We've been bouncing back and forth between Minnesota Senate and House floor sessions, since both action on farmed deer regulation and New Republicans repeating blarney about students using cat boxes both signal the waning days of Babylon.
Since the House is still going strong on the so-called debate about public education, we'll turn to the problems that arose in the Senate omnibus agriculture, housing and broadband bill.
One fascinating vote in the Senate bill was the bipartisan passage (see screengrab above) of an amendment offered by Cottage Grove DFL Senator Carla Bigham.
We had tweeted about this shortly after the amendment passed (apologies to Senator Bigham for the misspelling)
Link to Bigham amendment. New registration moratorium "does not prohibit a person holding a valid registration under this subdivision from selling or transferring the person's registration to a family member ..." #mnsenate #mnleg #mndeer #CWD https://t.co/dVHDXmSVUl https://t.co/0uDmbXmnl1
— Sally Jo Sorensen (@sallyjos) April 27, 2022
After the recess, the body overturned the amendment. But there was more to the story.
From DFL Leader Franzen's office:
Senate DFL Leader Melisa López Franzen Raises Conflict-of-Interest Concerns in Republican Leader's Role in Overturning Bipartisan Vote to Protect Minnesota's Wild Deer Population Senator Majority Jeremy Miller Recessed Senate Session to Press Members to Change Vote
ST. PAUL, MN - Senate DFL Leader Melisa López Franzen (DFL-Edina) raised conflict-of-interest concerns after the
Senate Majority Leader abruptly recessed the Senate Wednesday to allow the Republican Majority to meet behind closed doors to discuss overturning a successful bipartisan amendment aimed at fighting the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Minnesota's wild deer population.Minutes after the full Senate gave its bipartisan approval to Sen. Karla Bigham's (DFL-Cottage Grove) amendment to prohibit new deer farms in the state, Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) asked for a recess to allow majority Republicans to meet. After the Senate resumed session, the portion of Sen. Bigham's amendment prohibiting new deer farms and the ban on importing deer from CWD states or provinces was stripped from the bill by the Republican majority, including five Republicans members who had originally voted for Sen. Bigham's amendment.
Senator Miller has family ties to a deer farm business near Winona, and the Majority Leader's effort Wednesday to overturn the prohibition on Minnesota deer farms is part of a years-long pattern by Senate Republicans of blocking meaningful efforts to stop the spread of CWD.
"Senator Miller needs to explain why he didn't recuse himself on this vote, and to clarify his relationship to the deer farming industry, and what interest he had in interrupting Senate proceedings on an important bill so that he could convince five members of his caucus to change their votes and overturn a bipartisan amendment," said Sen. López Franzen. "Elected officials are always held to a higher standard, The public deserves better from their leaders and we have questions left unaddressed."
MN Deer Hunters Strongly Support Sen. Bigham's Measure
Sen. Bigham's amendment is strongly supported by the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, which has tens of thousands of members, because it protects the wild deer population from being hit by CWD, a disease that if spread, would damage Minnesota billion dollar hunting industry. Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans hunt wild deer each year, and there is widespread concern that CWD emanating from deer raised on deer farms threatens that Minnesota tradition.
Update: After a bit of sleuthing in online business and property records, we've learned that Todd Miller is the contact person for Epic Antler Ranch a private hunting operation with headquarters at the address 26005 Blackberry Rd, WInona, MN 55987.
Looking into Schneider Corporation's Beacon database for Winona County, we find that 26005 Blackberry Road was purchased by Wm. Miller Scrap Iron & Metal Co in 2006. According to Majority Leader Miller's EIS, Miller is a Director, Officer and Owner of Wm. Miller Scrap Iron & Metal Co.
According to the information for the address, the Primary Taxpayer is S & T Acres LLC at 265 6th St. W in Winona. Six parcels are listed in the parcel results for S & T Acres LLC. The name of the manager of S & T Acres LLC in the Secretary of State's Business Record Details is Susan M. Miller. This name appears in parcel results with that of Jerome Miller and Jerry Miller.
In 2014, the Winona Daily News' article in A family affair with scrap, the cutline under the photo at the top of the article reads:
Miller Scrap in Winona is led by, from left, Jeremy Miller, chief financial officer, Todd Miller, co-yard supervisor, Jerry Miller, president and CEO, and Willie Miller, chief operating officer.
Down column, the copy notes:
Jeremy’s brothers, Willie and Todd, also ended up back in the business after “a few ripples in the water,” Jeremy said.
Are these land ownership, business connections and family relations enough to constitute a conflict of interest on the Majority Leader's part? It is a close family.
[end update]
And here we had been posting about Westrom's special obsession about deer farms over drought relief in the Agriculture committee in our post After wasted weeks in Ag committee, Westrom drops deer farmer special non-drought demands from Minnesota Senate drought aid bill.
[Second update]
Here's the clip of Bigham successfully offering the amendment to the moment when Westrom tables the bill and Miller takes the Senate into a recess. There is some footage of St. Paul DFL Senator Foung Hawj speaking between the amendment's passage and Westrom's tabling the bill and the recess:
We'll be back in a bit with YouTube of the reconsideration of the successful amendment. Senators Abeler, Housley, Nelson and Osmek changed their votes to gut the Bigham amendment while Ruud's position did not change.
Here's the vote on Westrom's amendment to the Bigham amendment, essentially wiping out the CWD disease control measure--plus Senator Bighm throwing a bit of shade on the hijinks of tabling and caucusing to twist a few arms. Who knew what the stakes were for the Senate Majority Leader's family business?
[end update]
Apparently the special treatment of deer farmers over the people's wild deer herd was going to be pounded home in the agriculture omnibus, in the Senate where deer farms are close to leadership.
Related posts:
- Annals of nincompoopery: Will common sense prevail in drought relief conference committee?
- Can Minnesota walk and deal with drought relief, CWD, and avian influence at the same time?
- After wasted weeks in Ag committee, Westrom drops deer farmer special non-drought demands from Minnesota Senate drought aid bill
- Fact check: Did Rep. Paul Anderson say WI farmers got $100 million drought relief?
Screengrab: The original vote on Bigham amendment.
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