Secretary of State Suggests Legal Action Before Minnesota House Session Begins

ST. PAUL (KVRR) — As a power struggle continues in the Minnesota House, Republicans dispute the interpretation of the state constitution when it comes to who is in charge and how many members are needed for a quorum.

Secretary of State Steve Simon concluded that the Constitution and State Statute define the majority needed for a quorum as 68 members.

He sent a letter to Republican leaders this afternoon including Speaker Designate State Rep. Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring telling them to consider submitting this matter to the courts.

Right now, Republicans have a one seat advantage at 67 and are trying to seize power.

Democrats have 66 members after Curtis Johnson’s election win was tossed by a judge for not actually living in his district.

A special election is planned later this month to fill the Democrat leaning seat.

Last night, Democrats held a private swearing in ceremony for its members, something the speaker last session is defending.

“We scheduled it to be confidential so that we wouldn’t have any security issues with Republican activists trying to block the activity and again we scheduled it very late so that, um, it would be at the end of what we thought the negotiating period would be and we actually anticipated we’d be cancelling that,” said State Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat from Brooklyn Park who served as House Speaker last session.

Both sides are expected to meet again tonight.

The session is supposed to begin at noon tomorrow.