Koch, Zellers send an email to state employees; employees object

In a move that several state employees said was inappropriate, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch sent an email to thousands of workers regarding the budget.

"You can be sure about one thing: Our budget keeps state agencies open on July 1 and state employees will continue getting paychecks beyond June 30," the Monday email said.

It continued: "We agree with the Pioneer Press editorial from Sunday, June 26 that characterized Governor Dayton's negotiations as 'This is not a compromise. This is hostage taking.' Governor Dayton promised as a candidate to not shut down government, and he reiterated that pledge during his State of the State Address this year."

State employees said the letter was political and a public employees union said it was "insincere and insulting."

"The state's email system is for legitimate public business and not to be used for political purposes," said John Evens, a state employee. "In my ten years of state service, in three agencies, no public official has ever crossed that line the way Rep. Zellers and Sen. Koch did today."

Koch and Zellers both said they did nothing wrong.

"It was an attempt to reach out to state employees and let them know what we were working on. I think it was entirely appropriate," Koch said. "I thought it was important to let folks know our perspective of what we are working on."

Dayton sent to employees last week regarding a possible shutdown. It does not reference Republican lawmakers. Read it here.

Update: But Public Safety Commissioner Ramona Dohman has run afoul of the ban on use of the state email system for political purposes. In a letter last week, Legislative Auditor James Nobles told her that an email she sent in late May was " was one-sided and could be interpreted as promoting a political position. Specifically, it characterized the Governor's position as "reasonable," while asserting that the "negative impacts" of the Legislature's position "are just too great" and would result in "unnecessary" cuts to certain programs." The Nobles letter warned, Dohman that she must "comply with the state policy that limits your use the state's e-mail system to promote a political position."

Republicans Monday said their message follows emails to state employees from commissioners that referred to Republicans' "all cuts" budget. They retort that their budget, which Dayton vetoed, actually spends more state dollars than any previous budget and cannot be "all cuts."

Here's the letter from the legislative leaders:

ZellersKochletter