A break down with Rep. Dawn Gillman on the chaotic end of the legislative session

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr and I'm Michael Brodkorb. We are joined today by Rep. Dawn Gillman. Rob Gillman is in her first term in the Minnesota House. She's

[00:00:27] a business owner, mother and former city council member. Today we're going to spend the episode breaking down the end of the legislative session. We will discuss the poor time and schedule management by Democrats. It forced a massive 2800 page

[00:00:42] bill to be passed in the final hours of the legislative session. And we will end by breaking down some of what passed and some of what didn't. Thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoy the show. I want to add a special happy

[00:00:55] birthday to my co-host Becky Scherr. Thank you for doing this and happy birthday, Becky. We are pleased to be joined today by Rep. Dawn Gillman who is finishing up her first term in the Minnesota House of Representatives. So

[00:01:11] before we get into all of that end of session chaos, Rep. Gillman, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you decided to run for office and overall sentiments of your first term minus the last maybe 72 hours?

[00:01:24] Great. Thank you so much for having me on today. Yes, I live out in Dassel, Minnesota with my family. I've got five kids married to a really great guy for almost 30 years. And I've loved politics ever since I was a kid. Love

[00:01:41] debates, I love justice and I served on the city council when I was really young. I was the youngest female in the state, I guess at the time, 20 years old. And I did that next year before I moved out of town. And I learned a lot about

[00:01:55] policy, people and how to be persistent. And when things just weren't right, I was just adding up product work with people to see things through. So I got a huge education doing that. And then yeah, in 2020, thing called COVID

[00:02:12] nailed our whole world. And so in Minnesota, our governor decided to play politics with kids and shut down things. And I ended up forming a little group on Facebook, a grassroots group called Let Them Play Minnesota and locked arms with people across the state and across

[00:02:30] the state. And I was like, wow, I'm so excited to get my kids back to play and support safely. And so that was incredible. And so when my district opened up here, I got invited down to the Capitol and just said, hey,

[00:02:43] here's a job that could be something that we think you do really good with. And yeah, that's how it happened. I came home, talked to my husband and family and they said go for it mom. Yeah. So I ran against three

[00:02:57] turbine support management and received the endowments and then the doors just kept opening to get down to Saint Paul. And it's been Great. But it's been incredibly humbling, challenging, amazing opportunity. But I feel like everything in my life has caught up to this

[00:03:14] point. And I love being a legislator. We talk all the time. Public service, isn't for the faint of heart and especially in these times. So we're really grateful that So it's great to have people like you and voices like you up at the Capitol.

[00:03:30] One thing we really saw this last session, and we've talked a lot about is Republicans really being pushed out of the equation and not allowing participation in debate, not allowing bills to be heard, testifiers to be listened to and brought into committees,

[00:03:45] and really a lot of bills just being jammed through. And I think that is especially true as we look at the last week of session here. So I want to chat through this last weekend, long hours, long days.

[00:03:58] And I know the House was a little different than the Senate, but walk us through how all of this, it seems like a very mismanaged schedule, right? The Democrats have their single party control, they're ruling it all.

[00:04:10] You would think that they would be able to have this nice tied up in a little bow to go. And obviously that's easier said than done. But if you could walk us through those kind of final days and how the chaos

[00:04:21] around scheduling and minimal legislative hours really open the floodgates to all of this chaos that we saw unfold. I think you hit the nail on the head. Minnesota Democrats cannot manage time. They wasted precious hours, days, and took long recesses, especially in the Senate.

[00:04:38] And then on bills that had no chance of even becoming laws. We were debating when we did get opportunities to debate bills, but they were going nowhere. So that seems really bizarre to me and to our whole party is why are we

[00:04:53] bringing forth bills that are not even, they don't have the votes in the Senate. So we knew things were happening there to kill time. And again, when you've got extreme activists and extreme agendas, we could see things unraveling from tears and people across the aisle getting

[00:05:12] upset, going up to the roster many times one night. And some meltdowns and things happening over on the other side, even on Wednesday. Just we can see just the power of when people aren't, when their voices are,

[00:05:25] or their bills weren't being up, it just was wild to see that happening. So we knew it was going to be bumpy is the word that the speaker used, bumpy end of session. It was way more than bumpy.

