Another reason to fire Carol Molnau

The Star Tribune unearths that Carol Molnau sold $3 million of land to a developer 8 days after a bill she successfully pushed for the passage of an expansion of a state highway in close proximity to the land. This was when she was in the Legislature in 2000. She has spent the past 5 years as the Lieutenant-Governor and the Department of Transportation Commissioner. Her tenure has had its failings.

The article gives more specifics and looks into what the ethical rules are pertaining to conflict of interest in the state Legislature. For me, it's just one more reason why the Legislature should fire Carol Molnau from her position at the DOT. Governor Pawlenty clearly isn't and she doesn't have the good sense to resign.

The article is a good piece of investigation. It delves into Molnau's pre-legislative career as a local official in Chaska involved in road and land-use decision-making that appears to have financially benefited her directly.
Regarding the sale of land a week after her conference committee finalized the highway's fate, Molnau asserts that putting the highway expansion of the burgeoning suburb had no impact on their sale price. The assertion challenges her credibility a bit. Alternatively, if we take that as her honest opinion, it's still a reason to fire her. If the head of the Department of Transportation doesn't think that suburban/exurban highway expansions would impact the property value of undeveloped land less than a mile away, maybe she's not qualified to be making transportation decisions.

Perhaps the future of the Minnesota state highway system: