House Speaker Kurt Daudt
(R-Crown)
Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt has ordered the House controller not to implement a 45-percent pay raise for House lawmakers that a special commission approved last week. A constitutional amendment voters passed last fall took away legislators’ power to set their own salaries, but Daudt wants to block the pay raise. He says, “It’s very difficult for us to take that kind of a pay increase, when we can’t give that kind of a pay increase to seniors or to the disability community or middle-class families.” Daudt’s opponents say his move is to garner favor with voters if he decides to run for governor.
Daudt’s Senate counterpart, Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka also disagrees with the move, saying the Minnesota Constitution mandates that salaries approved by the commission be paid to lawmakers.