Minnesota House Democrats secretly sworn into office over the weekend

Democratic members were sworn in over the weekend by retired Hennepin County Judge Kevin Burke. Hortman said there’s some precedent for holding the ceremony outside the Capitol on a day other than the first day of the session, though not for an entire caucus.

One of the members sworn in was DFL Rep. Brad Tabke, whose 14-vote victory in a Shakopee House seat is being challenged in court by Republicans over questions about 20 missing absentee ballots in one precinct.

Republicans want the court to declare a vacancy in the seat, requiring a special election to be called. Dakota County Judge Tracy Perzel has had the case under consideration for weeks but has yet to rule.

Paul’s lawyer, R. Reid LeBeau II, called Tabke’s actions performative and “a direct attack on this court and its authority to decide the current action, which presumably, this court intends to rule on imminently.”

LeBeau asked the judge to consider holding Tabke in contempt of court. “While Mr. Tabke’s actions to be putatively ‘sworn in’ have no legal significance, it is disturbing that Mr. Tabke may have viewed his ‘swearing in’ as legitimate, in which case it was not just a direct attack on this Court, but also a direct attack to circumvent Minnesota law,” LeBeau wrote in the letter.

Tabke’s lawyer, David Zoll, filed a written response, saying the court’s authority on the issue is merely advisory and that it was appropriate for the DFLer to take the oath and be seated until the contest is decided. Zoll’s letter pointed out that former Republican state Rep. Robert Pavlak served four months in the House before he was removed in May 1979 after a state Supreme Court ruling. He was unseated on a 67-66 vote.