In what was by far their briefest negotiating session over the state's budget crisis, Gov. Mark Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch met for less than 10 minutes Thursday afternoon.
No details on possible progress toward averting a government shutdown at midnight were released.
GOP spokesman Michael Brodkorb said no additional meetings had been scheduled, but "there's likely to be another meeting with the governor."
Koch and Zellers returned to their offices where they were "doing additional work, Brodkorb said, adding, "everyone's working, nobody's left, but at this point, there's nothing scheduled."
When Koch and Zellers arrived shortly after 3 p.m., they had to thread their way through a couple dozen protesters chanting, "feed the poor, tax the rich," apparently without recognizing the leaders of the GOP's legislative majorities who have adamantly opposed the tax increase Dayton has proposed to partly close the state's $5 billion budget deficit.
