because I believe all women. But I believe it. She’s coming forward and I think it’s the right thing to do. It will be interesting to see what the Democrats do, because they in particular have been the party, with Brett Kavanaugh and all of these things, which says women should be heard and believed. And you don’t just get to ignore that for political expediency, as we did with President Bill Clinton. I think the Democratic Party has learned a lot from that; I hope they have learned a lot from that. But it will be interesting going forward to see how she is handled. But I believe her.