House minority leader responds with own protest and dissent

House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) submitted her own two-page protest and dissent Tuesday in response to a protest and dissent published in the April 7 House Journal and signed by nearly 50 Republican House members.

At issue are Hortman’s comments on the House Floor April 3, during a debate about the omnibus public safety bill, HF896/ SF803*.

“I hate to break up the 100 percent white male card game in the Retiring Room,” Hortman said, requesting a call of the House, “but I think this is an important debate.” The Republican protest and dissent asked for an apology from Hortman. She has refused, saying in an April 7 statement she is “still not sorry.” Supporters rallied on her behalf in the Rotunda Tuesday morning.

Rep. Jon Applebaum (DFL-Minnetonka) and Rep. Rena Moran (DFL-St. Paul) also signed Hortman’s protest and dissent. It reads, in part: “The race and gender of the speakers were relevant to the debate. … The gender and identity of a group of some members who were missing the speeches was relevant, too, because those members had the most to learn from the point of view shared by Representatives Becker-Finn, Moran, Allen, Flanagan, Omar, Maye Quade, and Kunesh-Podein.”

MORE Read the full letter 

Article IV, Section 11 of the Minnesota Constitution provides for legislators’ protest and dissent: “Two or more members of either house may dissent and protest against any act or resolution which they think injurious to the public or to any individual and have the reason of their dissent entered in the journal.”