[00:05:37] It was like when you see folks that just did not manage their time, did not give, did not give us an opportunity because they were dealing with their own dysfunction on their sides and that impacted the whole

[00:05:52] state of Minnesota because of their lack of getting to work for the people. So when you see people's personalities get into play and their own selfish ambitions versus the greater good, it's wild to watch it happen on a big level like that.

[00:06:05] I was watching the final hours of the legislative session because I have no life. And it was surprising the level of just how you were ignored, how the Republicans were ignored in both chambers. And I worked at the legislature a couple of times. Becky did too.

[00:06:23] She also worked in Washington. And so I was surprised by, first of all, the extents in which the Democrats were literally ignoring what was going on the floor, ignoring the voices of Republicans. And again, I understand that they have the majority, but did not.

[00:06:41] Everyone's election certificate is the same and there does need to be discussion and legislative process needs to grind along. But it seemed to me, and just in my experience of observing politics for as long as I've never seen a situation where there was so much screaming and yelling.

[00:06:57] And I also think it was while the Democrats, I think absolutely misplaced it. It appears to me to be a very unifying moment for Republicans in both the House and the Senate. I was watching, flipping back between the coverage of floor activity in the

[00:07:12] House, floor activities in the Senate. And Republicans in both chambers were very unified together as a team in recoiling and pushing back on this on the floor. And I think what it did, I think the net result, one of the benefits

[00:07:27] of this, again, I wish we wouldn't have happened, is that it really brought Republicans together. Is that a fair way to describe it? Oh, I think it's incredible. You have an incredible team, incredible opportunity for me as coming in

[00:07:40] the last two years here now, just to see people step into their wheelhouse and just unite. Again, a big overarching thing is Minnesota Democrats let an alleged felon cast deciding votes on the most partisan and radical agenda that the state's ever seen.

[00:07:56] So that's always been looming that we could actually be able to work and be able to work in a bipartisan fashion. And when the rules aren't followed, when procedures aren't followed, when we adopt these things and we hold them, the institution, holding the institution at a high value.

[00:08:15] And when that was mismanaged, it wasn't even just against the GOP. It's against the institution. It's against everybody that's gone before us and the president for what is decorum, what is all the, like what are, what's the order of things so

[00:08:28] there can be a reverence there so that our time is valuable. That was completely ignored. And again, when you think about extremists and the most radical things that have to get punched through, you wonder what else is in, what are the things that we don't know going on?

[00:08:47] Where, what nine profits are doing things? Like what, what else is going on in a big picture that would allow people that have been in that place. I was in the hall going between the house and over, we several of us went

[00:09:00] over to the Senate and got out of the floor in the Senate to watch that meltdown. There were people when we were going back to our chamber that just said never in the history of they ever they ever see anything like that before

[00:09:13] in Minnesota. Some people have been there 30 plus years, either as lobbyists or working for a firm or even legislators and senators said they've never seen anything like that before. So for me, it fires me out more than ever to figure out how we can lock arms

[00:09:28] and wake up the whole state to turn out to vote because elections have consequences. That's what we're saying is elections have consequences. That's my biggest takeaway, I think. And people align with that or not. And for folks that out there that think, oh, everything's right.

[00:09:44] Bologna. We had two Republicans that flip blue areas, one one by 15 votes and one one by 33 votes because they worked their asses off. And they figured out how to get to be the voice and serve the people up north in Duluth and up in Ely.

[00:10:01] And they worked very hard and tirelessly and they're going to do whatever they can do to hang on to their seats. So I want to tell people like instead of crying in your beer over what happened, let's figure out how to rally so that this does not continue

[00:10:13] because this isn't what what should be happening. Period. I was I was going to ask a question, but I guess I'll still ask it a little bit, make a statement. I was going to ask you, did this first session and how it this legislative

[00:10:25] session change your resolve in any way? And it really seems that as you were describing near the end that maybe getting walked over and ignored is a rallying cry that Minnesotans need to see and energize Republicans out to vote

[00:10:41] and try to there to have there be a better system because Becky and I, particularly on the show, we're trying to we want to provide a platform for good thoughtful discussions. And that's what Democrats and Republicans, we know there needs to be balanced in the state.

[00:10:54] But this let the ending of this legislative session, I think was pretty unminnesotan. And I was curious and I think you answered it here, but I certainly like to hear more from you if it the way it ended was a frustration and a disappointment in this legislative session

[00:11:10] because it is a sacrifice. You don't live in the twin cities. You're away from home. You're spending time away from your family and then to stand up in the final hours of the legislative session and get shouted down and ignored.

