It is probably no surprise Republicans are upset with who Gov. Tim Walz picked for the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.
A little more surprising? State Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis and chair of the very committee that is supposed to select regents, also expressed frustration.
“Rather than empowering student voices on the board, the governor sided with a handful of wealthy, well-connected lobbyists who worked to shut student voices out of the board,” Fateh emailed. “This process shouldn’t be about giving preferential treatment to those who are politically connected, it should be about who is best qualified to serve the public.”
While Fateh’s response is (obviously) critical of the governor, it also pours cold water on the idea that DFL lawmakers were in cahoots with Walz to have the divided Minnesota Legislature punt on appointments. That, in theory, would have let the governor make secretly agreed upon liberal selections.
Fateh, the chair of the Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee, says that Walz never sought his advice during the governor’s two-month long selection process.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office points out that the Legislature abandoned its own process for picking regents, leaving the choice to Walz. The governor’s office said that in making his selections he adhered to the same process as he would any appointment, such as a judge or head of a state agency.
Also, this is where I should point out that Fateh is running for mayor of Minneapolis and Walz endorsed the incumbent candidate, Jacob Frey.
Still, at a time when the U of M is in the crosshairs of the Donald Trump administration and dealing with scrutiny over another tuition hike, the discontent from all sides about the regents picks is notable.
To review, the regents are a 12-member board that makes decisions on everything from the multibillion annual budget to regulating campus speech. The Legislature picks regents to serve six-year terms.
But the Legislature failed to name board members in the most recent legislative session. The governor’s picks are on an interim basis until a majority of the Legislature agrees on new regents.
As to Fateh’s charge of political connections, three of the four selections have given money to Walz campaigns.
Samuel Heins, whose namesake is part of the Minneapolis-based corporate litigation outfit Heins Mills & Olson, has donated 250 times to Democratic candidates and committees, according to Open Secrets, including $14,100 total to Walz’s runs for the governor and Congress.
Joel Bergstrom, a retired recruiter who helped companies find executives, donated $500, per Open Secrets. And Ellen Luger, who last worked in Italy for the United Nations, has contributed $3,400 to Walz campaigns.
Luger, the spouse of former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger, also served as a national finance committee director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run. On LinkedIn, Luger said that she “organized fundraising events with the presidential candidate across the country” and “completed the campaign as one of the top 10 fundraisers in the country.”
Messages left with Heins, Bergstrom and Luger were not returned by Monday afternoon.
Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who applied for the regents board positions, said that it is the wrong time to make partisan appointments.
“He undermines the integrity of the board if Trump comes after us,” said Painter, who ran as a DFLer for the U.S. Senate in 2018. “This should not be DFL U.”
Daniel Wolter, who also unsuccessfully applied for a seat, said his background with the GOP, including as a spokesperson for former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, did him in.
“I am clearly a Republican and I understood the ramifications of that,” Wolter said.
Fateh’s beef is slightly different. He did like the governor’s selection of Kowsar Mohamed, a doctoral student at the U of M, and wanted another student on the board.
The Minneapolis lawmaker was mostly upset that Walz picked Heins and Bergstrom, neither of whom came before the state Legislature when they were in control of the selection process.
Where Fateh and other critics are in alignment is the fear that regents will make decisions without enough familiarity of the school’s faculty, students and staff to challenge Rebecca Cunningham, the university president.
“The board needs to be an entity that is able to push back,” Wolter said.
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