MINNESOTANS: TELL FISCHBACH TO STEP DOWN


Thanks to Watch Your Reps MN (not affiliated with Echo Base) for the info here, reprinted almost verbatim. Read on for how you can get involved to oppose an unconcstitutional attempted power grab by the GOP. (Encouragements to contact Sen. Fischbach via Facebook and Twitter are Echo Base embellishments.)

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Last week, Tina Smith went to Washington as the new US Senator from Minnesota. That left the Lt. Governor position open and, according to the succession laid out in the MN Constitution, the President of the Senate becomes the Lt. Governor. This should be easy, but of course it isn't.

Despite knowing that one of the possibilities when you take the role of Senate President is that you might be called up to Lt. Governor, Senator Fischbach is refusing to be sworn in, isn't taking the salary of the Lt. Governor and is trying to keep her position as Senator. She's calling herself an "acting" Lt. Governor and claims she can do both roles.

There's a few problems with that:
1. It's likely unconstitutional
2. At best we have a distracted Lt. Governor who won't actually do the job, or a distracted Senator who will be less effective
3. It's a separation of powers problem to have the same person in both the legislative and executive branches

Can anything be done about this? This will likely end up in the courts, but it appears that a constituent of Fischbach's has to sue. I'm sure the DFL is working on this. In the meantime, you can give her a call, (651) 296-2084, or send her an email at sen.michelle.fischbach@senate.mn to let her know you expect her to step down from her Senate seat. You can also comment (in a civil manner, please) on her Facebook page and Twitter feed (again, respectfully). And please consider writing a letter to your local newspaper or online media outlet.

If you are her constituent, let her know you do not believe she can act as both a Senator and Lt. Governor at the same time and still effectively represent you. She should step down and and allow you to elect a new senator.

If you are not her constituent, well she's your Lt. Governor now (supposedly) so you can reach out to her in that capacity and let her know that you do not believe she can be an effective Lt. Governor while also spending time on Senate work.

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Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 16, 2018 at 8:45 AM

    You KNOW you are wrong and what you are attempting is illegal. Do the right (correct, not right wing) thing and step down as state senator. You can't have it both ways.

    ReplyDelete

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