[00:11:22] Sure, for the amateurs, me and the chief seats watching it, it is surprising and it's loud and it's obnoxious. But you guys are there trying to get work done. Oh, we were trying to get work done to stop the railroading

[00:11:36] of just the steamrolling of things that have all like huge impacts like paid family medical leave needs more help. There's so many things that need more help to think that a an alleged felon cast the deciding vote on the most partisan radical agenda

[00:11:53] that our states ever seen is absolutely absurd. And the other thing is I was blown away because we're in debate and we're hearing different things. We debated ERE, I think it was for 15 hours or so. And they claim to care about people, democracy, the institution,

[00:12:11] but they proved their hypocrites because in the last week of session, they just in the last 72 hours basically said a few that we don't want to hear anything else other than this is what we have to do. And so that was disheartening. Has it taken me?

[00:12:28] What day is it today? It's Wednesday. It's taken me a few days. Did I come back home that same night instead of staying down in St. Paul and I just couldn't wait to get home and get home at

[00:12:38] close to two o'clock in the morning after the day before only sleeping for three hours, maybe before we had to get turned around and be back in session. Yeah, it does leave a really tough. It feels gross.

[00:12:51] But then what is done now is just inspire me like crazy to figure out how we can be the voice of the people and figure out how we can get and literally show up and turn up this summer.

[00:13:03] We are rallying our people across the state to turn out districts and flip them to me. If we don't, if I were just to lay down and say, I like yesterday I went and I did my deal to say I'm going to run again. It was it's somber.

[00:13:19] I wasn't like running in there excited somber because we have to get to work and it starts now. And so I'm inspired. But I again, it did. It was very disheartening and it should be nauseating to people in Minnesota should just nauseate the heck out of

[00:13:35] people that that it was so extreme and so radical. So that was really frustrating. And you think how could you ever they're your colleagues? So I was able to find a lot of success with some things this year because I love people and I love connecting with people.

[00:13:51] So when I came into this session, I was like, I want to do whatever I can do because hearing that you're in the minority is a thing. But there's so many gifts and being in the minority too. I have more time. I have more availability.

[00:14:06] I worked so hard and I worked with so many incredible stakeholders and lobbyists and people that have expertise in the field or researchers, partisan and nonpartisan. And I just thought I'm just going to dig in and learn as much as I can.

[00:14:21] And then I'm going to be as available to Democrats as I can. I'm going to be kind. I'm going to be persistent and I'm going to bring I bring donuts when I get hearings. I got hearings this year. One thing that was a complete disappointment.

[00:14:36] I worked really hard with the chair of taxes to get a hearing and I got one because our little ton of steward of under 500 people, their LGA funding got messed up and they had somebody not do a report. Long story short, Dave Lizlegard says, yep, let's

[00:14:52] have them in. I talked to Chair Gomez. Yep, let's have them. Let's come in for a hearing bringing some great baked goods that day. It was great. Everything looks good. They're all caught up with their reporting. And so it's a no, it's a zero spending because it's

[00:15:09] already been allocated a year before. So it's just like an easy win. And then I worked with the Senate got that got the Senator got his hearing. Everything is approved. Got approved in conference committee that day. I find out that it's being stripped because the

[00:15:26] Senate chair rest was frustrated with the chair. Gomez in the house. And so she cut all these things out. So I physically went down on the floor and font chair rest and I begged on behalf of steward. And again, so you're hearing personalities, you're

[00:15:44] hearing things that are long standing. And it says it's zero impact to the fiscal note. There's nothing in this. It is like a win for everybody. And so that actually got brought tears in my eyes because I got to see firsthand when people's

[00:15:59] personalities get so involved and people's feelings get hurt, how you can f over other people that are just like collateral damage. That just blew my mind. I thought maybe I worked that on all sides of it. And I'm so grateful for lead Greg Davids.

[00:16:19] He has taken me under his wing as a man. He's mentored me. He sits right behind me and I've learned from things that he's been saying and he can pick up on when rules are being, when things are happening.

