Government Reform Must Include the Legislature

Today, Representative Winkler and a handful of legislators introduced legislation to reform the way that the state legislature functions. With growing public mistrust of the political process in Saint Paul, it is time to reform the way that the state legislature operates.

It is easy to see why the public is frustrated when elected officials lock the public out of the state capitol as important business is getting done, fail to read or understand legislation that they are passing in the dark of night, and allow political parties to pay candidates as they run for office.

“The public is frustrated with our broken political system that is controlled by special interest lobbyists,” said Mike Dean, Executive Director of Common Cause Minnesota.  “These reforms will help place state government back in the hands of middle class families.”

Over the last decade there has been an ever increasing level of secrecy that keeps the public in the dark as important decisions are being made.  It is critical that legislators reverse this trend by opening up legislative records to the public.  This practice allows legislators to operate with little public accountability for their actions. Specially, legislators need to make their calendars open to the public. The public has a right to know who legislators are meeting with when they are on state time.

“Legislators are not above the law,” said Mike Dean, Executive Director of Common Cause Minnesota.  “They should be subject to the same requests for transparency that we require of the executive branch.”

Common Cause Minnesota will work with legislators to strengthen this package to require greater transparency over lobbyists and how state campaigns are financed in the coming weeks.