One lie begets another. In this case — the case of the Minnesota Democrats — House candidate Curtis Johnson lied about his residence in the district he sought to represent in the election this past November. When Johnson’s Republican opponent contested Johnson’s election, the judge found that Johnson was lying and barred him from taking office. This has set off a chain reaction of lies with which we have sought to keep up.
With Johnson out of the picture, Republicans hold a 67-66 majority in the Minnesota House. What is to be done? Governor Tim Walz called a premature special election that the Minnesota Supreme Court struck down last week. The seven Democrats on the court applied the clearly controlling statute to strike down the scheduled special election.
In the national spotlight as the Democratic Party’s candidate for vice president, Walz was revealed to be, among other things, a compulsive liar. Walz minimized his compulsion by deploying a euphemism. He characterized himself as “a knucklehead.” Minnesota Democrats now constitute a knucklehead brigade. So does the national party, but that’s another story.
Before the hour appointed by law for the new legislative session, House Democrats held a knucklehead swearing-in ceremony led by a knucklehead judge. It was all part of the chain reaction. These falsely sworn-in Democrats are boycotting the session that convened by law on January 14.
What’s going on here? Now comes Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. Simon is another Democrat and — see if you can discern a pattern here — another knucklehead. By law Simon ceremonially presided over the opening of the House session. With the 67 Republican House members sworn-in and attending, he declared the lack of a quorum and purported to adjourn the House. That’s what the Democrats’ boycott is all about.
Continuing his mission for the knucklehead brigade, Simon has filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court asking them to join the brigade and do their duty like good knuckleheads. The Republican leaders of the Minnesota House have filed their response. The Republicans’ response is posted online here. It concisely lays out the facts of the case and the controlling law. The hearing on Simon’s petition is scheduled to be heard by the court tomorrow morning.
The Center of the American Experiment has filed an amicus brief opposing Simon’s petition. The Center is represented by Upper Midwest Law Center’s James Dickey and Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School Ilan Wurman. The substance of their argument is set forth in the Star Tribune column “At the Minnesota Legislature, who’s undermining democracy?” (quoted in my post “Coup’s next”). Answer: The knucklehead brigade. [UPDATE: Professor Wurman’s brief has now been posted online here.]
Will the Minnesota Supreme Court join the knucklehead brigade? That remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Democrats have taken to disrupting House business. Republican state representative Walter Hudson has posted the video below. Rep. Hudson was attending the disrupted hearing yesterday. His video features one Amber Muhm of the Aliveness Project expressing his, her, or their support for the knucklehead brigade. Muhm, let it be noted, displays what my parents called a limited vocabulary.
FULL VIDEO:
Today I sat exposed as a 450 pound criminal repeatedly approached me within two feet and screamed in my face with a bullhorn.
At any moment, it could have turned violent and there would have been little I could have done to avoid harm.
Democrats? Silent. pic.twitter.com/IL5mY2ZXQu
— Walter Hudson (@WalterHudson) January 22, 2025
Rep. Hudson reports that Muhm’s group of thugs was sent by Democrat Rep. Leigh Finke (assuming Finke has been legally sworn in). Mum — not to be confused with Muhm — is the word at the Star Tribune.
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