A Minnesota Republican Party push to remove Democratic-Farmer-Labor representatives who boycotted the beginning of this year’s legislative session has failed.
The state Supreme Court on Monday threw out 29 recall petitions filed by the GOP alleging DFL representatives failed to perform their duties when they denied the House quorum for three weeks earlier this year.
Chief Justice Natalie Hudson ruled that since House DFLers eventually returned to the Capitol on Feb. 26, the petitions no longer have standing. The state GOP admitted this in their filings, she wrote, something that “fatally” undermined allegations of nonfeasance.
“(This) allegation as to the seriousness of any nonfeasance is conceded to no longer exist; a quorum has been created, and the legislative process is currently operating,” Hudson ruled.
Boycott
House DFLers earlier this year boycotted the legislative session when Republicans had a temporary one-seat advantage in the chamber.
They aimed to deny quorum until Republicans pledged to enter a power-sharing agreement and seat a representative whose election they challenged in court.
That eventually did happen, but the state Republican Party still moved forward with their threats to file for recalls. Republicans initially said they planned to file petitions against all 66 DFL members.
Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Alex Plechash called the ruling disappointing but said the effort was about sending a message.
“The DFL may have escaped consequences in the short term, but Minnesota voters will have the final say on whether skipping work, shutting down the legislative process, and demanding to be paid for it is worthy of re-election,” he said in a statement.
Under the state Constitution, voters can petition to have an elected official removed from office for “serious malfeasance or nonfeasance” or conviction of a serious crime.
In addition to claiming DFLers had failed to do their jobs, Republicans argued a certificate of election had to be present at the swearing-in ceremony. Hudson dismissed that second claim too because it did not allege an act that was “unlawful or wrongful.”
The court’s ruling on the GOP petitions came the same day the House returned to a 67-67 tie between the parties. It was one of the remaining loose ends in the partisan power struggle that emerged after DFLers temporarily lost a seat, granting a one-seat majority to the GOP for two months.
“Chief Justice Hudson made the right decision in dismissing Republicans’ frivolous recall petitions,” House DFL leader Melissa Hortman said in a statement. “Now that the Minnesota House is tied 67-67 and operating under a power-sharing agreement, we hope Republicans will finally abandon their political games and work with us on a bipartisan basis to do the work voters sent us here to do.”
Petition process
It was unlikely that the GOP recall effort would gain traction. No petition has ever succeeded since voters approved the process in a 1996 ballot referendum. Part of that is due to the length of the process.
To file a recall, a petitioner must first find 25 signatures in a district. That proposed petition is then submitted to the Minnesota Secretary of State, who will verify signatures. If the signatures are verified, it goes to the state Supreme Court for review.
If the Supreme Court approves the petition, it is finalized and can be circulated. It must be signed by a number of people that is at least 25% of the total votes cast in the last election. Republicans estimated that was around 5,000 or 6,000, depending on the district.
If the petition hits that threshold, a recall election must be scheduled — unless it’s six months or less from the end of an official’s term.
Republican officials had said they expected the process to take about 10 months if it succeeded.
