Minnesota leaders share bipartisan anti-fish aggression

Gov. Mark Dayton, right, poses with his catch during the Governor’s Fishing Opener on the Mississippi River near St. Cloud on May 13, 2017.

For one day each year Minnesota politicians are judged on a bipartisan scale of how many fish they catch in a high pressure situation.

The Minnesota fishing opener was today, meaning that anglers can catch larger fish like walleye, northern pike, and bass. Each year, the governor of our state hosts a major event celebrating this annual holiday. In recent years, it’s become a bipartisan photo opportunity with leaders from both parties sharing boats as a sign of civility.

Gov. Mark Dayton held this year’s event on the Mississippi River near St. Cloud. How did he and the other leaders fare?

Here’s the official press release:

Joining the Governor in his boat were House Speaker Kurt Daudt, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, and Majority Leader Gazelka’s daughter, Lydia Gazelka. Altogether, the Governor’s boat caught six fish, including a 17.5-inch smallmouth bass caught by Governor Dayton; a northern pike and a smallmouth bass caught by Speaker Daudt; two smallmouth bass caught by Majority Leader Gazelka; and one smallmouth bass caught by Lydia Gazelka.

Joining the Lt. Governor’s boat were House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, Deputy Senate Majority Leader Michelle Benson, House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, and House Assistant Minority Leader Ilhan Omar. Altogether, the Lt. Governor’s boat caught 35 fish, including many smallmouth bass and rock bass. Lt. Governor Smith caught six fish total, including two dogfish; Majority Leader Peppin caught eight fish, including the only walleye catch of the day; Deputy Majority Leader Benson caught five fish; Minority Leader Hortman caught three fish, including one dogfish; and Assistant Minority Leader Omar caught the most fish of anyone today, catching thirteen fish total.

The DFL out-fished Republicans 28-19. Then again, in Minnesota walleye have 38 electoral votes — so the GOP carried that one.

Another way of looking at this is that female elected officials out-fished their male counterparts, 36-10. Again, nothing surprising if you’ve ever actually observed legislators conducting business in St. Paul.

In other news, the Governor of the Fish again failed to catch any humans and was summarily devoured by opposition leaders.

Comments

  1. Ranger47 says

    Fake news…

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