Capitol View for January 12

Good morning. You're on the doorstep of a weekend, possibly of the three-day variety.

The Minnesota Supreme Court transformation will soon enter another stage. Justice G. Barry Anderson gave word yesterday he’ll leave following nearly 20 years on the court — and just shy of the mandatory retirement age of 70. He’ll hang up his robe on May 10 , and Gov. Tim Walz said he’ll begin the process of picking a replacement. Anderson is the longest-tenured current justice and the last to have gained his seat through the appointment of a Republican governor. In the elections-have-consequences department, take note of this: When Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who appointed Anderson, left office it was Republican selections that made up a high court majority . That began to change when Democrats won four consecutive governors' races and gained the appointment power. Despite their appointment by governors, justices work hard to avoid the appearance they are influenced by politics. Minnesota’s court has seldom seen the kind of sharp partisan clashes seen in other states, including neighboring Wisconsin.

Tune in next Monday for a special edition of Politics Friday. Yeah, we know that’s a mind-bender. Our weekly politics show returns to its regular noon slot on Feb. 16, but we’re taking over the 9 a.m. time slot this coming week for a show timed around the kickoff of voting in the 2024 presidential race. We’ll hear from political reporter Clay Masters on what’s shaping up in Iowa, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon about preparations under way here and a pair of political professionals, Republican Jennifer DeJournett and DFLer Corey Day, about their sense of things at the start of the year. Brian will be in the host chair.

Kurt Daudt says he’s going full-time with the Virginia-based firm he’s worked for and that’s why he’s leaving the Legislature. In an extended, informative interview with WCCO Radio’s Chad Hartman , the 50-year-old Daudt said his prime earning years won’t be around much longer: “I need to focus on making some money and making up for lost time, so that’s the reason I’m doing it now.” Daudt had much more to say in his first exit interview. He questioned his party’s ability to win statewide anytime soon: “I feel like the state is trending away from Republicans. It may be difficult for us to ever win a statewide race again.” On the lack of a challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “We’ve got a thin bench.” And he said while the state flag redo has produced a waterfall of emails to lawmakers, he doesn’t think his party should fixate on it: “We shouldn't dwell on it; there are more important things. And this is my frustration, there are more important things that face Minnesotans than the flag.”

A new member of the Minnesota House of Representatives is set to be sworn in. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports that Rep.-elect Bianca Virnig will take her oath of office during a ceremony at the Capitol this afternoon. The DFLer from Eagan beat GOP and Libertarian candidates in a special election last month. She'll represent a district encompassing Mendota, Mendota Heights and Eagan. Virnig is a former school board member in the district who ran on a platform of funding education and working toward bipartisan solutions. Her swearing in won't change the power dynamic in the chamber. Democrats will still hold a narrow majority in 2024. Another special election will be required to replace Daudt, who says he'll resign his east-central Minnesota seat next month to take a new job.

The Legislature’s Child Protection Task Force met yesterday but has a ways to go before formalizing recommendations. The task force met for the second time to explore potential changes to Minnesota’s child protection system. Minnesota is one of nine states where child welfare services are administered by counties and not by the state. The task force heard from a variety of organizations and experts with different perspectives on the child protection system. Some experts presented ideas on a statewide or centralized reporting system. A lot of these conversations were spurred by a Star Tribune investigation that examined how children died from neglect after the child protection system reunited them with abusive caregivers. But the task force is still early in the process and much more conversation is expected on this issue.

A lawsuit filed by a Minnesota tribe may make it difficult for sports betting to become a reality in the state. Peter Callaghan of MinnPost reports that the lawsuit, filed by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community against the Minnesota Racing Commission, is now in the hands of the state’s Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs want to cancel a decision that would allow Canterbury Park, one of the state’s race horse tracks, to expand its card room’s offerings to include more betting machines, namely those that use video-assisted gaming. Under state law, only tribal casinos can offer “video games of chance” and has argued that this system should not be allowed at race tracks. And while this lawsuit doesn’t exclusively talk about sports betting, which is currently illegal in Minnesota, it highlights the dueling views of tribal casinos and the race tracks over gambling shares.

Rep. Ilhan Omar announced her campaign has raised more than $1.64 million in the last few months of 2023, which she says is her strongest quarter ever. The 5th District Democratic incumbent released the topline details yesterday, although we don’t know how much she’s got on hand ahead of another contested DFL primary. We’re watching for other incumbents and challengers to file their end-of-year reports.