Daily Digest for June 24, 2020 Posted at 6:45 a.m. by Cody Nelson
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Good morning and welcome to your mid-week Capitol View.
Late on the final night of the special legislative session, Democrats piled on police reform measures that Republicans wouldn’t do, which led to a stalemate. At least, that’s how Paul Gazelka, the Republican Senate majority leader, tells it. He told MPR News that his party tried working with Dems on a number of matters, but they asked for too much.
Gazelka says he expects another special session, too. However, he said it’ll only happen if Gov. Tim Walz ends his emergency declaration over COVID-19. Gazelka says coronavirus is serious, but not as bad as expected, so he’s calling on the emergency to end.
In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Jason Lewis is trying to use Dems’ call to defund police against Sen. Tina Smith. Lewis, a former U.S. House representative, said Minnesotans in the suburbs and rural areas worry that the protests from the Twin Cities will come to their neighborhoods, without providing any evidence that such a thing might happen. Lewis doesn’t support defunding police departments, nor does he entirely accuse Smith of supporting the idea : “Well she’s gotten pretty close,” Lewis said. “On the Senate floor she said we have to reexamine the role police play. 'We want to reimagine police.' I don’t know if that means that if you call 911 you get Dr. Phil or what.”
Minneapolis police union head Bob Kroll has broken his silence, and he’s not going anywhere soon. From our story : “Leaders of the Minneapolis Police Federation say the city needs more police on the streets and are willing to discuss some of the demands made by community members. However, union boss Lt. Bob Kroll is not going away anytime soon. Members of the federation on Tuesday spoke to MPR News and other local news organizations for the first time since now-fired officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane pinned down Floyd for nearly eight minutes while he gasped for breath. Board members said the officers were treated unfairly when they were fired without an internal investigation, which is standard practice. However, they didn’t defend Chauvin, who is facing murder charges. When asked if he saw anything on the video that would justify termination, board member Richard Walker said yes. |
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