Don't let the headlines about the possibility of a special session--ones like Happy faces, not happy talk for special session in the Fargo Forum, Months in to talks, no special session on the horizon in Finance & Commerce, or Squabbling continues on MN special session, light rail on Minnesota Public Radio--fool you.
It's not the need for a tax or bonding bill that Dayton and legislative leaders renewed talks this summer about special session.
Oh no.
At a free Clearwater County GOP ice cream social in Bagley, Minnesota, on July 21, state representative Steve Green, R-Fosston offered attendees an inside scoop of what the governor was really dishing out. In audio recorded at the gathering, Green says:
I don't believe the governor had any intentions of calling a special session. I think he wanted [inaudible] without one, to portray us as we couldn't get our work done.
But he made some pretty irresponsible comments after the shooting in St. Paul or Minneapolis in which he pretty much labeled all law enforcement as racist. Did he come under a lot of heat? You can think what you want, but he made those statements and after our president did, we lost five police officers, and he's coming under a lot of pressure in my opinion it time to call a special session to take the eyes off that ball and move it somewhere else.
Here's the audio:
We're not sure whether the Clearwater County Republicans were serving tutti frutti at the ice cream social, but that's quite the theory. We're not sure we want what Green's having.
After Philando Castile was shot during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on July 6, Dayton commented in a press conference outside of the governor's residence on July 7:
“Would this had happened if those passengers were white? I don’t think it would’ve,” Dayton said. “So I’m forced to confront, and I think all of us in Minnesota are forced to confront, [that] this kind of racism exists.”
On July 15, Forum Communications' Don Davis reported that Governor, Leaders Say They Are Near Special Session Deal:
After meeting two hours in private, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton; Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, D-Cook; and House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said they are near a deal to finish work that lawmakers failed to accomplish before their mandatory late-May adjournment date. . . .
The meeting came after Dayton and Daudt dined alone at the governor’s residence on July 5 to discuss what needed to be done.
So there you have it, gentle readers. If we are to accept Green's narrative, somehow the governor was planning his special session distraction with Daudt the day before Philando Castile was shot by a police officer.
That's a dish that melts like ice cream in July.
Daudt and Dayton met the day before Castile was murdered to talk about the special session. That meeting set the stage for the July 15 announcement, not the shooting.
Photos: Rep. Steve Green, an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation (top); the sign for the free ice cream social (below).
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