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Those motions prevail the substitution will be made.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
is considered the second most powerful position
in Minnesota after the governor. The speaker has a number of formal powers
including the power to rule
on parliamentary points during a floor session
and assign bills to committees. The speaker is officially elected by members
of the entire House on the first day of the two-year session.
Currently, Rep. Paul Thissen is speaker of the Minnesota House of
Representatives. We caught up with him at the Minnesota State Fair
and asked how he views his role. The first thing that's important is not just
a partisan position,
it's a, you know, you're the speaker for the whole House of Representatives, so
the idea is that, you know, to keep order, to keep things moving along,
partly to set an agenda, but also to be as fair as possible to,
to all sides and enforce the rules and then being a,
you know, a spokesman for the institution of the House of Representatives.
In this, "Legislative Fair Factor: The speaker edition,"
we ask in what legislative session
of the Minnesota House of Representatives was Speaker Thissen
elected as speaker?
Was it A- the 58th,
B- the 67th, C- the 88th,
or D- the 100th. And the answer
is C. Speaker Thissen was elected to serve
in the leadership position for the 88th legislative session
of the Minnesota House of Representatives. There's a
long line of speakers who have come before Speaker Thissen
beginning with John S. Watrous, who was elected as speaker
by the first Minnesota House of. Representatives. He was sworn into office
on Dec. 3,
1857. but less than a month into his term, he was granted
a leave of absence so he could attend to important
business matters. In Watrous' place
George "Geo" Bradley was officially elected Speaker of the House.
So, both Watrous and Bradley served in the first session
of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Bradley would later heed
another call- to serve his country. In 1862,
the Civil War had been going badly for the Union.
There was repeated defeats and the subsequent loss
of men, forcing President Abraham Lincoln to issue a call for more troops.
"Music"
Bradley stepped forward
and was commissioned as a major in the 7th Minnesota infantry.
He rose in the ranks and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
Bradley survived the war, returning to his work
before his military service as a lawyer.
You can imagine yourself as speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
this year
at the State Fair. The House has a booth
in the Education Building complete with a speaker's desk and gavel.
To get a feel for what it's like to stand in this position of power, come check out our booth.
We are here every day of "The Great Minnesota Get-Together."