It became a popular battle cry for supporters of women’s rights after Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced by the U.S. Senate over her objection to the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as the attorney general — “Nevertheless, she persisted.”
One could re-tool that phrase to accommodate Gov. Mark Dayton’s battle to “defund” the Minnesota Legislature — “Nevertheless, he persisted.”
Unfortunately, there is nothing admirable about Dayton’s announced appeal to the State Supreme Court to uphold his line-item veto of funding for the state Legislature. It’s highly unlikely to show up on T-shirts or become a rallying cry for other governors to use such heavy-handed tactics to try and get their way.
A quick refresher — in the 2017 legislative session, the governor and the Republican-controlled Legislature struck a deal to pass a budget. Dayton agreed to sign the budget bills, and did so — with the exception of one item, funding for the Legislature.
Dayton claimed he made the move to force legislators back to the table to re-forge a new budget that included more of his pet projects and programs.
The matter ended up in court, and a district judge recently ruled — rightly so — that Dayton’s line-item veto was unconstitutional, that it did, in fact, violate the provisions for the separation of powers among the three branches of government.
That didn’t stop Dayton. He has decided to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.
If Dayton was a true statesman, he would accept the judge’s ruling and begin to work on mending fences with his colleagues in the Republican Party.
After all, the debate was never about funding for the Legislature, it was about the state budget and what was and was not included in it. Ham-stringing the Legislature is not the way to run a state government.
One would think that Dayton, in his final term as governor, would want to leave a better legacy than being remembered as the governor who tried to shut down a branch of government.
He has accomplishments of which to be proud, and that should be his legacy. He needs to drop his appeal and get back to the business of governing a state — with his partners in the Legislature.
Links:
[1] http://www.glencoenews.com/category/byline/lori-copler
[2] http://www.glencoenews.com/category/section/editorials