The governor’s office is firing back hard after Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said the state Senate will run out of money by mid-January at the latest, unless the courts intervene or Governor Mark Dayton relents and restores funding for the legislature. Dayton spokesman Matt Swenson says Gazelka and other GOP leaders are “sitting on nearly 45 million dollars” in state funding and “choosing to lay off their own employees, rather than admit they have misled the courts.” Gazelka says, “We’re appealing to the courts but I’m also appealing to the governor: There’s been enough pain, there’s been enough blame, that it would be best for Minnesota if we got back to the momentum that we had in the beginning.”
Gazelka says his numbers are accurate and the legislature will cease operations in the near future unless something is done. Dayton is trying to pressure Republicans into rescinding recently-enacted tax breaks.