Republicans’ first step toward an impeachment probe of two top Minnesota Democrats—the governor and attorney general—ended in a tie vote along party lines April 15, killing the measure.
The vote at the Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, came after GOP lawmakers introduced resolutions to impeach Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, who have been under fire for the state’s multibillion-dollar government-fraud scandal.
But because impeachment procedures aren’t specified in the state Constitution, lawmakers needed to set a framework for any such probe, said Republican Rep. Harry Niska, chair of the House rules committee that was considering the proposal.
The resolution would have crafted a structure for the Walz and Ellison impeachment inquiries and “set a precedent for the future,” Niska said. While Ellison is seeking another term in office, Walz abandoned his reelection bid earlier this year.
Matt Gehring, director of research for the state’s House of Representatives, testified that the most recent Minnesota impeachment attempts occurred more than a century ago. Those involved a pair of judges and a state treasurer in the late 1800s.
