Senator Mitchell Under Fire for Third Day in Minnesota Senate

For the third day in a row, the Minnesota Senate floor session was dominated by discussion of DFL Senator Nicole Mitchell’s recent burglary arrest and questions about her continued participation in the Senate.

Republicans introduced two motions aimed at modifying committee assignments based on Mitchell’s uncertain status within the DFL caucus. Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake) moved to remove Mitchell from her committee assignments and add himself and Senator Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) to the Committee on Rules and Administration. The Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct of the Committee on Rules and Administration is scheduled to hear the ethics complaint against Senator Mitchell on May 7.

Pratt argued that based on comments made yesterday by Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) Mitchell is no longer a member of the DFL caucus and as a result “we are a body of 33-33-1.” He asserted that committee assignments should be modified because the DFL caucus no longer holds the majority in the senate.

Murphy responded by calling the claim that Mitchell is no longer a member of the DFL caucus a “false conclusion” and criticized her Republican colleagues’ “efforts to override basic fundamental values and principles of democratic governance and due process,” an approach which she said was “perhaps the view of the modern-day Republican Party.”

Pratt's motion was ruled out of order by Senate President Bobby Champion because Pratt failed to move to suspend Senate rules.

Next, Drazkowski moved to suspend the rules in order to reassign committee seats. Debate continued as to whether Mitchell is currently a member of the DFL caucus, with House Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) asking Mitchell to yield to a question, to which she replied, “no thank you.” Johnson stated that he had planned to ask Mitchell if she was caucusing with the DFL.

Senator Jordan Rasmussen (R-Fergus Falls) asserted that Senator Robert Kupec (DFL-Moorhead) said on a radio show yesterday that Mitchell was removed from the caucus. Both Rasmussen and Drazkowski asked Kupec to yield for questions, but he declined.

Senators Jason Rarick (R- Pine City) and Torrey Westrom (R-Alexandria) described situations in which Minnesota legislators have chosen to leave their caucus or have been removed from their caucus. They said that in these situations committee representation was changed to reflect the new caucus numbers.

The Senate voted 34-33 along party lines against the Drazkowski motion to modify committee assignments.

After the session, Murphy told reporters that Mitchell is still a member of the DFL caucus, but she is not currently participating.

According to video coverage published by Minnesota Senate Media Services, yesterday Senator Karin Housley (R-Stillwater) asked Murphy “has Senator Mitchell been removed from your caucus?” to which Murphy replied, “yes.”