[00:16:30] So he brought me along and just has mentored me and I've just been blessed by that. But he made that his number one priority because they were asking him what do you want to see get in this? And he made my little town of Stewart where

[00:16:44] their taxes now are going to go up 18 to 20 percent because of clerical error and because of people's personalities got involved. And that is disgusting to me. I'm so looking forward to when we're in the majority to show up for people and human beings

[00:17:00] and I'll do it no matter if people are Democrats or Republicans. I think being a leader and being in this, having this opportunity, you gotta be a good human. So that was disgusting. That really turned me off. But then another thing I did this year too

[00:17:14] is I really worked. I was not the chief author of Lane's wedding, but I was a co-author and I worked very hard in the House and in the Senate. And we got that passed. That got kicked over the finish line.

[00:17:28] So it was really great to have a few Democrat colleagues across the aisle Chas stood up and said some very nice things. And then also other folks who said, if you sold me, you sold me. So that's been fun. So there's been some fun things along

[00:17:42] the way and some hearings I got. I stopped some crazy trapping bills. The lead ammo again. I am grateful for the chairs that would take meetings with me even because if I said it'd be seven minutes, I was under seven minutes is bring food.

[00:17:57] OK, my grandma taught me a way to amass heart is through stomach. And I'll say that's for women too. And not by area or whatever you are. We all need food. Yeah, that's right. You've mentioned Lane's putting before and yeah, our listeners at home

[00:18:12] explain the issue a little bit. So now I don't know if everyone understands it, but just explain it. I'm a motorcycle rider, enthusiast. And thank you. And so anyway, what's been happening as we've noticed the trend with cell phones distracted driving has gone up like crazy.

[00:18:28] And if you're rear-ended when you're on a motorcycle and if you have a passenger even without a passenger, you could be extremely injured or killed just with a simple even twenty three mile an hour getting rear-ended. People have died and have suffered grave injuries.

[00:18:45] I think it's about I think nine states, seven or nine states. I've already passed lane splitting, meaning when you're in stop and go traffic that a motorcycle could go between cars. And in the state of Minnesota now it'll only be 15 miles an hour over the speed limit.

[00:19:00] That's the speed that people are traveling with a max speed of 25 miles an hour. So that was a compromise we had with with our public safety. It was going to be 40 was the max speed, but we kicked it down to 25. Which is totally wonderful, but it

[00:19:16] gives us an opportunity to have an out if and it's not for me to get to my work faster or get to where I need to go faster is just to get there safer. And so we know that people that are in vehicles and have

[00:19:29] bumpers and have all the things can have a better chance of survival. So it's going to be fun to educate Minnesota. I know people think it's very dangerous. And that's what I said on the House floor. I said the majority being in here are going to think it's

[00:19:42] dangerous or scary. But I would also believe that those folks don't ride motorcycle. And so this is exciting. So we were able to work really hard. I worked with everybody in the conference committee. I talked to every single person and on both sides of the aisle.

[00:20:00] And that was great. Senator Seaburger did an awesome interview on KQRS got to meet her and talk to her. So yeah, and Julia Coleman, she carried the bill in the Senate as well. So yeah, it was fun. That's great. You're a motorcycle rider.

[00:20:15] I drove a Honda spree in high school, so we have something in common. Awesome. You know what a Honda sprees? I don't. I am getting is that he's laughing. Becky's laughing because she knows exactly what it is. That's the first time I think

[00:20:28] we've ever discussed it on the breakdown with Broadcore and Becky, the fact that I drove a Honda spree and a spree in high school. It's it's a little red like a little Vespa, except it's Honda. And and yeah, so I'm not a motorcycle rider, but I

[00:20:41] just wanted to have a joke with Becky. Becky knew exactly where I was going in her reaction right now is another reason why we have to start video because she knew exactly what I was referring to. Becky, you're you're up next. Yeah, Representative Gilman, I

[00:20:54] just have to applaud your attitude and optimism of the whole situation. It's really hard or really easy, I think, to get down in the dumps and play the victim. And I think there is a role for that. Republicans do need to step into that.

[00:21:05] But I think your way of approaching things and being open and wanting to work across the aisle and just make life better for Minnesotans for families, for business owners is something we need more of. So I appreciate you sharing that. And I join your kind of

[00:21:19] disgust with the politics of politics is really just one of my least favorite things about it. Both sides play it. Both sides do it to each other internally to the across the aisle and it's just really unfortunate. But one thing I want to circle back to you spoke

[00:21:36] briefly about the ERA and I know you you spoke on the House floor during the debate and this was something that Democrats I think thought this was just a really way of Republicans stalling and burning hours and all of that. But it's a really important debate.

