MDE FROM THE ARCHIVES: KISCADEN ATTACKS ROGER MOE
Statehouse squabbles
Senate GOP critical of DFL rules
CUTLINE; Grace Schwab mounts the steps of the Capitol leading to the Senate Chamber where she would be sworn in Wednesday as state senator from District 27, representing Austin and Albert Lea. Leading the way is her father, David Stabell, her children Grace, Eric and Katie, and husband, Steve. Jerry Olson/The Post-Bulletin
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By Don Davis
The Post-Bulletin
ST. PAUL -- Minority legislators gave their majority colleagues no honeymoon as the 2001 legislative session began Wednesday, signaling what could be a contentious five months.
Alongside the arguments came the business of swearing in 201 legislators and electing leaders. Among the leaders are Steve Sviggum, a Kenyon Republican elected House speaker for a second term. Among the new legislators is Grace Schwab, an Albert Lea Republican whose district includes western Mower County.
The normally reserved Senate erupted into a verbal fight when minority GOP members criticized the DFL-ordered committee structure and rules. Senators normally only handle routine work after taking their oaths of office during a brief first-day session, but debate stretched on for more than two hours.
"It keeps the power with Roger Moe," Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, R-Rochester, said about the rules that eventually passed over GOP opposition.
Kiscaden took the lead in criticizing Moe, the DFL senator from Erskine who has been majority leader since 1981. Kiscaden and other Republicans argued that the rules keep nearly half of state spending under Moe's control, rather than being decided by the Senate as a whole.
In the House, meanwhile, DFLers were complaining about Sviggum's committee appointments, although the senators were more raucous than their House counterparts. DFL House Leader Tom Pugh of South St. Paul indicated he would formally protest committee appointments later.
Most lawmakers brought family and friends to the Capitol for the traditional swearing-in ceremonies.
Two southeast Minnesota legislators were key to the ceremonies. Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna, and Rep. Mike Osskopp, R-Lake City, were named temporary clerks in their chambers and read the lengthy roll of their colleagues during the historic ritual that opened the 82nd legislative session.
Osskopp said he was thrilled to be acting as clerk for the second time, especially because standing on the podium at the front of the chamber afforded him a view of the new lawmakers' faces, full of pride and expectations. Source: Rochester Post-Bulletin, January 4, 2001
Senate GOP critical of DFL rules
CUTLINE; Grace Schwab mounts the steps of the Capitol leading to the Senate Chamber where she would be sworn in Wednesday as state senator from District 27, representing Austin and Albert Lea. Leading the way is her father, David Stabell, her children Grace, Eric and Katie, and husband, Steve. Jerry Olson/The Post-Bulletin
##
By Don Davis
The Post-Bulletin
ST. PAUL -- Minority legislators gave their majority colleagues no honeymoon as the 2001 legislative session began Wednesday, signaling what could be a contentious five months.
Alongside the arguments came the business of swearing in 201 legislators and electing leaders. Among the leaders are Steve Sviggum, a Kenyon Republican elected House speaker for a second term. Among the new legislators is Grace Schwab, an Albert Lea Republican whose district includes western Mower County.
The normally reserved Senate erupted into a verbal fight when minority GOP members criticized the DFL-ordered committee structure and rules. Senators normally only handle routine work after taking their oaths of office during a brief first-day session, but debate stretched on for more than two hours.
"It keeps the power with Roger Moe," Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, R-Rochester, said about the rules that eventually passed over GOP opposition.
Kiscaden took the lead in criticizing Moe, the DFL senator from Erskine who has been majority leader since 1981. Kiscaden and other Republicans argued that the rules keep nearly half of state spending under Moe's control, rather than being decided by the Senate as a whole.
In the House, meanwhile, DFLers were complaining about Sviggum's committee appointments, although the senators were more raucous than their House counterparts. DFL House Leader Tom Pugh of South St. Paul indicated he would formally protest committee appointments later.
Most lawmakers brought family and friends to the Capitol for the traditional swearing-in ceremonies.
Two southeast Minnesota legislators were key to the ceremonies. Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna, and Rep. Mike Osskopp, R-Lake City, were named temporary clerks in their chambers and read the lengthy roll of their colleagues during the historic ritual that opened the 82nd legislative session.
Osskopp said he was thrilled to be acting as clerk for the second time, especially because standing on the podium at the front of the chamber afforded him a view of the new lawmakers' faces, full of pride and expectations. Source: Rochester Post-Bulletin, January 4, 2001
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