ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House Rules Committee turned its attention toward the executive branch Wednesday, April 15, as Republicans proposed resolutions calling for the impeachment of two top state Democrats, Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.
They also suggested term limits for future governors and lieutenant governors.
The Walz impeachment resolution sponsor, Rep. Mike Wiener, R-Long Prairie, said the governor needs to be held accountable for not safeguarding what could be as much as $9 billion in taxpayer funds lost to fraud in Minnesota social services programs.
The sponsor of the resolution against Ellison, Rep. Ben Davis, R-Mission Township, raised concerns about a 2021 meeting Ellison had with a group tied to Feeding Our Future, which was later implicated in fraud involving COVID-era nutrition programs for school children. The group donated money to Ellison’s campaign days after the meeting, though Ellison’s campaign returned the money four years later.
“We have a historic amount of fraud taking place in our state. Historic actions are warranted,” Davis said.
The April 15 meeting quickly grew heated. Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis, called the resolutions a “political circus.”
The tied House would be unlikely to find a majority to vote for impeachment. And even if the resolutions did pass in the House, a conviction would require a two-thirds vote of the Senate, where Democrats currently hold a one-vote majority.
Rep. Nathan Coulter, DFL-Bloomington, said an impeachment investigation wouldn’t help Minnesotans who have been expecting their legislators to address more important issues.
“Folks are sick of us fighting all the time. Folks are sick of the partisan pot shots,” Coulter said. “But more than that, more than any of that, what folks are sick of, with all the serious things they have going on in their lives, is politicians who treat the decisions that we make in this place — that matter in their lives — like a game.”
Committee co-chair Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, defended the push, arguing that the Minnesota Constitution gives the House impeachment power for a reason.
“When we look at what we can control, what we can do to hold people accountable, to have some accountability for the multi-billion dollar fraud scandal, this is what we can do,” Niska said.
The resolution failed on an 8-8 party-line vote, stalling the effort to oust the governor and attorney general. While Walz announced that he will not be running again in the fall, Ellison is a candidate for reelection.
Legislators were more receptive to a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would limit the governor and lieutenant governor to two four-year terms.
If passed, the bill authored by Rep. Jimmy Gordon, R-Isanti, would go on the 2026 general election ballot, giving voters the final say on the issue.
“The time has never been better, given we don’t have an incumbent on the ballot, and we don’t know when we will have an open seat in the future,” Gordon said. “We are only talking about bringing the question to the voters, not making the decision for them.”
Thirty-seven other states have some sort of term limits on their governors, with the majority of limits set to two consecutive terms.
The amendment would go into effect after this fall’s elections, giving Walz or any other previous governor the chance to serve two more terms.
The bill was laid over for possible action later in the session.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
