By: SENATOR JOHN JASINSKI  

The recent felony burglary charge against my Democrat colleague, Senator Nicole Mitchell, presents a difficult situation for the Minnesota Senate. However, I believe it also presents a golden opportunity – an opportunity to restore the bipartisan tradition of our legislature.  

Instead of letting a charged felon cast the deciding vote on a partisan agenda, Democrats should collaborate with Republicans and advance a bipartisan agenda that benefits all Minnesotans. 

Senator Mitchell’s actions are a stain on the integrity of the legislature. No one is above the law, and a first-degree felony charge is an extremely serious matter.  

Many of you are aware that I had a careless driving charge a few years ago. Many other legislators and U.S. congressmen and Gov. Tim Walz also have DUI in their past. Some have tried to compare those incidents to what Sen. Mitchell has done. While not excusable, neither my charge nor Gov. Walz’s nor anyone else’s are remotely comparable to this. Sen. Mitchell is charged with a first-degree felony for breaking into somebody’s house. This is a much more serious situation. 

I believe the right course of action would be for Senator Mitchell to resign from the Senate. So far, she has refused to do that. If she insists on remaining in office, then Senator Mitchell should recuse herself from voting until the investigations are complete. Especially on controversial legislation. A charged felon under the cloud of an ethics investigation should not cast the deciding vote on partisan legislation.  

She has refused to do that too. My Republican colleagues and I made several motions to change our Senate rules to prevent senators charged with violent crimes from voting until investigations are completed. Unfortunately, those measures were rejected by the Democrat majority, with Senator Mitchell repeatedly casting the deciding vote.  

If their behavior since Senator Mitchell’s arrest is any indication, it appears as if they plan to charge forward, business as usual. But business is far from usual – passing their partisan agenda under these circumstances will cast a dark cloud over our work and call into question the legitimacy of everything we do for the rest of session. 

Luckily, there is another path available to us: the path of bipartisanship.  

I have long been vocal about the importance of building strong relationships across party lines. Great relationships are the key to success. Unfortunately, the manner in which Democrats ran the legislature these last two damaged many relationships across the aisle. 

We can seize this opportunity to not only protect the Senate, but also rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last two years, strengthen relationships, and show Minnesotans that their leaders can still come together for the greater good.  

Democrats have a choice. The first option is they can protect their delicate majority and their power at all costs. They can continue to ram a controversial and partisan agenda into law using a senator charged with a felony to cast the deciding vote on nearly every major bill.  

The second option is the path of honor. They can help us protect the integrity of the Senate, throw out every controversial idea, and work with Republicans. Together, we can pass a broad, bipartisan agenda with unanimous or near-unanimous support.  

We don’t have to let this session get bogged down in controversy. It doesn’t have to be a session with an asterisk next to it.  

We can do the right thing, remove controversy, and press forward together – Republicans and Democrats, united in protecting the reputation of the Senate. 

I hope Democrats will join us in this effort.