Mille Lacs walleye working group adjourns suddenly; special session unlikely

Gov. Mark Dayton and state lawmakers deadlocked Thursday over his push to provide up to $20 million for Lake Mille Lacs businesses struggling with a premature end to the walleye fishing season, leaving the DFL governor once again unable to marshal political support for a top priority.

A working group of legislators and administration officials tasked with assembling an aid package abruptly adjourned Thursday on an acrimonious note, diminishing the prospects for a special session to bail out a summer walleye season that ended last week because of population decline.

“If they do not want to help Mille Lacs resorters and residents in a special session, they should say so,” Dayton, in Mexico on a trade mission, said of legislators in a prepared statement.

http://www.startribune.com/mille-lacs-walleye-working-group-adjourns-suddenly-special-session-unlikely/321776841/