Capitol View for July 20

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday.

DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on Tuesday criticized her Republican rival for what she said were disturbing comments about abortion,reports MPR’s Tim Pugmire. Flanagan, who is Gov. Tim Walz’s running mate and supports abortion rights, criticized Matt Birk for recent anti-abortion comments. Birk is the running mate of Republican-endorsed candidate for governor Scott Jensen. The Walz-Flanagan campaign released a video of Birk speaking at the National Right to Life Conference in Georgia on the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned. In the video, Birk said of abortion after a rape that “two wrongs won’t make a right.” He also said our culture “promotes abortion” by telling women they should “have careers,” said that pro-choice advocates like to “go to the rape card.” Flanagan, joined sexual assault survivors at a news conference, said the remarks were disrespectful to survivors of rape. “Comparing a survivor who chooses to end a pregnancy from sexual assault to the rapist, the criminal who assaulted her, is wrong, and it is cruel,” Flanagan said. Jensen and Birk put out a statement in response accusing Walz and Flanagan of conducting a single-issue campaign and ignoring other serious problems facing the state, including inflation, crime, high gas prices and reliable energy. “The Walz/Flanagan campaign continues to freeze and deflect on the important issues, but they're relentless in their pursuit to champion tax-payer funded abortion throughout a pregnancy,” the statement said.

And the Walz campaign says it will run its first TV ad of the campaign. The campaign says the 60-second TV ad is airing today in the Minneapolis media market with a six-figure buy.

Unvaccinated Minnesota state government employees are no longer required to take weekly COVID-19 tests to keep reporting for duty, a quiet shift that hasn’t fully settled disputes around workplace vaccination policies,reports MPR’s Brian Bakst. When Gov. Tim Walz announced the vaccine-or-test policy last August, he said the state was “leading by example and working to get our public employees vaccinated to protect themselves, their coworkers and their communities.” It went into effect in September and applied to employees who work in an office setting or in public-facing roles. In the early going, that meant thousands of employees took weekly tests. Refusal to comply with either option led to suspensions, other discipline or termination in rare instances. Without publicity, Walz’s administration rescinded the policy in late May. A state official said this week that the move was made to adapt the executive branch’s COVID-19 approach to the evolving nature of the virus. “Whereas it was common to have broad, uniform precautionary measures earlier in the pandemic, the pandemic is at a point where public health COVID-19 risk assessments and precautions are now more dependent upon the specific circumstances of individuals and communities,” said Patrick Hogan, communications director for the state Department of Minnesota Management and Budget. He said agencies can still adopt their own procedures.

DFL U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was arrested along with other members of Congress, during a demonstration outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. Tuesday. Omar was participating in a civil disobedience action outside the Court over its recent decision to end constitutional protections for abortion. Capitol Police confirmed 17 members of Congress were arrested for violating a law against crowding and obstructing public sidewalks and roadways. "Our reproductive rights are under assault across the country, thanks to an extremist court with little regard for precedent or our basic rights,” Omar said in a statement. “I will do whatever it takes, including putting my body on the line, to protect our reproductive rights." The Republican Party of Minnesota responded with a statement saying a member of congress should focus on critical issues such as violent crime, rising inflation and failing schools, rather than “cheap stunts that score political points.” Omar’s DFL primary opponent Don Samuels had a different take. "No one should be arrested for exercising their freedom of speech during a peaceful protest,” Samuels said in a statement. “That’s why I support a woman's right to choose and will work tirelessly to turn the energy of protesters around safe and legal abortions into the law of the land if elected to Congress."

Meanwhile, Samuels raised more campaign money than Omar.The Star Tribune reports: The latest round of fundraising details, covering the start of April through the end of June, show Samuels raising about $594,000 and ending with $530,000 in cash left to spend. Omar's campaign reported total receipts of more than $397,000, with more than $460,000 in spending power. "It shows that I'm a viable candidate," said Samuels about the latest campaign finance reports. According to the reports, both Samuels and Omar were individually outraised by Republican candidate Cicely Davis, who brought in more than $714,000 in the latest reporting period.