With all due solemnity, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and the House clerk Monday announced the House members who would be on a budget conference committee.
"Announcement by the speaker," Kelliher said with a slight smile.
"The Speaker announces the appointment of the following members of the House to a conference committee on House file 1671: Carlson, Rukavina, Thissen, Seifert and Emmer," Chief Clerk Albin Mathiowetz announced, in an authoritative, and characteristically nasal, statement.
Wha?
State Reps. Tom Rukavina and Paul Thissen, both Democrats, and state Rep. Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer, both Republicans are all running for governor, as is Kelliher, also a Democrat.
After laughter (and a bit of applause from the floor), Kelliher went on:
"Announcement by the speaker," Kelliher said.
"The Speaker announces a change in the appointment of the members of the conference committee on House file 1671," Mathiowetz said, before announcing the budget gurus who more rightly belong on the conference committee.
Here's the video of the parliamentary play, supplied to me by a well-respected House staff gremlin:
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