The Minnesota Senate adjourned after more than three weeks in special session, ending a surprise inquiry into a half dozen administration officials that led to one commissioner's resignation.
Democrats in the minority successfully pushed to end the extended special session on Wednesday instead of taking up the confirmation of two more appointees: Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Board of Animal Health President Dean Compart. Both were expected to be confirmed by the Senate.
The vote to go home comes one day after Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Laura Bishop quit voluntarily instead of facing a likely rejection by the chamber. Bishop's resignation prompted an outcry from Democrats, who called the unexpected confirmation push a "sham" political maneuver by Republicans in the majority to exact political revenge on DFL Gov. Tim Walz and target officials they disagree with on policy issues.
"This issue of commissioners being brought up on an ad hoc basis because they went sideways with the Senate on an issue of policy is not the best of practices," said Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury.
Republicans ultimately agreed to a DFL move to adjourn the special session, which was originally called in mid-June to finish work on the state's two-year budget. The DFL-controlled House adjourned and went home last week after completing budget work.
But Senate Republicans defended the chamber's lone constitutional authority to give "advice and consent" to the governor's appointments.
"We get to consent to the governor's picks. Many are good, some are not," said Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake. "The Senate has done this for years, it is part of the balance of power. It was part of the checks and balances."
But it's a power that has rarely been tapped to fire commissioners over the years. Since 1935, roughly 17 top appointees of Minnesota governors have been rejected by the state Senate (one appointee was rejected twice), according to a list compiled by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
Two of those rejections happened last year, when Republicans ousted Walz's first picks for the Department of Labor and Industry and the Department of Commerce.
Before that, the last time a Cabinet-level appointee was fired by the Senate was in 2008, when Democrats ousted former lieutenant governor and Department of Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.
But unlike confirmations at the federal level, the Minnesota Senate can take up a commissioner's appointment at any time — or never take them up at all, which is more often the case.
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said concerns about Bishop have been building for some time over the agency's decision to join a Michigan lawsuit related to taconite mining, new farming regulations and stricter emissions standards for cars.
And after more than a year under a state of emergency declared by Walz, Gazelka said more than the usual scrutiny of the governor's administration was necessary.
"This time with emergency powers and nothing else to stop him and doing everything he wanted to do apart from us made it more difficult," Gazelka said. "I think it's important, if a commissioner is not doing their job, there's some accountability."
Lawmakers are expected to return to the Capitol in September for a special session to approve checks for front-line workers who continued to work during the pandemic.
Briana Bierschbach • 651-925-5042
Twitter: @bbierschbach
