Rep. Harry Niska speaks on the House floor in February 2023. Photo by Andrew VonBank/House Information Services.
Minnesota House Republicans voted to hire three lawyers from Rep. Harry Niska’s law firm to represent the chamber in a lawsuit brought by House Democrats as the two sides battle over control of the chamber.
Republican members of the House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee, currently chaired by Niska, unanimously approved a resolution to hire attorneys Nicholas Nelson, Samuel Diehl and Ryan Wilson to represent the House of Representatives on the taxpayer’s dime.
Nelson and Diehl are both partners with Niska at the small Minnetonka law firm CrossCastle. Wilson, a former candidate for state auditor, is also an attorney at the firm.
Niska, a second-term representative from Ramsey, disclosed that the attorneys are his colleagues during Wednesday’s hearing but said he “doesn’t have a private interest” in the potential contract. He said he was not participating in the resolution to hire his colleagues.
No Democrats are listed as members of the rules committee; they are boycotting the legislative session in an attempt to deny Republicans the necessary quorum to elect a speaker and potentially refuse to seat a Democrat in a contested race. Democrats vow not to return to the Capitol until after a special election is held later this month in a blue-leaning district that is expected to return the balance of power to a 67-67 tie.
But House Republicans have carried on despite Democrats’ absence, electing Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, as their speaker and holding committee hearings. Republicans argue that their one-seat advantage gives them the necessary majority to conduct legislative business.
House Democrats and Secretary of State Steve Simon have both appealed to the Supreme Court to stop Republicans and invalidate everything they’ve done since the start of session on Tuesday afternoon.
House Democrats accused Republicans of self-dealing while conducting an illegal committee hearing.
“Minnesotans should be outraged that Rep. Niska is using an illegitimate power grab to enrich himself with taxpayer dollars,” Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, said in a statement. “The House GOP should immediately stop any taxpayer dollars going to pay for private counsel to defend their illegal conduct, let alone taxpayer dollars to pad the pockets of Rep. Niska.”
Democrats say they will use campaign funds to pay for their legal fees in the case.
Niska rejected the allegation that he would be personally enriched from the deal. He said on social media that the contract would not be with his firm, but with his colleagues acting independently. The resolution does not specify how much Niska’s colleagues could earn working on the case.
“We need to hire lawyers to defend our democratic institutions against DFL lawfare, so we are asking the legal team who helped protect the rights of Minnesotans to vote for President Trump last year,” Niska wrote on X.
Nelson and Diehl were among a handful of attorneys hired by the Trump campaign to intervene in a case brought by a left-leaning group attempting to keep him off the ballot in Minnesota in 2024.
A spokesman for House Republicans declined to comment beyond what Niska posted to social media.
Last month, Republicans expressed outrage when the rules committee — controlled at the time by a Democratic majority — agreed to pay more than $10,000 in private legal fees incurred by Rep. Bianca Virnig. The Eagan Democrat had a legal dispute with her private employer about loss of income and hours due to her legislative service. She won a six-figure settlement from the company.