The Minnesota Senate on Monday approved a supplemental Jobs finance bill under a cloud of controversy, with the tie-breaking vote cast by a Senator Nicole Mitchell (D-Woodbury), a first-term Democrat who is currently charged with felony first degree burglary and the subject of a forthcoming Senate Subcommittee on Ethics investigation. Her decisive vote cast a shadow over the legislative process and raised questions about the legitimacy of the bill’s passage.
Senator Robert Farnsworth (R-Hibbing) and Senate Republicans lodged a formal protest with the President of the Senate. “I’m appalled at the actions of Sen. Mitchell as reported in the news and by the Detroit Lake Police Department,” Farnsworth said. “Each of us as elected officials are held to a higher standard, and we have the responsibility to hold one another accountable.”
The protest statement reads, “We protest and dissent against the vote on SF 5289 which was adopted by the Senate with a deciding vote being cast by someone clearly unfit for office. We believe it is an abuse of power by both Sen. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Caucus, and its members.” It was signed by all 33 members of the Republican Caucus.
Senator Farnsworth also voted for two motions to limit Sen. Mitchell’s influence on the outcome of bills.
The first motion prohibited a Senator who has been charged with a crime of violence, which include burglary in the first-degree, from voting until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. The second prohibited the Secretary of the Senate from registering and recording the vote of any Senate member who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats and Sen. Mitchell again cast the 34th vote to reject those motions on a procedural move.
“Sen. Mitchell has no good reason to be voting as a full-fledged member of the senate. In any other public service profession, she would be placed on administrative leave, and that’s essentially what we are asking for her to do here. However, it’s clear that advancing a partisan agenda is more important that upholding the integrity and honor of the work that happens here. Every Minnesotan should be disappointed with that outcome today,” Farnsworth concluded.