GOP senators want more authority over Walz appointees amid sentencing guidelines debate

The ongoing political clash over Minnesota's sentencing guidelines panel is renewing tensions between Gov. Tim Walz and Senate Republicans threatening to oust his commissioners.

Republicans now want to broaden the Senate's authority to have the final say over members of the state's Sentencing Guidelines Commission. But Walz and other Democrats are accusing the GOP of weaponizing its existing confirmation powers to counter policy disagreements.

"I think amongst the caucus that there have been very public statements that these people are being removed because they disagree with my politics or [ideology], rather than the individual," Walz said during a virtual forum with legislative leaders Wednesday. "And I trust the senate leader, as he's told me, that they will be judged on their merits accordingly. And if that's what happens, that's the way the system works best."

GOP Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller defended the process as "a huge responsibility that the Senate has and we take it very seriously and it is over the course of the commissioner's work, not just on one single issue."

Walz pushed back, arguing that Miller's predecessor, former Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, said removing commissioners is a way to send a message to Walz's administration. Gazelka is now a Republican candidate for governor.

Citing recent decisions to cap probation and its consideration of changes to guidelines affecting repeat offenders, Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said Wednesday that he wants more accountability for the eight sentencing guidelines commission members selected by the governor.

"My concern is that the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission has become increasingly more interested in writing policy — mainly modifying and reducing criminal sentences," Limmer said Wednesday. "Quite honestly I think this is alarming when an organization appointed by just the executive branch, without the legislative branch that represents the public, is making serious changes to criminal sentences."

Limmer unsuccessfully sought to abolish the panel years ago, and his new proposal cleared the Senate judiciary and public safety committee he chairs on a partisan 6-3 vote Wednesday. Limmer cited the panel's vote to cap felony probation sentences at five years in 2019 and recent discussions over removing custody status from sentencing considerations as evidence that the commission is "moving toward acting very much like a de facto Legislature."

Three of the commission's 11 members are appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court's chief justice. The other eight are picked by the governor and include the state's corrections commissioner, law enforcement, victims and formerly incarcerated Minnesotans.

The panel recommends changes to state sentencing guidelines each January and the Legislature has the authority to vote to override any changes before wrapping up that year's session. If no action is taken at the State Capitol, the changes take effect later that year. Judges also have discretion to go above or below sentencing ranges. Limmer argued Wednesday that a change to the recommended changes is unlikely under a divided government.

Asked whether the Senate might take up Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell's confirmation this year, Limmer said he didn't have an answer regarding Schnell's future but added that his role on the sentencing panel in recommending a five-year probation cap was "concerning."

In response, Department of Corrections spokesperson Nicholas Kimball said, "Commissioner Schnell is focused on doing his job — which is to keep our staff and the men and women in our care, custody, and control safe during a global pandemic, and to lead this agency that is transforming lives and making Minnesota a safer place to live."

A House companion to Limmer's proposal has not yet been introduced.

Nathaniel Reitz, executive director of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, told senators on Wednesday that the panel had not taken an opinion on the bill and declined to provide his own opinion on Limmer's proposal.

State Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, the ranking minority member on Limmer's committee, called Senate Republicans' use of confirmation powers against Walz appointees a "cautionary tale" and said it had been "sorely abused by the majority of the current Senate."

Latz argued that the Sentencing Guidelines Commission's appointment structure did not raise separation of powers concerns but rather was an example of the Legislature delegating "highly technical, complex decision-making" to a panel with a wide breadth of expertise.

"Unless we want to meet year-round, unless this committee wants to meet a couple times a week year-round, we don't have the expertise nor time to be investigating and making decisions about the complex issues that go into sentencing guidelines decisions," Latz said. "Let alone make sure we have all the proper stakeholder input."

Staff writer Emma Nelson contributed to this report.