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Rod Searle and the 67-67 House

By Elizabeth Lincoln

Former House Speaker Rod Searle died at age 93 earlier this week.  First elected to the House in 1956, he served as House Speaker in 1979 after the November 7, 1978 election resulted in an equal number of representatives on each side of the political aisle.  (Check out this chart showing partisan control of the House, Senate, and Governor's office back to 1901.) 

With no precedent and no rules a group of negotiators worked out a compromise that made Independent Republican Rod Searle the Speaker.  In addition to the speakership, "the Republicans . . . got [the] chairs of subdivisions of the powerful money committees, on which they had a one-vote majority.  DFLers chaired the full money committees, on which they had a one-vote majority, and the rules committee."  (Star Tribune, January 7, 2014)

The final agreement was signed 35 years ago today--several days after the 1979 session convened.  Searle's book, Minnesota Standoff: the Politics of Deadlock, tells the story of the negotiations between the November election and January 8th.  It's well worth reading.