On Saturday, Senator Mark Koran, R-North Branch, may have lost his bid to become state chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, but on Monday, he became the chair of the Legislative Audit Commission.
Earlier this year, Ricardo Lopez reported at the Minnesota Reformer in the Legislative oversight commission stopped work as next chair campaigns to lead MN GOP:
The Minnesota Legislative Audit Commission, a powerful bipartisan body that decides what state programs and agencies the Legislature will investigate, has not met since December over concerns that the next chair is currently running to head the Minnesota Republican Party.
Next in line for chair is state Sen. Mark Koran, R-North Branch, who late last year announced a run against current GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan.
The Office of Legislative Auditor, which the commission oversees, often conducts high profile investigations of the executive branch that expose waste and malfeasance and can drive news coverage for days. Gov. Tim Walz, the first-term Democrat, is expected to run for reelection; if he’s elected chair of the GOP, Koran’s top goal would be unseating Walz.
State Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, the current chair of the commission, said in an interview that Democratic-Farmer-Labor members of the commission are not comfortable with Koran leading the commission. . . .
The election of Koran as chair was unanimous, as was the selection of Hansen as vice-chair.
Watch the Commission's meeting in the embedded video from the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor's YouTube channel:
The Youtube replaces an earlier livestreamed version that got off to a slow start.
According to its website:
The Legislative Audit Commission (LAC) is a bi-partisan commission with 6 members from the House of Representatives and 6 from the Senate, equally divided between the majority and minority parties. Membership is governed by Minnesota Statutes 2020, 3.97, subd. 2. The commission appoints the Legislative Auditor and selects topics for the Program Evaluation Division to review. It also periodically holds hearings to review audit and evaluation reports. The commission chair rotates every two years between the House and the Senate.
The members of the Commission:
Representatives
Representative Connie Bernardy
Representative Sondra Erickson
Representative Rick Hansen
Representative Tina Liebling
Representative Nels Pierson
Representative Duane QuamSenators
Senator Michelle Benson
Senator Nick A. Frentz
Senator Mary Kiffmeyer
Senator Matt D. Klein
Senator Mark W. Koran
Senator Ann H. Rest
Not much drama for Koran, compared to the contest for state party chair, though we may not be able to read the subtext here, if any exists.
Related posts:
- Longtime Hagedorn business & political ally in Fillmore County endorses Koran for state chair
- MN Reformer: #mnleg oversight commission stops work as next chair campaigns to lead #mngop
- Is the contest for Republican Party of Minnesota state chair a cheesy Law and Order fanzine?
- Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
- RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
Photo: Senator Mark Koran, via Minnesota Senate Republicans Caucus Koran page.
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