Capitol Retort: Un-SAFE; tension convention; optimism goes viral

Question 1: On Feb. 18, House File 445, the SAFE Act, failed to get enough DFL votes to pass after bring brought to the floor—though the bill survived procedurally. The legislation is about funding mutual aid agreements to protect Minneapolis from anticipated civil unrest next month. What do you make of Thursday’s floor debacle?

Mark Johnson, attorney, GOP Redistricting committee chair: In one respect, I feel like the bill clearly needs some work. Both from within the DFL agreement there is disagreement and from without. So maybe we have to go back to the drawing board. I think the Senate put together a pretty good package for that [Sen. Bill Weber’s Senate File 749], and maybe that’s a model that the House would be willing to take up at some point. Because despite the political rhetoric, it really is a good model for making sure that cities are made whole under the mutual aid agreements. [Editor’s note: The Weber bill would force Minneapolis, or any other city receiving mutual aid, to surrender some of its Local Government Aid money if they don’t reimburse other jurisdictions’ first responders quickly enough.]

Sarah Walker, vice president, Secure Democracy: I think the floor debacle on the SAFE Act is an indication that, with more people of color now at the Legislature in the Democratic caucus, that they want to see real substantive reforms before they continue to fund police and criminal justice. And I think this is going to be an ongoing dynamic amongst the Democratic caucus.

Amy Koch, former GOP Senate majority leader: It shows the politically difficult nature of this legislation, which ties back to how the situation was handed—or, as some people believe, mishandled. If this issue had gone down and people felt like it had been handled well by the governor and the [Minneapolis] mayor, it would be going to be like, “Well, this is what we have to do.” This all ties back to [last summer’s riots]. This bill could have gotten the both the Democrat and Republican votes needed, if the situation had been handled well. It’s not partisan.

Brian Rice, attorney, longtime lobbyist: It’s not a good sign. My father, [former Rep. Jim Rice], who was [ex-Gov. Karl] Rolvaag’s executive secretary in the 1960s and served the Legislature for 26 years, always said on votes like that you have to walk the plank. He was around that building in one manner or another for four or five decades and that was always his advice: At some point when you go out on the floor, it’s show time. And like it or not, if you’re a member of the caucus, you vote the caucus’s position.

Jennifer DeJournett, GOP political operative: It never fails. Even when something is the Democrats’ fault, it is always somehow the Republicans’ fault.

Question 2: Tension seems to be the norm this legislative session. On Feb. 19, a House State Government and Elections committee hearing ground to a halt and seemed on the brink of being suspended because of an argument over approving the minutes. Of course, every budgeting year, we talk about possible end-of-session train wrecks and government shutdowns. But how worried are you about that for 2021?

Johnson: On the Senate side, even we feel it quite a bit. I think this is a product of just the remoteness of the whole legislative session. I haven’t spent much time with freshmen in my own caucus, let alone the freshmen in the DFL caucus. I can imagine it’s almost like Facebook—when you’re not seeing people very often it’s pretty easy to lob bombs. To me, this could really end in some poor relationships, just from building up a history of this animosity. Especially on the newer class—that’s what they come in seeing. I really worry about that.

Walker: I think that it’s become the norm that there ends up being a log jam at the end and it’s going to end up being a game of chicken, in which there is also probably going to be special sessions again. I think that’s the new norm in Minnesota, especially as we’ve entered this period of hyper-partisanship.

Koch: A little. I have faith, a little. Tensions are incredibly hot. My recommendation to the governor and to the leadership, just humbly, is that they include their membership in more of these decisions. And that they include their chairs and leads in the discussions around these bills. We have seen a contraction in the last several years, where even members of the committees don’t know what’s going on with budget bills. In the end, of course, all the tough stuff will come down to [Senate Majority Leader Paul] Gazelka, [House Speaker Melissa] Hortman and [Gov. Tim] Walz. But not everything can come down to that. You have to let the members duke it out, battle and come to some conclusions. And we haven’t seen that.

Rice: A lot. I listened to that State Government committee this morning and I thought, “Oh my God.” This would be my 39th year of actually being a lobbyist. Before that as a kid, I followed my father around. So I’ve watched that place for 50 years now, since 1971 when my dad got elected. Normally, there’s kind of like an era of good feeling for a while in any session. People are kind of happy to see each other, the election is over, hope springs eternal and you want to get stuff done. Maybe it’s just the ennui of COVID-19 and the monotony and the boredom, but yeah, they’re fighting about everything, every minute, all the time. It doesn’t seem like there has been much reflection or reconsideration. It’s like Jan. 6 didn’t happen. Or that it happened, but we’re still going to keep doing it.

DeJournett: There is zero probability that the session will end on time. At the end of the day, nothing will happen and four people will get in a room and make a deal. Why don’t they go to the tribunal right from the jump, save us all the time and all the bloviated speeches and be done with it already?

Question 3: The COVID-19 statistics lately have been really promising, and despite a clunky delivery system, we at least know that vaccines are on the market. How optimistic are you that, this time, we might really be nearing the end of this pandemic horror show?

Johnson: If you’re talking to Dr. [Michael] Osterholm, it might be a different story. But I really feel good about it. I’m up here in northwest Minnesota right now, East Grand Forks. And quite frankly, life looks basically normal around here. I see, every once in a while, somebody wearing a mask. But restaurants are full, businesses are looking good, even our movie theater is open here. I guess the only thing not going on and full tilt are sporting events, as far as capacity. But I think people are really optimistic and finally settling into the fact that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Walker: I think with increased vaccination production and with spring around the corner, I think we’re headed in the right direction, finally.

Koch: It has to do with a little bit of optimism, which I have had from the beginning. And also, it’s not a nicety. We must open up. We must. That’s all. We have to find a way.

Rice: I don’t think that we’re near the end of it. I am optimistic that a corner has been turned and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But I still think we’ve got a long way to go. And once we get through the tunnel, I’m not sure exactly what’s on the other side. If this variant of the COVID-19 continues, it could become something that we’re dealing with for many, many years.

DeJournett: I’m very optimistic. But I’m an Irish-Catholic. I’ve knocked on every piece of wood, said a few Hail Marys and thrown a bunch of holy water on stuff, just to be sure.