Minnesota GOP addressing cuts, holding governor-elect to her word

Minnesota Republicans say they plan to hold the governor-elect to a key campaign promise: avoid raising taxes.

“She ran on a lot of Republican ideas, ideas that Republicans support,” Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said.

Niska, the new House Minority Leader, said that includes not raising taxes.

When asked about cuts, Niska said the number of state workers should not be the main measure, adding the focus should be on providing services as effectively and efficiently as possible.

“I’m not sure that it’s about the number of employees exactly. There are a lot of open positions in state government that haven’t been filled, frankly, and it’s not about the number of people there. It’s really, to me, about the culture of the folks that are there,” Niska said.

“I just don’t think that the exact number of employees should be the metric or the primary ...