State lawmakers are expected to be called back into special session later this summer after failing to reach agreements on police reform and a bonding bill last week. Looking back at the session, Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka told WCCO's Chad Hartman he believes Governor Walz is largely to blame.
"It almost sounds like a cruel joke. The Governor worked behind the scenes to destroy a bunch of the bills we were trying to pass and that we had an agreement on. As far as the criminal justice reform that was one of the things we were working on. The number one reason he brought us back was because he wanted to extend his emergency powers which actually in a bipartisan way we passed it out of the senate and the house it failed but there were Democrats, at least one Democrat in the house, who voted to remove those powers."
Senator Gazelka was referring to $841 million in federal stimulus money for local governments, which he says the Governor held up until an agreement was reached on police accountability and reform, which also did not happen.
Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman also spoke with Hartman this afternoon about the politicking of it all.
"One thing that would be great is if everyone would quit trying to spin what the other guy thinks or what the other guy says. We should just get in a room together. We quit having press conferences for a while and we just negotiate. Let's see how it goes."
Hortman also says she's not surprised by the level of finger-pointing this time around because it's an election year, but says she's confident they'll get back together soon and be able to strike the deals that need to be struck.