Senator Zach Duckworth (R - Lakeville) and Representative Barb Haley (R - Redwing)

They’re back at it again. 

Establishment Republicans in the House and Senate like Rep. Barb Haley and Sen. Zach Duckworth are making empty promises to their constituents. 

It appears that the political powers that be are rallying around this FAKE end to Governor Walz’ “emergency” powers that have destroyed Minnesota’s economy. 

You read that right. By rallying around this bill, Republicans allow Walz to keep his powers for as long as he wants. 

READ IT FOR YOURSELF 

Not only that, the bill does nothing that would stop Walz from locking us all in our homes, threatening to jail people for going to Thanksgiving or saying you are not essential. 

The legislature has the power to End Walz’ Emergency Powers with a simple resolution -- no signature from Walz needed! THIS BILL, however, would require Walz to sign off (which will NEVER happen!). 

Establishment Republicans will say that this stops Walz and future governors from abusing their powers. If this is true, then why would Walz ever sign this bill into law? If he is looking to keep his power, then the last thing he would do is handicap himself. 

This is what needs to happen:

• End Walz’ Emergency - No Deals, No Compromise, No Nothing until this happens.
• Repeal Emergency Powers Law completely - Eliminate the law that Walz points to for justifying his fake power. End Chapter 12 Emergency Powers with a clean, complete repeal, then this nightmare cannot return. NEVER AGAIN!
• Impeach and Remove Walz - He needs to be held accountable for abusing his power. Enough said. 

Anything less than this is complete hot air from Republicans. Anything short of a full repeal of the emergency powers law is an allowance for full executive control. 

Walz has already driven a bus through a straw using any tacit language as justification that he can be an authoritarian with total control. Not only that, but there used to be a provision for public health items in the law previously that has been removed. 

There is not a provision for public health in the law now and exactly why Walz is being sued by legislators in state and federal court over this as well as multiple Recall petitions filed as well. Therefore, any language of a law left on the idea of Emergency Powers will be abused as we’ve already seen. Are we so stupid to think these tyrants won’t press on?

Moreover, having any government with the authority to tell you you’ll go to jail over Thanksgiving or Christmas is not only dangerous and inhumane, it’s unconstitutional. We shouldn’t be arguing in the Statist’s frame that this stuff is even remotely ok or negotiable. Our freedoms are not up for a vote and we will settle for nothing less than a full end to supposed “emergency” powers.

The entire point of a constitution that narrowly defines power is that it is largely timeless and why it can only be changed with wide and deep support. Whereas these “emergency” powers laws illegally circumvent the constitution and trample on human rights that are constitutionally protected.

The problem is, more and more self-proclaimed “conservatives,” that are really just RINOs, are signing on to this bad bill. That’s bad news. 

Senator Zach Duckworth REFUSED to fill out North Star Liberty Alliance’s candidate survey this past election cycle. This was after he lied to multiple NSLA members saying from his mouth to their ear that he would fill it out. He’s an absolute faker and betrayed us! It is now clear why.

CHECK OUT OUR CANDIDATE SURVEY 

True conservatives would be happy to put their name to our survey and say they oppose gun control, the met council, and complete government control of healthcare. But not Zach Duckworth. 

He and the other two senators (Osmek and Kiffmeyer) who authored this trash legislation know that this bill will not and cannot go anywhere. They think that as long as they make the bare minimum effort, they’ll win their reelection bids. 

Remember when Republicans opposed big government? It appears those days are over. 

Representative Barb Haley authored an earlier version of this garbage back in November. She’s no better! Check out our in-depth analysis of her attempt to pass the fake powers bill! 

This bill from Senators Duckworth, Osmek and Kiffmeyer is a bit more clever in hiding its goals than Haley’s bill, but that makes it even more dangerous. Unlike Haley’s bill, SF 4 appears to say that the legislature has to vote to extend an emergency whereas Haley’s bill and the current statute says the legislature has to vote to end the emergency. 

The current law has meant that with one DFL chamber, Walz and his DFL party bosses can block a vote to end the emergency but under the Duckworth bill, the one nominally conservative chamber can block an extension of the Governor’s so-called emergency.

So that means SF 4 fixes the problem, right? If we had a repeat of COVID-19, the Republicans in the senate would be able to end the emergency without relying on the votes of DFLers in the house?

Short answer, no. The problem is seen in a closer inspection of the SF 4 language:

(The entire bill can be found here.)

As highlighted above, Senators Duckworth, Osmek, and Kiffmeyer bring up the issue of what happens if the Governor tries to get around the termination of the emergency by ordering a new one. They claim they solve this by saying the Governor would not be able to order a new emergency declaration for the same emergency.  

But who would define what is the “same emergency”? Let’s go back to the example of COVID that is so familiar.  If the legislature under this law had voted in the summer to end the emergency, what stops the governor from saying a few weeks later that the fall wave of COVID constitutes a new, more dangerous emergency?  If a new viral variation arises (as has happened with COVID), does this constitute a new emergency? 

This is not simply a clever word game.  Walz and Ellison have shown they will ruthlessly exploit any loophole to expand their power over the last year.  The only way to prevent a repeat of the nightmare imposed in the last year on business owners and all Minnesotans is a clean repeal of the emergency powers statute!

Any RINO (Republican in Name Only) in the house AND senate who supports this fake bill will likely see a primary challenger in 2022. Though the North Star Liberty Alliance does not and will not endorse candidates, we do inform voters on who is pro-liberty, and who is not.

Support the North Star Liberty Alliance in the efforts to expose bad legislators, and Impeach Walz. 

Consider a contribution to keep us on the front lines in this fight.