What had been a civil and often friendly working relationship between DFL Gov. Tim Walz and the Republican leaders of the House and Senate has frayed at a time when they might need it most.
The state is in the midst of dual crises that have required a strong governmental reaction but also contributed to political and personal discord. The combination of personal and economic stress created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial tensions illuminated by the homicide of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has ratcheted up the rhetoric and the political temperature at the statehouse.
Having an election five months in the distance with control of the Legislature — and redistricting — at stake only adds to the strain.
How we got here
Even before the Floyd murder, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka had lost patience with Walz’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the administration’s approach to restarting social and economic life in Minnesota.
Days after Floyd’s death, which Gazelka condemned, the GOP leader also offered pointed criticism of the governor’s handling of the civic unrest that followed the killing. “Everywhere along the way, it’s been excuses and finger-pointing at someone else,” Gazelka said of Walz, citing the hundreds of buildings damaged and the hundreds of millions of dollars of damage caused by arson and looting.
Walz mostly deflected the critiques on his approach to the pandemic, once suggesting it was easy to comment from the sidelines. But he has appeared increasingly hurt by criticisms about his response to the Floyd killing, especially with regard to the delays by state police and national guard to combat street violence in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
More recently, the governor has increased the rhetorical pressure on GOP legislators, especially those in the Senate. In a press conference on June 12, Walz and a group of DFL officeholders and appointees ridiculed the Senate policing package.
“Yes, I am insulted with the bills that the Republicans have brought forward,” said Rep. Rena Moran, the St. Paul DFLer who is chair of the Legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus.
On Thursday, Walz criticized the “weak sauce” legislation on police accountability the Senate passed earlier in the week and Gazelka’s determination to finish the Legislature’s special session by the end of day Friday. “The image of us and the Senate walking away from systemic change on Juneteenth adds to the legacy of what the rest of the world is looking at here,” Walz said. “It is unacceptable: the business-as-usual and the weak sauce legislation to get out of town and pretend like you’ve made change ends now.”
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]“Yes, I am insulted with the bills that the Republicans have brought forward,” said state Rep. Rena Moran, the St. Paul DFLer who is chair of the Legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous Caucus.[/image_caption]
Walz said there is little room for compromise on that package. “It is not pejorative to talk about political differences,” Walz had said when asked if the measures would fail in the GOP-controlled state Senate and instead become an issue for the November election. “I have tried hard to build coalitions. That’s the governor’s job. But I don’t think you can compromise when it becomes a value issue. The fact of the matter is the Senate is trying to pass weak things that don’t fundamentally change that.”
And yet Walz said he continues to speak with GOP leaders of the House and Senate, Gazelka and Minority Leader Kurt Daudt. “Legislating is really, really hard work. In this moment it is super hard work,” he said. “I will compromise until it comes to our values.”
In responding to Walz’s comments, Gazelka said the assertion that the Senate has done nothing on criminal justice reform “frankly shocked me” since the chamber had passed five bills while, at that point, the House hadn’t passed any.
The Senate Republican package of police reforms includes a ban on most chokeholds and neck restraints; a requirement for law enforcement to report use-of-force data to the state; a demand that the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board rewrite policy on use of deadly force; and the establishment of a duty to intervene when officers see another officer using unjustified force.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said the assertion that the Senate has done nothing on criminal justice reform “frankly shocked me” since the chamber had passed five bills while, at that point, the House hadn’t passed any.[/image_caption]
‘Frayed but not broken’
Thirteen months ago, Gazelka stood with Walz and House Speaker Melissa Hortman to announce a two-year budget deal. Three months ago, he and the other three legislative leaders stood with the governor to support his early actions to battle the coronavirus. And they were in agreement in condemning the murder of Floyd.
But Gazelka admitted that what had been a civil relationship with Walz has weakened. He cited the stress of those crises and the fact that a year ago, the Legislature was on equal footing with the governor, something that ended when Walz assumed emergency powers in response to the coronavirus pandemic and could legislate by executive order.
Gazelka listed other reasons for increased tension, too: the effect of the lockdown “where everyone’s been bottled up so much”; the emotions sparked by the death of Floyd and the unrest that followed; the upcoming election.