[00:21:49] And I think that it was something that really needed to be fleshed out and really articulated of the issues and concerns across the board. So could you talk a little bit about your thoughts on it, what you shared on the House floor during your speech and

[00:22:03] your stance? This this bill ultimately did not because of timing did not get through the Senate. So it is dead at this point. But if you could share a little bit about your stance on things. And I also believe it they they had time

[00:22:18] in the Senate. They did not utilize their time well. Tenna or Eresa, man. Right. They had one senator hold the whole place hostage. And again, had they had the alleged felon also not being able to cast votes, it would have looked completely different at the end of session.

[00:22:34] So they didn't have the votes there because they took out age. They took age out of the ERA. So people could be discriminated against based on their age. So that was a big hang up for even some Minnesota Democrat senators that I talked to. They're like, this is

[00:22:49] garbage. They wouldn't even sign on to it because of that piece alone. So when you look at discrimination, Republicans wanted to share their experiences not only for their district, but just for situations that they could see happening that could also land things in court and

[00:23:04] create situations that were not good for folks. And yeah, I did. I got to share about my mother-in-law who was a prisoner of war and and she's 87 years old and still alive to this day. And the only reason she survived is because she was related to its wild.

[00:23:20] But Hitler's limbo driver is her uncle. So they were taken off of the boxcar, taken off of this train. And she was able to live in a different concentration camp for a couple of years. But again, I brought up the Me Too movement and

[00:23:34] I was trying to circle back to why I did this. But there was a lot of people that lacked arms across the world when that happened and people got to express things about their past or about their experiences and how they deal with trauma.

[00:23:49] And again, there's been tons of research on epigenetics studies done on World War II survivors. And for example, she brought that up to me when she was in her 70s, I believe is when that happened. And she said all my the guys that did

[00:24:03] horrible things to her when she was young girl, they're all dead now. So what about me? And so I brought this up saying people experience trauma and then if they were in a safe space like a restroom or a locker room or changing area and you've got biological

[00:24:20] men in with women, that could be a major trigger and be really uncomfortable. So it's like, how do you navigate this? And how do you navigate folks, their beliefs, their highly held beliefs and others right here? So you debate about it. And it's so passionate to

[00:24:35] me because one in three girls have been traumatized, one of four boys have been traumatized. So it's there's a big majority of people that have had experiences and how do you take care of them? Yeah, there was a big debate. It was and so it definitely was

[00:24:51] worth we could have debated that longer because we could have been talking about I have two black sons, I have a violet biracial daughter and then two white daughters through adoption and I have two biological daughters. And so we could talk about discrimination and how we

[00:25:05] empower I've empowered my kids and but yeah, it's quite that it's quite the interesting deal. And my youngest daughter is here by the grace of God because her birth mom was on a way on her way to go get an abortion and thank goodness one of the

[00:25:21] girls that was at this sober living place stopped her and said, Hey, girl, this is your ticket out of here. She lived in Florida and she said, Don't go get that abortion. Have that baby and do an adoption and then you can get

[00:25:33] out of here and get your apartment and you can get all these things. And so she stopped and did not go to her appointment for her abortion. And I have a 14 year old daughter downstairs because of an opportunity. So people need to be comfortable about

[00:25:51] speaking about things and sharing about things. And yeah, I have a lot of passion about it. It's a big deal. Thank you for sharing. Yes, thank you for sharing and for your work. And also want to thank you so much for being with here today. We want

[00:26:04] to be respectful of your time. You are a delight to speak with and it's been wonderful to see your work on the floor in the legislative session. I hope that you're reelected and boy, oh boy, I think Becky and I are going to talk off

[00:26:18] air or talk about you in the next segment. But I think there's statewide office potential here for you. And I really hope that it's something you consider. You are just a delight to talk to and one of the good people at the legislature. And we're

[00:26:29] always trying to bring voices and Democrats and Republicans into this podcast and have a discussion. You were so generous with your time this morning. And thank you for talking to us. Where can people follow you to follow all the great work that you're doing?

