Hot Dish 5.3.24

By Rochelle Olson

Good morning and welcome to Friday Hot Dish where I pose the important questions like: Does wearing clothes with a U.S. flag motif mean a person is more patriotic? There’s been a proliferation of flag clothes on the House floor this week — but only among Republicans as far as mine eyes have seen.

And there’s been plenty of time for gazing at House members as they spent at least 12 hours debating gun safety measures Thursday. The debate that started close to lunch-time Thursday ended late into the night with safe storage and straw buyer bills passing on near party-line votes.

Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, sponsored the safe storage measure, arguing it would help prevent accidental deaths of children and suicides. “When it comes to suicide, seconds count, minutes count,” she said. “Anything we can do to make sure those people don’t access guns is important.”

She also talked about her life-long affinity for hunting and assured people that the bill wasn’t about confiscating the guns of law-abiding Minnesotans. “My gun safe is full; I do not have room for yours,” Becker-Finn said. “I just want fewer people to be killed by guns in this state.”

Through hours of debate, Republican after Republican spoke about personal safety, especially for women. Many told stories of horrific attacks on themselves, friends and acquaintances. They focused especially on the need for a woman to feel safe and “if that means having ten different firearms throughout her home ready to go, then she should have the right to do that,” said Rep. Anne Neu Brindley, R-North Branch.

For all the loud concern in recent years about the dangers of visiting Minneapolis, legislators made rural Minnesota sound much more terrifying. The discussion brought to my mind the chilling details of Truman Capote’s true crime masterpiece about random rural crime, “In Cold Blood.”

E.R.A. ERA: One of the outstanding questions is whether the Legislature will vote to put an Equal Rights Amendment before the voters. Colleague Briana Bierschbach has a q-and-a on the internal DFL debate about what should be asked and when. She reports: Top leaders said they wanted to put the question to voters on whether to enshrine protections for everything from sex, race and gender identity to reproductive rights in the state’s Constitution in a wide-ranging equal rights amendment. But like so many things, including the two gun bills, it’s unclear what could pass the Senate — especially now with the DFL’s majority hanging by the thinnest string.

TUMBLIN’ DICE: Truthfully, dice have nothing to do with sports gambling, but I’ll squeeze in a Rolling Stones reference any time I can especially now that the octogenarians are on tour again. There have been reports this week of the demise of the bill given that troubled DFL majority. Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights and a sponsor, has been focused on other issues. But House Speaker Melissa Hortman said Thursday said her chamber will probably vote to legalize it in the remaining days of the session without concern about the Senate prospects. ‘’We can send something over and maybe that helps break the logjam,’’ Hortman said in this story by the AP’s Steve Karnowski. Track lobbyists, however, are wondering if the Legislature will move ahead with a ban on Historical Horse Racing.

FACT CHECK: Ope, nevermind. The Becker County prosecutor told colleague Ryan Faircloth that he mistakenly included in a public document boilerplate language that suspected illicit drugs were being tested from the scene of Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s alleged break-in at the home of her father’s widow. There was no shortage of Twitter attacks on the drug theory that went to the darkest of places. The prosecutor apologized outright: “I’m sorry for the confusion I created,” County Attorney Brian McDonald told Faircloth.

NOEM MORE: This story had four legs and ran. Politico dissects the road to ruin of SoDak Gov. Kristi Noem’s national ambitions. Here’s the money quote from U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., “It’s hard to imagine a universe where bragging about shooting your 14-month-old puppy increases your brand value.”

AT THE CAP: The Senate pushed bills from Thursday to Friday so they’ll be taking up the Cannabis modifications Friday among others. The House is also in session, pushing bills into conference committees as we hurtle to sine die.

Walz has no public events so we bring you: WHERE’S FLANAGAN: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has a news conference at 10: 30 a.m. to highlight the Pathways to Policing state grant program aiming to bring people with nontraditional backgrounds into law enforcement. Local and tribal agencies are eligible to apply for the grants, which allow candidates to earn salary and benefits while they attend a fully-funded training program.

READING LIST

Keep us posted at hotdish@startribune.com.