“All of those things make it more difficult,” he said. “I do think the connection to the governor is frayed but it’s not broken. It’s our desire to work together. I believe it’s his desire to work together. It’s just that when there are statements that are inaccurate, that paint us in a light that is untrue, I’m gonna push back on that.”
Reflecting tensions among lawmakers
The tensions between Walz and Gazelka are also reflective of tensions between their two parties, a dynamic starkly displayed during the Tuesday night debate over the Senate policing package.
At one point, the lead sponsor of the GOP package, Sen. Warren Limmer, said he was unhappy with the tone of the debate from DFL members. “Minnesota is hurting and quite honestly I think the Minnesota Senate is hurting,” the Maple Grove Republican said. “The way we’ve treated each other today I’ve never seen before in the number of years I’ve been here.”
That prompted a response from Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, who is one of five members of the POCI Caucus in the Senate. “So if somehow today things got a little tough and a little heated, a little testy, people got a little offended — that’s how I feel almost each and every day Sen. Limmer,” Hayden said. “So if people are a little offended here today, if they feel like the Senate is broken and we’re not as collegial as we should be, and that we’re passionate, that this group of legislators here my allies and the People of Color and Indigenous caucus are finally saying, ‘You know what, we’re tired, we’re exhausted.’”
Hortman’s role
One thing Walz and Gazelka agreed upon Thursday was the role Hortman could play. The Brooklyn Park DFLer is not reluctant to take shots at her political opponents, but she leaves much of the partisan warfare to Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, giving her more room to find compromise with Senate Republicans.
“The speaker and I have a good working relationship,” Gazelka said. “I understand that she’s a liberal, and she understands that I’m a conservative and we’re both pragmatic.”
On Thursday, Walz also pointed to Hortman as the person who can bring people back to the table and to ask for new ways of doing things.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]On Thursday, Walz also pointed to House Speaker Melissa Hortman, shown on June 11, as the person who can bring people back to the table and to ask for new ways of doing things.[/image_caption]
“I’ve said to my colleagues, we’re very good at fighting,” Hortman continued. “But we’re also very good at getting things done when we decide we want to do that. On criminal justice reform, on police accountability, (on) systemic change, we’re gonna fight like hell for the things we value. But we also have to find that space to work together and get things done in the areas where we can and should.”
Walker Orenstein contributed to this report.
The fact that Paul Gazelka feels frustrated or emotionally “bottled up” because of COVID-19 restrictions has nothing to do with his role as a political leader hired by his fellow Minnesotan to make things happen in the Minnesota Senate. It is a naked dereliction of duty for him to sit on his hands when his state is crying for him to answer the need for change. His neighbors in his backwater of East Gull Lake may not feel the immediacy of the issues roiling more heavily populated areas in this state and around the country, but that does not give him the right to stand in the way of helping to bring about what any clear-thinking person can see must come to our community immediately: real change, right now. In obstructing forward movement, who is he pandering to, and for what possible reason?
Gazelka passed several bills before Hortman passed any. I think you are blaming the wrong person. The problem here is the Democrats demand everything be done their way and refuse to compromise. Listen to your supposed great Governor …calling legislation “weak sauce” and crap like that. He sounds a lot like Trump now.
Heaven forfend! Walz called the (weak) police reform bills of Gazelka and his Repubs “weak sauce” and said they didn’t go far enough! An insult of apparently Trumpian proportions to committed Trumpers like Mr. Barnes! For myself, I don’t quite see it…
The reality is that Gazelka’s bills put forth about the most limited amount of “reform” conceivable and give up things that the police do not think worth fighting for—a ban on choke holds, which most cities haven’t had in use for decades. This gambit is the Repubs’ idea of reform across the nation.
On the big matters, Gazelka is basically retaining the status quo on criminal liability for excess force and officer involved shootings, which is what the police want. It’s basically an admission that the state isn’t going to get involved in this area, once again. Also nothing on reforming arbitration of officer discipline. It’s difficult to compromise when the opposing offer starts with nothing.
As for Mr. Barnes exclamations about ” Greatest Covid incompetence!” he has a record of, shall we say, hyperbole in this area. While MN has a bad record of deaths in LTCF, the causes have not yet been determined despite the certainty with which Mr Barnes makes his assertions.
