MINNEAPOLIS MELODRAMA

Well, while it's not a big as the horror going on in CA right now ... MN is having some political issues right now ...

And first up is Minneapolis -- you see, one of the people who represents the city (district 60) in the State cangress died last month .... I want to say it was on Christmas, but I'm probably wrong - Rep. Dietz died of cancer ...

She had known about it for quite a while, but wasn't expecting to go so soon ... my understanding is tha she had just won her seat this November, so the death was unexpected so soon.

Today - early voting has begun ... BUT ... there is already some controversy ...

Apparently, like the other political problem, there is some question about residency for the person the DFL (Democrat-Farmer-Labor party, only in MN btw) ....

It seems he does own a home within the district ... BUT ... according to neighbors he does not actually live there.

And a record check has shown that he claims HOMESTEAD at the other home he owns which is out of district ...

So - this will be going to court ... The DFL says it's a "gray area" in the law, the Republicans say it's very clear ... 

But this leads us to the other political story in the state dealing with the new legislative session ...

There was a man who ran for office, WON the vote ... he actually won the seat fairly decisively ... BUT then it was found out that at the time of the election he did NOT live within the district .... um, the law says you must live wihin the district boundries during the election ... I don't know about when you file to run, just during the election and your term in office.

This DID go to court, and the judge ruled he was not eligible at the time to hold office - so the seat is now VACATED ...

Gov. Tim Walz - remember him? - decided to order a special election right away ....

Which the Republicans say was jumping the gun - apparently, there is something in the law which states the election in such a case can NOT be ordered until AFTER the new session is called into order.

Well - this particular chamber of the legislature is technically TIED at 63-63, or something like that ... something which hadn't happened since 1979!!!!

So before the fiasco was discovered, both parties had figured they would simply "share" control of the chamber ... that ain't gonna work, but they are gonna try ...

But with the missing seat, the count is now 63-62 ... giving the Republicans the majority ....

Technically, the majority party gets to chose the leader of the chamber ... and the leader is in that position until the NEXT regular election ... so at least 2 years.

Well - you can imagine the ruckus this raised! Especially when the Republican leaders said hey were in fact going to do just this!

The Democrat leader, basically, stomped her foot and said they were going to take their ball and go home ...

She said that when the new session begins - Jan 13 - that here will be NO Democratic representatives there, thus denying them a "caucus" ...

To which the Republicans said "define caucus?" ...

and as it turns out ....

There is NO DEFINIION in the Stae's Constitution or charter about what a "caucus" is ....

So .... I see a couple more court cases lining up!

However, apparently you can be on the Minneapolis City Council and not live in the city, nor even the state ... as Councilmember Thomas, or was it Thompson, wasn't removed from his seat when it was discovered that he did not have a valid MN driver's license, but he did have one for WISCONSIN ... a matter which would never have come to light, had he not accuse the officer who pulled him over as being racist ... 
And, yes, he even tried to say the newscasters were racist because they actually covered .. um ... the news