Expect sharp criticism from Senate Republicans at today’s (10am start) hearings on how the state responded to riots in the Twin Cities sparked by the death of George Floyd. Edina Democrat Melisa Franzen says Republicans should instead focus on why George Floyd died. “I’m actually getting really upset that we keep talking about something that’s really not the core issue,” Franzen says. “The response that we should be having as a state Senate is to have hearings about the core issue — about the murder, the killing.”
Hutchinson Republican Scott Newman responds that should certainly be talked about in the appropriate committee, but also “it is perfectly appropriate for the Minnesota Senate to inquire into the actions of the troopers and the commissioner of public safety and the National Guard, and that is what we are doing.”
This is the second day of hearings in the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate on the state’s response to civil unrest following Floyd’s death. Yesterday the focus was on law enforcement’s response to protesters toppling the statue of Christopher Columbus on the State Capitol grounds.