Just hours after the announcement of Rep. Kerry Gauthier's decision to defy his party and seek reelection, the scathing DFL reactions are piling up in bunches. The most extreme denunciation came from Gauthier's colleague Rep. Tom Huntley, who also represents Duluth. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a child molester," Huntley told the Duluth News Tribune.

Embattled DFL Rep. Kerry Gauthier shocked nearly everyone in the Minnesota political firmament on Wednesday morning when he announced that he plans to seek reelection to his seat in the state House of Representatives. The announcement came one week after it was publicly reported that Gauthier had been investigated by Duluth police following an incident in which he used a Craigslist ad to meet and have oral sex with a 17-year-old male at an area rest stop.

After a pair of marathon floor debates, the House and Senate passed legislation this week authorizing construction of a $975 million stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.

The health and human services omnibus bill is typically among the most contentious and complicated pieces of legislation debated by the Legislature.

The DFLers' support of the law puts them at odds with most of their Republican counterparts at the Capitol and a host of other state legislatures, attorneys general and governors around the country.

DFL House representatives Erin Murphy and Tom Huntley have filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending the federal health care law.

The expansion was something Dayton said would be among his first official acts as governor. Republicans criticized the move as constitutionally questionable.

There were few surprises when the Minnesota House GOP released committee rosters last week. Legislators, Republican and Democrat alike, landed in spots where they've sat before, or - in the case of new lawmakers - where they have accrued relevant experience in their professional and personal lives.

Thissen said the caucus was concerned about the slimmed-down committee roster Republicans put in place upon regaining control of the House and the committee leads are intended to maintain attention on some key issues.

With Mark Dayton's timely ascent to the governor's office now assured, the most visible and protracted legislative drama of 2010 has erupted again in the past week. Dayton said throughout the campaign that one of his first acts as governor would be to sign an executive order enrolling Minnesota in an expanded federal Medicaid program.