[00:26:41] Wonderful. So if you go to Gilman for house dot com and Gilman has two L's, you can check me out there. Otherwise just Don Gilman, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, watch all my silly stories, watch some football in the fall and see me at

[00:26:57] parades. And again, I invite anybody that wants to come along for the ride and hang out just to get a hold of me. That'd be great. Wonderful. Thanks for joining us. And we hope to talk to you again soon. Thank you so much, Becky and Michael. Bye.

[00:27:15] Becky, we just interviewed Representative Dawn Gellman, first term legislator on her take in the legislative session. Your perspective, your take on the interview. This is my first time at chatting with Representative Gilman and what a delight, right? Truly it's after all of that chaos, you can't

[00:27:35] fault somebody for being upset and angry and frustrated and letting that come out. But she really just her way of speaking and looking at things is really encouraging and something I wish we had more of in politics. I think it's a really as she was talking

[00:27:48] about working with Democrats bringing the donuts, having conversations is something that unfortunately we've really gotten away from. It just so simple. We talk about this, we've had a time and time again, right? It's hard to hate up close and really those conversations and building those

[00:28:03] relationships are really what we need more of to move things forward. And I'm glad she's there. She's obviously a good voice, a good leader. And it was just really fun to talk to her. This is just another example why I just love doing this

[00:28:19] podcast and the opportunity to do this with you because talking with her was just so invigorating. She's just a good person and it was so wonderful to hear her talk about the session, both in terms of how it from a partisan perspective, which is important,

[00:28:32] but also from the standpoint of what was accomplished and how it's so as you say invigorating to see someone who went through it the final days and certainly those last hours of the legislative session were really rough. But her enthusiasm, her desire to serve hasn't

[00:28:47] wavered. It seems that it strengthened her resolve and it's so good to talk to someone and we've spoken to Democrats and Republicans who are energetic about their service and she is clearly energetic about her service. And I have to say very sincerely, I absolutely think there's

[00:29:05] tremendous statewide potential there. Just her ability to connect and her ability to just talk about it. Just think about the issues that she touched on and she just hit it out of the park. And we've talked so much and this is something that

[00:29:19] you have been so good about bringing up and we've talked about it collaboratively is women legislators and having it important. Just listen to how she mess it. It was just so inviting and it was even on tough subjects. You felt like she was empathetic that she was

[00:29:35] someone that was trying to connect. She wasn't trying to demagogue. She obviously has views, but it was just so wonderful to speak with her. And I think from a messaging standpoint and just from just the way she carries herself and her presence, I think there's tremendous statewide

[00:29:49] potential there. Absolutely agree. One of the things that I think Republicans in particular missing have been missing the mark on un-messaging and this is something that when I was working in Congress and Speaker Paul Ryan was really great at is the storytelling. It's not

[00:30:04] just looking at a bill and looking at the legislation and talking about the stats, facts and figures, but really trying to connect people by sharing it. She shared how many stories here about her family and her children and ending the city and the LGA and

[00:30:18] all of these different things of really sharing those stories allow you to it allows the feelings back in. It allows us to, yes, you need to look at things objectively and how they cost and what their impact is, but also really how it's going

[00:30:31] to impact lives, how it has impact lives and how it can in the future. And I think that something that is really I loved hearing that from her. I think that's something we need more of. I think it's a really great way to tamp down

[00:30:44] emotion sometimes and really just remind people that we're all human. We all want to do something to make people's lives better, make businesses better and make the future better. And she truly embodied that and it was it was great. Yes, she absolutely embodied that and

[00:31:00] it just great to see. It's just great to see. And it was a good jolt of enthusiasm in the morning. I do want to just quickly say before we move on to one of those subject room. The Honda spree. I was really hoping that was going to

[00:31:11] land with her. I don't think she knows what that is. You might have to tweet a picture. Yeah. So the Honda spree was I had I had Honda spree out in Forest Lake. That was a big I felt pretty cool. I'm actually right around that Honda spree.