It all boils down to something along the lines of: “Walz did too much, and also too little!” That’s a rather incoherent standard that would require some greater elucidation in order to be persuasive.
I fail to read a single logical reason other than political gamespersonship for Minnesota Republicans to fight with the Governor and the Democratic members of the legislature over his handling of pandemic. This not a political issue! It’s a human risk issue. Most logical people understand that. Why do local republicans find it necessary to support an incompetent president and vote against the interests of their own constituents? Apparently the only thing the local GOP understands is defeat at the polls. Well…
Apparently you haven’t looked at his abysmal record of the highest death rate in the nation in LTCFs. Or the fact that several states never locked down and many others opened up long ago and haven’t had as bad of numbers as MN has. Walz is the most incompetent governor in America when you look at the facts and the data. And to this day he’s STIL putting/allowing infected patients into LTCFS. FL and TN banned that practice and they have 1/5 to 1/10 the death rates we have in those facilities. That’s all on Walz. He needs to be held accountable for all those deaths because he allowed that policy.
Other states that did the same thing, IL MI NY etc, also have extremely high death rates in said facilities.
That’s mostly false. But the places where the cases are exploding are Florida and similar states that did not take precautions.
And yet Flotida and Texas still have lower per capita cases and deaths than Minnesota. They’ve also managed to keep the LTC death rate much lower.
But when a lot of places are trending down, Florida is trending up. Not that I’m happy about it, because Republican incompetence is going to kill a lot of people, but the per capita numbers will get there. Who knows, they may already be – Florida has tried to cover up the bad news. Thank god for Tim Walz.
The hardest thing is watching other countries conquer this thing and knowing we are going to deal with it for years because of an incompetent president. But that’s what you get when you elect a “businessman ” who knows absolutely nothing about business other than running them into the ground. No surprise he did the same thing to the American economy. The Trump recession is going to be here awhile.
The way states calculate LTCF Covid-19 deaths for their press releases varies vastly. Some states only include deaths in a skilled nursing facility (that is all CMS used to require be reported), there are indications some states exclude people who die in a hospital from their LTCF death total, and some states simply have poor quality data. The daily Minnesota Situation update combines deaths of people living in Skilled Nursing, Memory Care, and Assisted Living into a single ‘Long-term care facility/Assisted living (LTCF)’ category. The media comparisons of press release data from different states without any effort to make sure the comparisons are valid misleads their readers.
The only apples-to-apples comparison of Long Term Care Covid-19 deaths across states I’ve seen was the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services comparison for skilled nursing homes released earlier this month. The CMS nursing home comparison show Minnesota results somewhat better than the national average. CMS apparently plans to update this comparison monthly so it will be interesting to see the next report. I would love to see a state to state comparison of LTCF deaths that uses something like the Minnesota ‘Long-term care facility/Assisted living (LTCF)’ definition but nobody appears to have that data.
https://www.cms.gov/files/document/6120-nursing-home-covid-19-data.pdf
Thank you for this clear, factual explanation of the LTCF statistics.
To “Do the Right Thing” Gov Walz and his team have been transparent about using the best science available to inform decisions in uncharted territory with high stakes consequences.
Totally agree
Well, the citizens of this state relationship is frayed, so the government representatives merely mirror that. The fact that there are several opposing value cultures among the citizenry is especially disturbing. We don’t all believe in the constitution the Framers put forth.
Paul Gazelka & Kurt Doudt and Jennifer Carnahan, have a lot of nerve to attack Gov. Walz for being incompetent and neglectful on two unprecedented happenings (Covid 19 & George Floyd murder) in the last month in the Twin Cities. They criticize while their incompetent and ignorant President is slowly destroying our Democracy. Gazelka- Doudt & Carnahan are complicit and guilty of not standing up for our Democratic values & norms. They too shall be drained from our lakes! JJB
Walz is the incompetent one. He should have ordered the state police and Guard to stop the violence the first night and detain/arrest anyone engaged in rioting. Instead he made them stand down for several nights and let the rioting get worse.
