Dayton offers advice to House GOP, Bernie Sanders
Updated at 8:27 p.m. with Scott statement
With less than five weeks remaining in the 2016 session, Gov. Mark Dayton is urging Minnesota House Republicans to end their “side shows” and start “getting real” on key budget matters.
Dayton offered reporters a mostly harsh assessment of the session’s progress Wednesday following a meeting with local government officials on water quality issues.
Dayton’s $220 million water-protection agenda relies on a robust bonding bill to help make public infrastructure improvements statewide. But he remains frustrated with the lack of a detailed bonding proposal from the House GOP.
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“They need to put their cards on the table,” Dayton said.
Dayton’s first reference to side shows came in response to a question about a House GOP bill to overhaul the Iron Range Resources and rehabilitation Board. Dayton said he could not comment on the bill, which he hadn’t seen. But he suggested that it fit a pattern.
"I know the House committees are poking around in a lot of stuff that really is not relevant to their job,” he said.
Dayton then took aim at a specific legislator.
Asked about a letter that Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, sent this week asking that the administration do more to prevent sexual harassment and hostile working conditions in state government, Dayton said she was “way out of bounds.”
In the letter, Scott asked the governor to review state agency policies on sexual harassment, following the recent lawsuit allegations made by a former Commerce Department employee.
“I encourage you to send a strong message to all agency leaders that it is inappropriate to dismiss concerns and complaints of this type before investigations are complete and whistleblowers have been given a fair hearing,” Scott wrote.
Dayton said Scott’s request was irresponsible.
“I don’t know the facts of the situation,” he said. “There’s going to be litigation. But for her to swallow whole the allegations made by one disgruntled former employee, making very, very serious accusations against other state employees, is defamation of character.”
Scott issued this statement in response to Dayton’s comments:
Governor Dayton's comments today prove the point in my letter. His defense of the commissioner before facts have been reviewed raises concerns about how seriously he takes allegations of harassment and misconduct. Rather than show commitment to a full and fair hearing for the whistleblower, the administration is circling the wagons and dismissing these serious allegations without regard for the message sent to other state employees facing threats and retaliation. It is unfortunate the governor believes reviewing the appropriateness of the state’s workplace harassment policies is a ‘political sideshow’.
On Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt echoed the concerns raised in Scott's letter and said he wants to make sure every state employee is protected.
Returning to the side show theme, Dayton blasted House Republicans for "mucking up" funding for the University of Minnesota medical school with budget gimmicks.
Dayton then pivoted to presidential politics.
He said it’s time for Democrats to “join ranks” behind Hillary Clinton following her decisive presidential primary win in New York over Bernie Sanders.
Dayton said Clinton scored a significant victory and should now be the party’s “putative nominee.” Dayton is a longtime Clinton supporter and will be one of her superdelegates at the national convention.
Despite recent campaign sparring between Clinton and Sanders, Dayton said he doesn’t see a problem with Democrats from both campaigns coming together.
“A spirited contest is part of our small ‘d’ democratic process. It makes for better candidates. It makes for better ultimate nominees. I hope it doesn’t go farther than this. If it did, I’d be more concerned,” he said.
Here is Rep. Scott's letter.