[00:31:22] You know, you reacted pretty quickly. You reacted pretty quickly about can you imagine me with red Honda spree zooming around and showing up to the shown up to Forest Lake High School parking my Honda spree? That was me. I'm going to do a shout out to the Broadcourt

[00:31:38] family here if there are any photos or that exist of stand down the data practices. No, absolutely Twitter is alery RL please send them over you. My DMs are open. The data practices act does not apply to pictures of me riding around with my red

[00:31:55] Honda spree with the oak I took the spree thing off and then put the Oakley sunglasses sign on there too on the side. And then my red helmet yet none of those pictures exist. Data practice that doesn't apply to my family. Darn it, I

[00:32:07] got to stop thinking about that. My family knows how to get a hold of you. Darn it. We wanted to just just particularly she talked about the Senate dynamics which we haven't gotten the Senate was just your take. Yeah, we knew the Senate always

[00:32:20] had some issues with just obviously the issues with their alleged felon as we like to say and just one one vote majority. But really the last 72 hours were just wild to watch. So we had I don't remember Saturday or Sunday a 10 hour recess really held hostage

[00:32:40] by one senator over Uber Lyft. Now I am all about trying to work through and they did come to a conclusion and an agreement in Uber Lyft is going to be are they're going to be staying in town. But 10 hours lost in a crucial time is just

[00:32:54] really wild and it really forced the hand of Senate to try to get things pushed or passed and forced them into a crazy dynamic where on Sunday a 2800 page omnibus bill was being pushed through. It was the vehicle was the tax bill and there were

[00:33:14] eight major bills that were tied into that the transportation housing labor scope of practice higher education straw purges egg and energy DHS H HHS all in this one bill that was pushed together to be voted on. And it was not available via printer online.

[00:33:32] It was we have this bill where basically you got to vote up pass it to see what's in it right. The famous line and paid the family leave. It's huge pieces of policy that it's always just wild. We I don't understand how we always get

[00:33:47] here where it gets down to the final moment. We've had months and months. Why does it come down to this? It happens every year Republicans or Democrats. This is unfortunately a state of how things go these days. But what's your take on how we got here to having

[00:34:03] a 2800 page bill that has massive pieces of legislation and policies in it to be voted on in the Senate. Just you would have thought that was one of the questions was the and I was surprised. I think it was I think it was representative Niska who we

[00:34:22] were just in an interview them raised the possibility of whether they were going to get done on time. I don't want to I'm trying to assign that he was the first to say because I always want to give credit when we interviewed him.

[00:34:32] But there is a dynamic here of the Democrats control all they control the House they control the Senate they should control the governor's office and there should be collaboration. I think that the tensions that are sometimes much more public on the Republican side

[00:34:47] of the coalitions and a little bit of the infighting. I think that's the reason why it was late was so late and just a really ugly process. And I get the argument that it's the legislative process and there's going to be that's a little bit of a

[00:35:00] sausage making process. But this is pretty ugly and I do disagree. I understand that they finished on time and that's important. But it's really we seem Minnesotans seem to have this perception that they're really good at everything that were exceptional at everything that our government is really great

[00:35:20] and it run everything runs smoothly. And it was just an absolute mess. One thing I wanted to point out about this bill and let me just say to really dial down on your question before I move on and answer it is a poor clock management. Poor clock

[00:35:33] management is why that happened. And it's unfortunate. I do. I followed the legislature because aside from working there and because I have nothing else to do on a Sunday night late at night than to watch the legislative session. I do think there are some legitimate constitutional

[00:35:48] issues on these omnibus large bills. And I think it would be fun and interesting if we could find bigger legislate. I mean you're the biggest political nerd that I know next to Simon and that's meant in a totally complementary way. Secretary of State Simon.

[00:36:03] But we need to find a good legislative nerd who can that you would comprise the partisan nerd and the congressional nerd because you worked in Congress and anything music or entertainment related news, you would be the nerd. Plus you're the legal analyst for the podcast because you

[00:36:20] have your law school. But we I think we need to find a good legislative nerd who can discuss that kind of one subject issue which has become a bit of a discussion because according to the Constitution bills need to be single subject. And if my understanding is

[00:36:33] correct, I had tipped to Rob Dorr. I think he posted on social media that the final bill that was passed the title alone was six pages. Just a title alone. I also want to point out something which I think is really problematic that Senator Nathan Wiesenberg

[00:36:48] noted is that there is a blind member of the Minnesota Senate and his name is Tori Westrom. Senator Tori Westrom. He was and of course he's blind. That means it's difficult to not figure out for him to read because he doesn't have sight and he's blind.

