Today Senator Zach Duckworth (R-Lakeville) offered a motion to expel Senator Nicole Mitchell (D-Woodbury) from the Minnesota Senate. Every Democrat voted to rule the motion out of order, rather than allow the body to vote on the motion.
“The State Constitution is clear that accountability of Senators is up to the Senate. It’s been more than three weeks since Sen. Mitchell was arrested and charged with first degree burglary, and a week since the Senate Ethics Committee gave Sen. Mitchell a chance to explain her actions.” Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R- East Grand Forks) said. “I’m incredibly disappointed Senate Democrats continue to protect Sen. Mitchell from basic accountability. In the final days of session, it has become painfully obvious they are using her in order to pass their partisan agenda, rather than work together with Republicans.”
“I do not take making such a motion lightly,” Sen. Duckworth said when presenting the motion. “It’s not lost on me the seriousness of the motion, and I didn’t do it on a whim. I feel compelled to bring this forward for discussion and for a vote to uphold the integrity of our institution and to emphasize and stress the seriousness of the oath of office that we take.”
“We’ve had discussions about upholding the public trust and how critical and important that is, and this was not a knee-jerk reaction,” Duckworth continued. “There have been a series of measures and motions that we have put forward to try to bring some accountability to conduct of members of this body and so far, we have not reached a consensus on how we should go about doing so.”
Republicans have offered several motions following Sen. Mitchell’s arrest:
- Expedite the ethics hearing process
- Prevent Mitchell from voting
- Instructing the Secretary of the Senate not to count Mitchell’s vote
- Rebalance the committee assignments based on a 33-33 Senate
- Request Mitchell’s resignation
- Ask the Senate as a whole to find there is probable cause in Mitchell’s ethics complaint
- Find Mitchell in conflict of interest for her votes on some of these motions.
All of them have failed without Democrat support. Additionally, Senate Republicans registered a formal protest and dissent on a bill when Mitchell was the deciding vote.
“I was really hoping that after all we’ve seen and heard about this situation, it would be as clear to Democrats as it is the rest of the state – that Sen. Mitchell has failed to meet the expectations and standards of the Senate and has put the body in disrepute. Unfortunately, that was not the case today and Minnesotans continue to be frustrated that an elected official has not been held accountable for such an egregious violation of the public’s trust.” Duckworth concluded.
Mitchell was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary after being found by Detroit Lakes Police in her estranged stepmom’s basement. A recent Senate Ethics Committee only found agreement to vote against a motion there was no probable cause, indicating there could be probable cause.