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Republicans want top officials from the Dayton administration to answer questions about what they knew of problems with the MNsure health exchange before its rocky launch on Oct. 1.

Citing recent news reports, Republicans on a MNsure oversight committee said that DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and his top advisers were warned about health exchange defects "well in advance of their decision to make the website available to consumers," they wrote in a letter sent Monday to the DFL chairs of the committee.

Asking that Dayton's human services commissioner, former chief of staff and the former MNsure executive director attend a committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the Republicans wrote: "Minnesotans deserve answers to the continued questions about the management failure at MNsure prior to its launch."

Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, co-chairman of the legislative oversight committee, said in a voicemail message Monday that he had forwarded the letter to Dayton and expected "the administration to have people to answer questions appropriately" during the meeting.

Linden Zakula, a spokesman for Dayton, blasted the request in a statement, saying Republicans should be "as interested in hearing current good news, as they are in dredging up old bad news."

Two proposed witnesses are no longer employed by the state, Zakula said. Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson said Monday she is scheduled to testify at a Senate committee meeting on funding for the state security hospital in St. Peter -- but if that ends soon enough, she may be able to attend the oversight hearing.

The Republicans' letter, Zakula said, makes "outrageously false statements about MNsure's current condition, while they attempt to divert the committee's attention to circumstances that are six months old."

Republicans said in their letter that the Wednesday session provides "a unique opportunity to follow up with those from the governor's office and MNsure about their joint decision to go live on October 1."

The letter was written by oversight committee members Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake; Sen. Sean Nienow, R-Cambridge; Rep. Tara Mack, R-Apple Valley; and Rep. Joe Hoppe, R-Chaska.

On Sept. 19, Dayton was briefed by MNsure leaders and told there was a possibility that the health exchange website might not be able to launch on Oct. 1, Zakula said. The meeting with Dayton was reported Sunday by the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper.

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Republicans on MNsure oversight panel seek answers on rollout problems