Capitol Retort: Oversight hearing; question of racism; wooden nickels.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

Question 1: This week, joint oversight meetings of the GOP-led Senate Transportation and Judiciary committees began reviewing "lawlessness events and governmental response" with a hearing on the destruction of small businesses after George Floyd's death. Are you hopeful that good things might come out of this process?

Jennifer DeJournett, GOP party operative: We have officially entered silly season of politics. So, likely it will just be a lot of hot-air talking and nothing gets accomplished. What's heartbreaking is that the communities where the most disparities happen are the areas where most of the destruction occurred.

Mary Kunesh-Podein, DFL House member: I'm actually very, very hopeful, especially around renewal and reconstruction of those communities. I am really hopeful that those who are funding it and doing the planning at the state or the local levels are going to include a lot of the community members and listen to what they want their community to look like so that we don't have the gentrification that they're so worried about. And so that the community that was there before is reflected in the new, renewed community. I'm very hopeful it won't be a top-down mandate and that we will use whatever funds are available to rebuild that community into a stronger, more binding community.

Pat Garofalo, GOP state House member: I am. It's important, regardless of our political party, that we are prioritizing public safety ahead of politics. When we make core public policy decisions, we need accountability. And this is an important step in making that happen.

Pete Orput, Washington County Attorney: I not sure I understand what there would be to study. I went and saw the damage and I read carefully the graffiti that was painted on the plywood. All I saw was rage and anger. That's what I was paying attention to. If they want to study why, I think that's an easy question: I think it was because we hit a tipping point when Mr. Floyd died and I think the community had enough.

Greg Davids, GOP House member: I'm very hopeful. I think that we need to know what happened and why it happened. If there's anything we can do in the future, we need to do it.

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Question 2: Last week, when three GOP senators asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Minneapolis Police Department, they said the Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero disqualified herself from investigating by saying that "systemic abuse and...

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