Rep. Rob Ecklund, DFL-International Falls, told the News Tribune on Monday he won’t vote again to remove the state's peacetime emergency — one month after he agreed with Republicans during a failed bid to end the state's COVID-19 emergency in the December special session.
“It’s the constituents in my district, the Democratic constituents, that have convinced me,” said Ecklund, who represents District 3A in the Minnesota House of Representatives. "I’ve been getting mostly positive responses from the constituents in my district supporting the governor.”
Rep. Rob Ecklund
Ecklund explained that he’s been getting thousands of emails and phone calls from conservatives, too, continuing to woo his support. Their efforts, he said, "successfully got Democrats wound up."
Last week, the executive committee of the Senate District 3 Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party issued a statement urging Ecklund to resist efforts to end the state’s peacetime emergency, which would end Walz’s executive powers to implement statewide restrictions.
“This concerted campaign by the GOP to have Rep. Ecklund and other Democrats join the ranks of those trying to end the governor’s peacetime emergency powers is nothing shy of another obstructionist ploy against our governor,” said the party’s statement.
The Minnesota Legislature implemented the peacetime emergency last March and has been reauthorizing it since then on a monthly basis.
The legislature begins its 2021 session Tuesday, and will vote on reupping the peacetime emergency again this month.
“The governor has got to work with us,” Ecklund said. “But the Republicans have no plan that I can see other than to try to embarrass the governor — and that’s not going to work.”
Leah Rogne, the Senate District 3 DFL party chair, told the News Tribune that Ecklund had nothing to gain by siding with Republicans.
"The idea that he'll get anything in return to support projects Dems want is nonsense," she said. "They're not serious about wanting to consider the needs of rural legislators and the people they represent."
She noted other Northeastern Minnesota DFL politicians who are also being courted by the GOP, including Rep. Dave Lislegard, DFL-Aurora. News Tribune attempts to reach Lislegard were unsuccessful.
Republicans have blasted Walz for months about sustained hits to the Minnesota economy they say are due to his statewide restrictions, including limiting bars and restaurants to curbside service.
Two Northeastern Minnesota state senators, Tom Bakk and Dave Tomassoni, are former DFLers caucusing independently this session. They've both voted in favor of removing the peacetime emergency, and are expected to again.
Sen. Erik Simonson, DFL-Duluth, also supported an end to the state's peacetime emergency last month, but he's since been replaced by Jen McEwen in the state Senate.
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International Falls representative says he'll support Walz's emergency powers this time - Duluth News Tribune
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