MN House GOP leader alleges PowerPoint politics
The top Republican in the Minnesota House is accusing a state agency of being “inappropriately partisan and political” in a recent power point presentation to a group of lawmakers.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, sent a letter to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton today to complain about the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and a presentation made last week to members of the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy.
“The presentation was designed to look like a re-election campaign advertisement for you and not to report the status of the job market to the Legislature,” Daudt wrote. “The nature of the presentation makes the preparation and use of it an inappropriate use of state resources for campaign purposes.”
One slide in the presentation referred to the “games and gimmicks” of previous legislatures that caused a “budget roller coaster.” Another credited Dayton and Democrats for putting “families first” and delivering “fairness by asking the wealthiest 2 percent to pay a little more in income taxes.” There was also a slide highlighting only positive impacts from the state’s new health insurance exchange.
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Daudt’s letter cautioned DEED officials against using the presentation again. He said his caucus would “take any action necessary” to protect taxpayers.
Several Republicans also took issue with the presentation as it took place during last week’s meeting, including Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie.
“If you’re here to represent the people of the state and talk about facts, I just think this is out of line,” Hann said.
Hann was directing his criticism at Kim Babine, director of government affairs at DEED. Babine then tried to address the GOP concerns.
“In no way was this meant to be a political document or to place blame,” Babine said.
UPDATE
Gov. Dayton's deputy chief of staff, Bob Hume, issued this statement in response to the Daudt letter:
"The accusation that there was a violation of statute in Rep. Daudt’s letter is ridiculous. The Governor would be happy to sit with Representative Daudt, or the entire GOP caucus, and enumerate the games and gimmicks that have been in past budgets. The bottom line is that Rep. Daudt doesn’t like the fact that the economy is improving because it doesn’t suit his political needs. We have good news to tell, and that’s what we’ve been doing."