Senate GOP ousts Walz cabinet member amid pandemic dispute
Associated PressMINNEAPOLIS — Republicans who control the Minnesota Senate showed their displeasure with Democratic Gov. Walz called it “political payback” and expressed fear that Senate Republicans will now go after his health commissioner, Jan Malcolm, one of his administration’s most visible faces in the fight against the virus, whose confirmation remains pending. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, of East Gull Lake, brought up Leppink’s confirmation after the Senate had already voted for the third time in as many months to rescind the governor’s emergency declaration, a move the Democratic-controlled House once again blocked. “Leppink has instead increased regulations on business, and even been hostile to businesses.” Walz defended Leppink’s performance at a news conference Wednesday evening and said he didn’t see the vote coming despite Gazelka’s claims that he had warned the administration. “It is a huge loss to the people of Minnesota that the Senate Republicans are not taking the pandemic seriously once again, and would use this kind of just petty political maneuver for no real good reason other than partisanship,” she said.
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