Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Laura Bishop resigned from her post on Tuesday ahead a likely rejection of her confirmation from the Republican-controlled Senate.
Gov. Tim Walz said he accepted her resignation after he was informed by Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka that she would not be confirmed. Bishop was scheduled to appear at a confirmation hearing in a Senate committee Tuesday afternoon, with the full chamber voting on her appointment on Wednesday.
Bishop is one of four commissioners and two appointees whose jobs are up for consideration by the Senate in an extended special session of the Legislature. The full chamber approved two appointments on Tuesday morning, but Bishop has been a target for Senate Republicans as the head of the agency administering new “clean cars” emissions standards for vehicles.
“I am extremely disappointed in the Republicans in the Senate who are choosing to use taxpayer dollars to play partisan games and try to politicize an agency charged with protecting Minnesotans from pollution because they refuse to acknowledge the science of climate change,” Walz said in a statement announcing her departure. “Commissioner Bishop’s qualifications are clear, and her principles are unwavering.”
Senate Republicans announced last week that they planned to stay in special session to consider commissioner appointments. The chamber gave unanimous approval to the confirmation of Mark Phillips, chair of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, as well as School Trust Lands Director Aaron Vande Linde.
Commissioners were also reviewing Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Commissioner Jennifer Ho on Tuesday afternoon. Legislators have raised concerns about the pace at which the agency has been distributing federal dollars for rental assistance.
“In the end we have to decide, like an employer, is someone doing their job or not doing their job, it’s not an enjoyable experience,” said Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake. “We do not take it lightly.”
Only the Senate has the power to confirm or deny appointment to the governor’s Cabinet, but Democrats have criticized the move as taking political shots at the administration at the taxpayers’ expense.
Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent said Democrats were blindsided by the move to take up the confirmation of commissioners who have been on the job since the start of Walz’s administration.
“I would like to see a reasonable process, which would require that you treat everybody equally, rather than pulling a few out to line them up and take them out,” said Kent, DFL-Woodbury. “I don’t think this process is in any way reasonable.”
Last year, Senate Republicans also fired Walz’s first picks for the Department of Labor and Industry and the Department of Commerce, citing in part their regulatory responses during the pandemic. Though Walz relinquished the emergency powers he used for nearly 16 months to respond to the pandemic, Gazelka acknowledged tensions have been high between the two parties throughout the pandemic.
“It is an accountability issue, it’s the one thing we have that can hold the governor accountable,” he said. “Through emergency powers everything was different and took on a different tone.”
The House adjourned the special session last week and went home after work was completed on the state budget.
Briana Bierschbach • 651-925-5042
Twitter: @bbierschbach
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