Zellers adds Hamilton to House GOP leadership
A source says newly elected GOP House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers has added Rep. Rod Hamilton of Mountain Lake to a leadership position in the caucus. Hamilton was appointed as an Assistant Minority Leader. I'm told he's not replacing anyone but is an addition to the four Assistant Minority Leaders currently serving. The move is a signal that the House GOP is continuing to seek a balance between metro/suburban leadership posts with rural ones.
Zellers notified members and staff in an e-mail. Here's what he said about Hamilton:
"Rod is a principled and common sense man whose life experiences give him great perspective and as we all witnessed last session - some very impacting and heartfelt floor speeches. He's a great addition to our current leadership team, I hope you will all give him your support."
The other interesting nugget is that House Republicans appear to be past the 2008 override vote of Governor Pawlenty's veto of the transportation bill. Hamilton was one of the "override six" that lost his leadership position after that vote.
You can check the House GOP Caucus Stucture here (Note that link is dated since Zellers has replaced Marty Seifert at the top of the pyramid).
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