[00:37:03] And so there wasn't an accommodation made for him to get the information so he could fully read and digest what was going on in the legislative session. I know represented a Senator Westrom. We were in college Republicans together and I just wanted to share that

[00:37:17] just as an aside that we have known him over the years, but to think that this was ran through in such a way that a member of the legislature duly elected to the Senate. There wasn't an accommodation understanding made for someone who has who is blind

[00:37:32] to process this legislation and deal with it. I just think is shameful. And it was I it was really I think an important message that Senator Wiesenberg got out about that because we're watching the session and here's a member just trying to serve his district as Senator Westrom.

[00:37:49] And to have that and not be an accommodation or respect and appreciation for that, I think is really disgraceful. And I think it's important that that the legislative process running away that at a bare minimum the bare minimum should be that the public can follow

[00:38:03] on but that legislators are getting the legislation and they're able to follow it to not to understand that there wasn't an accommodation and respect and some endeavored shown to Senator Westrom is really just disappointing. That's very disappointing. I when I worked at the at the legislature, I worked

[00:38:20] for Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen, who was the senator and Tori Westrom was the representative at that time in the same district. And he's so smart and he's one of the really great stewards of legislation and articulating what it means to our district and our state

[00:38:36] and that's I hadn't heard that and that's really disappointing. It's just we need to do better. We need to do better in general but every legislator, regardless of accessibility and needs should have the ability to read and absorb what is being voted on. And it was just really

[00:38:57] unfortunate that it ended that way and makes me really sad that accommodations like you said were not made. I will also just say in closing here that I think as we discussed with Rep. Gilman, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, sorry, excuse me, Republicans in the House

[00:39:13] and Republicans in the Senate really rallied, I think, at the end and was it was unfortunately the experiences were unfortunate, but it really seemed a good rallying point for the Republicans. They came together at the end and I tell you, watching the House and the Senate

[00:39:28] floor sessions near the end, it was there's been a number of things in the last couple weeks in Minnesota politics that could be an SNL skit. To hear the Republicans trying to speak up and talk, it was quite. It was really sad, but it was also a show

[00:39:44] of force by the Republicans to continue to speak. They didn't lie down. They didn't roll over. They fought until the end. And Republicans, I think what the Republican showed in those final hours of the legislative session was that they had some real grit and they were that they're

[00:39:59] committed to fight. And that was, I think, a good send off. Wish it wouldn't have happened. But I think it's a good. It was a good send off because there was a cohesive moment, a rallying point for Republicans to come together. And then now they've everyone's

[00:40:14] dispersed and gone to their home districts in neutral corners. But I think particularly with Representative Gilman, I think there's going to be a lot of Republicans right now who are going to remember the end of that legislative session. It's rough to very sour

[00:40:26] taste, I think in a lot of their mouths, but they're going to use it as a rallying cry. And I hope that that Minnesotans are aware of what and continue to learn about what happens, because I think it's going to Republicans that think are really fired up

[00:40:38] to come out and vote and do things. And it was just disappointing to see, but also was as a partisan, seeing the Republicans stand up and fight and want to be heard. It was a real good point for them and a good moment for them because they were

[00:40:52] showing some real grit. And yes, absolutely. I think Representative Gilman also she said she just went and filed for election running here in 2024. I hope her colleagues join her in taking that fight and moving it forward over the next six, seven months as we work towards

[00:41:09] election day. We're going to be talking about it a lot about the messaging and the folks filing and everything that comes and hopefully reminding Minnesota voters of what was rammed through the last two sessions and the implications that it's going to have on Minnesota pocketbooks and lives

[00:41:24] going forward. Yeah, it was a wild one. And I'm sure more follow up, more things will come. But thanks for lining up Representative Gilman. We're excited that she is running again and excited to see who else put their names in the running for taking back that House majority.

[00:41:41] Did you pay her in a bill this month? Don't know. Are you stringing this? I literally just got a stringing this up. I got a new router because apparently we got more internet speed and I don't know what the deal is. Where's it go? Are you stealing

[00:41:55] your neighbors right now? No, you're not routing this off your neighbors because all right, we'll see what happens. But they do doing this and we will be back next week as you're gone again. What's going on? I don't know. You're freezing on my. No. You guys say bye.

[00:42:11] I didn't hear you say bye. I really start to hear this conversation. I want to thank you. Get some internet. We're going to talk offline about your internet service. OK, we're going to go fund me for an internet service. OK. All right. Thank you. Bye.

[00:42:26] We want to thank you for listening to the breakdown with Broadcom and Becky. Before we go show some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a review on Apple podcast or on the platform where you listen. You can leave a review or give

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