Minnesota Democrats Silent on Dayton Wasting Taxpayer Dollars

St. Paul, Minn. – Minnesota Jobs Coalition Executive Director John Rouleau issued the following statement in response to Minnesota Democrats’ silence regarding Gov. Dayton’s decision to waste taxpayer resources defending his unconstitutional attempt to eliminate the legislature.

“Minnesota Democrats’ silence on Dayton’s decision to waste taxpayer dollars is deafening. Dayton’s actions were a blatant abuse of power and the courts found them to be unconstitutional. Minnesotans deserve to know if those who hope to represent them are okay with this overreach and support the Governor’s decision to appeal. As the face of their party it’s past time for Washington Walz, Chris Coleman, Erin Murphy, Paul Thissen, Melissa Hortman and Tom Bakk to break their silence.”

Background: 

Governor’s Line-Item Vetoes Are Unconstitutional, Null and Void. “b. The Governor’s vetoes of the two items of appropriation in the Omnibus State Government Appropriations bill, chapter 4, article 1, section 2, subdivisions 2 and 3, violate the Separation of Powers clause of the Minnesota Constitution by impermissibly preventing the Legislature from exercising its constitutional powers and duties. MINN. CONST. art. IV, § 1; see id. art. III.

1. As a result of violating the Separation of Powers clause of the Minnesota Constitution, the Governor’s line-item vetoes are unconstitutional, null, and void.
2. Because the Governor’s line-item vetoes are unconstitutional, null, and void,those two items of appropriation became law with the rest of the bill.” (Judge Guthmann “ORDER GRANTING DECLARATORY JUDGMENT” 62-CV-17-3601 District Court, Second Judicial District 7/19/17)

DFL Failed To Support Dayton: “Yet while Sen. John Marty tried to get support for this challenge, his DFL colleagues failed to support him, demonstrating how much the political and legal interests of DFL legislators and Dayton had departed.” (David Schultz, “The judge’s ruling against Dayton’s line-item veto weakens the governor” MinnPost 7/20/17)