On Covid, he’s the biggest failure in the US. Worst death rate in LTCFs in the nation. Still clinging to failed models and failed policies even after a mountain of data proves he’s been wrong since day one. And now with the riots and the memorial service he’s proven to the world that his lockdown was entirely political. He never did a thing about any of the protestors not obeying his rules and then violated his own rules at the memorial. Apparently his rules don’t apply to him or his buddies (the candy store owner) or to certain groups.
Again, that’s all false. Walz’s record has been very good and will look better as things flatten here, while cases in red states explode.
Of course, a minimally competent president could have avoided a lot of this. The Trump recession is going to be rough.
You’re never gonna to be an historian, Bob, because you can’t even get this (relatively simple) time-line right, especially considering it’s (very) recent history. Indeed, there’s a MN Post article up on this very topic!
So, gotta give you an “F” on your “Gov. Walz the Incompetent and his Lake Street Riots” essay, unfortunately…
We have driven down the virus reproduction rate in MN (Rt) to some of the lowest in the country. Our process has resulted in success so far. My Anytime Fitness club is now open. I have stopped in a few times in street clothes to check things out and it is pretty quiet except for some young guys weightlifting (breathing hard without masks, of course). So you can open up the barn for the horses to water, but you can’t make them drink.
link: https://rt.live
Why are+ Paul Gazelka & Kurt Doudt and Jennifer Carnahan responsible for what Trump does? Is Speaker Hortman responsible foe what AOC or Gov. Bloomberg do?
Do Minnesotans understand that out of the 1,334 COViD deaths in Minnesota over 1,000 of them are from long term care facilities? Over 80% of all deaths are the most vulnerable citizens in our society, why were they not protected? Walz “gave the protesters room to grieve “, that turned into over 200 businesses burnt and looted. Who else is to blame?
I blame the cops 100 percent.
You blame the cops for over 1,000 seniors dying in LTC? Did the cops burn and loot 200+ businesses?
I blame the cops for focusing on peaceful protesters and journalists, while letting looters do their thing. They were too busy slashing car tires
Ok, I guess after the 3rd night of looting and burning Governor Walz said “Minneapolis was out of control” and he needed to restore order. Governor Walz didn’t notice Mpls was out of control on the first night of “mostly peaceful protests”. Who sent the evacuate the Police station order, the cops?
Yes, the police chief after consulting with the mayor ordered the evacuation of the 3rd precinct. As for the rest of your fantasy, you ignore the authority and the laws involved.
Walz had restored order in both cities within 48 hours of assuming control. This was done in consultation with the adjutant general of the MN National Guard from the beginning. Of course, Walz and Jensen were following the legal structure in place at the time, and we know that for American “conservatives”, that’s anathema…
So the Governor and Mayor of Minneapolis had to actually see 200+ businesses burn, police stations be abandoned, then burned to make a decision that “giving the peaceful protesters room to grieve “ was a mistake. That couldn’t be decided before 3 nights of as Governor Walz called “lawlessness “ hit the streets. Did they not see what happened in similar situations of DC and Ferguson? No foresight by leadership to have National Guard ready to protect the Twin Cities day one? All of that is ok because they are Democrats? Hard sell to most logical people!
“All of that is ok because they are Democrats”? As if the breakdown in “law and order” was their fault, or for that matter, the fault of “Leftists”, “protestors” or anyone else outraged at the murder of George Floyd. “Sending in the troops” and using armed force to restore “law and order” has a poor record in this country and around the world of accomplishing anything but hostility and resentment. Exhibit A might be Herbert Hoover’s use of the military lead by Douglas MacArthur, Jr. to attack the Bonus Marchers (veteran’s of WWI) in 1932 who showed up in Washington, D.C. to demand their veteran’s benefits during the Great Depression. Not everyone has forgotten that episode.
After 3 nights of destruction, Walz sent in the National Guard, rioting, looting, burning stopped immediately. I guess you can put that one in the win column for “sending in troops”. Sitting and watching has NEVER worked for police, ever! Walz and the Mayor, being leaders of our State and Mpls, should have seen this coming. They had LA, Baltimore, Ferguson and other cities to look at when you order a stand down of police.
Its curious – the arsonists the keep arresting are white people from outside the city. Again, if Minneapolis’s terrible police had focused on them and not peaceful protesters and journalists, maybe this could have been avoided. But the fact the Minneapolis police are so worthless is why the protests occurred in the first place.
