Senate DFLers criticized over Capitol space stalemate

Skylights are exposed after decades of being hidden behind a dropped ceiling in Senators' offices at the State Capitol in St.Paul, where construction will alter what visitors see when they visit, photographed Monday, December 30, 2014. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

The leader of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus in Minnesota's House of Representatives joined Republicans in criticizing Senate DFL plans for Capitol office space Friday.

Members of the Senate DFL caucus want committee chairs to have offices in the Capitol building after its renovation next year, in addition to their space in the Senate office building under construction right now.

Republicans, never champions of the office building to begin with, have pushed back -- resulting in a stalemate that's delaying the final phase of the Capitol renovation.

House DFL leader Paul Thissen doesn't have a major role in that decision, but he publicly opposed the Senate DFL plan in a Friday news conference.

"I've never quite understood why... (chairmen) would want to have an office in the Capitol when all the members they work with are over in this other building," Thissen said. "Tom -- Sen. Bakk's -- idea of the Senate office building was that it would create this more collegiality, it would create this ability for people to work together. Having people in that building I think accomplishes what Sen. Bakk rightly was thinking about as a purpose of that building."

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, has to sign a deal over Capitol space with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a DFLer, as well as Gov. Mark Dayton, Attorney General Lori Swanson and Chief Justice Lorie Gildea.

That deal was supposed to be done by Thursday, to allow the final phase of Capitol renovation to begin.

Construction crews can adapt to a delay of up to a week by focusing their work on existing phases of the renovation. But if Daudt, Bakk, Dayton, Swanson and Gildea haven't reached a deal by next Thursday, work crews could leave the project for other jobs. That process could cost the state $680,000 per month.

The $273 million renovation project is expected to be completed in 2017.

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Senate DFLers criticized over Capitol space stalemate