Capitol View for October 22

Good morning, and happy Friday.

Minnesota Senate Republicans highlighted their concern about rising crime rates during an informational hearing Thursday. Two sheriffs and two police chiefs were among those who testified before members of two Senate committees. They talked about the recent increase in violent crime and what they view as a lack of support to do their jobs. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher talked about hiring challenges and other problems facing his jurisdiction. He also talked about Minneapolis. “If the Minneapolis referendum passes to eliminate the charter mandate of a minimum number of police officers, we are all expecting dramatic increases in crime in Minneapolis and in St. Paul,” Fletcher said without offering evidence as to why.

Republican Sen. Warren Limmer, the chair of the judiciary and public safety committee, said he believes the crime problem is spreading. “It’s hard to avoid the constant news and the constant headlines that we’ve been seeing in the past year,” he said.

DFL Sen. Ron Latz said the hearing was an inadequate approach. “There are many additional sources of expertise available to consider when seriously trying to solve this problem, and those sources were explicitly excluded by the committee chairs from participation in this hearing,” Latz said. It’s unclear what changes might be proposed in next year's session.

At the Minnesota Reformer, Ricardo Lopez took a closer look at criticism that came up during the hearing of Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s decision not to prosecute cases that stem from traffic stops that are unrelated to public safety . “This was a mistake for the county attorney to make the decision as to what law enforcement should and should not do,” Fletcher. “It shouldn’t be that that policy for police departments is being made by county attorneys. It certainly shouldn’t be that a good felony case is not brought to the court for prosecution.”

In an interview, Choi defended the policy saying studies show that a very small rate of non-public safety stops result in the seizure of weapons and police instead pull over Black motorists disproportionately. “Their intentions on its face are not racial, but the impact is,” Choi said. He pushed back on claims that his office is changing how police conduct their work. “I’m not forcing any police department to do anything,” he said. “I’m just the backstop.”

Mayor Melvin Carter is requiring all St. Paul city employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the year, and there is no testing option as an alternative. The Pioneer Press reports Carter announced the new vaccine mandate Thursday afternoon in a video address that was sent to all of the city’s roughly 4,000 workers. Employees who choose not to get vaccinated won’t be allowed to work and may be subject to discipline.

Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged Thursday a special session will likely not happen to pass bonus pay for pandemic workers , even though he thinks legislators could approve a plan in a matter of hours. After a working group met again this week without reaching an agreement, Walz said, “I’m certainly not going to waste taxpayer dollars to pay them per diem and have them come back and argue again.” Walz had proposed adding drought relief and some measures to respond to the pandemic to a special session agenda, but he repeated that he wants an agreement from Senate Republicans that they won’t vote to fire any commissioners, including Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm. “I think it’s been pretty clear and decided that my Republican friends in the Legislature have moved on to an election and that’s where they’re going to be,” Walz said at the launch of a COVID-19 rapid testing site in Stillwater Thursday. “We do not have that luxury.”

MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports: Minnesota's unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in September, as schools resumed and more people returned to the labor force. The state Department of Employment and Economic Development reported that Minnesota added 17,100 jobs last month, outpacing national employment gains. DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said Minnesota has now gained back about 70 percent of the more than 416,000 jobs lost since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "We knew that obviously that coming into the fall, with kids going back to school and dynamics changing, that we expected or hoped to see a growth in employment and jobs,” Grove said. “We did begin to see some of that.” However, it’s too soon to tell whether the positive job gains are the start of a long-term trend, Grove said. Minnesota’s job gains last month outpaced the nation as a whole. In comparison, the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September was 4.8 percent.

The U.S. House voted Thursday to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for defying a subpoena from the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. The vote was 229-202 with most Republican lawmakers voting “no,” including Minnesota Reps. Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach, Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber.

Hagedorn faces more scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee. The Congressional Ethics Office disclosed Thursday that it found that the two-term Republican congressman may have misused official funds by hiring firms connected to two of his staffers to provide his office with mailing and design services, paying the companies amounts well beyond what is typical for a Congressional office. And Hagedorn’s campaign committee, Friends of Hagedorn, may have used private office space at no cost or for a rate below fair market value. From the findings: “Rep. Hagedorn may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.” Hagedorn fired his chief of staff in 2020 and commissioned an internal review. In a response to the ethics office, Hagedorn’s attorney notes Hagedorn self-reported the office space situation to the Ethics Committee and contends “Hagedorn has been targeted before the Federal Election Commission by leftist groups.”

David Montgomery sent this along. If you’re looking for a long read this weekend check out this New York Times story: Some U.S. conservatives are taking a cue from Prime Minister Viktor Orban on how to use the power of the state to win the culture wars.