Recall petition against Quam thrown out

A recall petition filed against State Rep. Duane Quam R-Byron, was thrown out by the Minnesota Supreme Court earlier this week.
According to a press release from the Indivisible Rochester chapter, the group of voters in the district filed the petition after Quam committed “serious malfeasance during the current term of office.”
“On January 14, 2025, Republican House members took hostile control of the state legislature without a quorum and conducted business such as electing a speaker, appointing committees, and moving legislation forward,” the press release stated.
Quam, in a phone interview previously, argued there have been times in the past when 67 votes were enough to elect a speaker, and with only 133 possible votes, he felt it made sense that 67 would be enough for a quorum.
“The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on January 24, 2025, that the House requires 68 members to constitute a quorum; making the conduct of the GOP House members from January 14, 2025 until January 24, 2025 illegal and illegitimate,” the press release from Indivisible Rochester stated.
Quam argued he showed up to work, and there could’ve been a quorum if one member of the DFL party showed up to session.
“If one of the minority showed up it would’ve been,” Quam said.
Quam said he didn’t vote on any legislation during the time period mentioned, and the only vote he took was to elect Demuth. He also argued he is not a member of the caucus leadership team.
“The difference between January 14, and last Thursday, the same Speaker was elected with the 67 votes, the same committee structure and assignments were made, basically there’s not a difference because there’s still a majority and a minority for another four or five weeks,” Quam said.
Quam in a text message Monday night said he was relieved to hear the news.
“I’m happy the court found no merit to it,” he wrote. “Showing up for the people’s work, on the assigned day, should be the expected norm.”
Recall petitions against several DFL lawmakers were also thrown out by the court.