Pat, look at the arrest rates for the rioters, over 80% are Minnesotans. It doesn’t matter what color the folks looting are, they are breaking the law. Why does race come up with rioting? Lawlessness knows no color.
Nope. Look at what there are being arrested for. The worthless incompetents in the Minneapolis police can’t distinguish between looters and protesters.
Eventually, an investigation of the Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF) will show that seniors died from having been infected by staff of such facilities. A large number of LTCF aka nursing homes are privately owned by holding companies and staffed by underpaid and underqualified personnel. Some LTCF did ask staff to shelter in place away from friends and family and paid them generously from what I understand. Those facilities will be shown to have experienced the fewest fatalities. Corporately owned LTCF are in no position to demand sacrifice from personnel paid minimum wage or just above. If people need someone to blame for this tragic loss, blame the corporate owners and investors of for profit healthcare facilities who are trying to squeeze every nickel out of every aged person and the government for those too poor to pay for it themselves.
As for blaming the Governor for the rioting that took place amidst the widespread protests, look again. The Governor is not responsible for the total breakdown in moral authority caused by the front line enforcers of the law in Minneapolis. The police and their union lost all moral authority with the murder of George Floyd. They were in no position to protect protestors residents or businesses from a lawless minority.
I think I am very fortunate to live in Minnesota where our Governer and health care personnel give us factual and timely information and take responsibility for their actions unlike our president who is as always blaming someone or something else when anything goes wrong. I think the Republican leaders in our state are following in his footsteps. If they had more say in what was happening Nothing would get done;ie their current response to our racial equality problems
They seem to like Trump’s leadership by Executive Order but look quite differently at Governor Walz’s. Were the shoe on the other foot, they would be all over the EO’s.
It’s always been a popular delusion among “centrist/moderates” that they have some kind of “relationship” with Republicans. Well, I guess given a broad enough definition of “relationship” you can make that claim work, but that relationship ends up looking like an abusive cycle wherein Republicans play the role of the domineering partner with escalating aggression; and Democrats play the role of the submissive partner seeking approval while desperately trying to avoid confrontation.
I’ll give MN Republicans some credit for realizing that they live in MN and not FL or TX, I wasn’t sure they could be THAT grounded in reality. But Walz or anyone else who thought Republicans weren’t just pausing their reactionary onslaught simply doesn’t understand who and what the Republican Party is. If Republicans thought they had the power to block Walz they would have tried. Like I said, we can give them some credit for recognizing the fact (this time) that would’ve been on the wrong side of policy and public opinion, bu they are who they are.
I’ve also had the impression frankly that Republican leadership was simply caught flat-footed by an honest to god crises. Republicans have organized around imaginary crises like voter fraud, French fries, the “war” on Christmas, etc. for decades. Like blindfolded children chasing Pinata’s they tend to rush off in precisely the wrong direction swinging like crazy. Remember the big idea to invade Iraq after a bunch from Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan attacked us in 2001? Anyways for the last few decades Republican frequently end up looking rather like deer in the headlights when something actually happens. Remember Condi Rice telling congress that they didn’t realize they should be doing something about the warnings they were getting in the daily briefs? They were too busy “responding” to N. Korean ICBMS that wouldn’t exist for another 20 years.
COVID is a REAL health care crises and Republicans clearly have no idea how to deal with it beyond attempting to politicize it in some way. I think MN Republicans had just enough sense to stay out of the way… for a while. If anyone interpreted THAT as some kind of “relationship” they’re in for a rude awakening.
Remember when Obama thought he would work with his “friends” on the other side of the isles… yeah, that was funny.
Gov. Walz needs to be spared the ordeal of dealing with the present IR Senate majority and leadership. There once were “good government” conservatives who disliked dishonest, ineffective or contentious Commissioners and liked Commissioners that did their jobs based on the law and precedent.
I trust that the voters are looking for responsible attention to public health, including dealing with COVID-19 as an obvious emergency and climate change as a daunting threat to civilization as we know it. There may be enough “good government” State Senators left –or if not, elected –to objectively confirm appointments.
The people elected Governors and Legislators to make law and policy together, and a Senator should have enough sense to know revising Statutes, rules and procedures pipeline by pipeline, lake by lake or county by county is senseless.