Eric Black seems to be one of the only reporters spending time on this, which is quite disconcerting. Today, more detailed allegations from multiple sources on unethical and union busting practices from Attorney General Lori Swanson and some of her minions. Only Tim Pugmire at Minnesota Public Radio has also given decent coverage to the allegations.
It is also unclear whether state legislators are giving any consideration to holding hearings on these serious allegations. The only lawmaker I know of who has called for investigations is Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano). Emmer is seen as an oddball among some of his own Republican colleagues and is unlikely to singlehandedly convince the DFL majority to hold investigative hearings. Though that hasn't stopped him from trying.
I don't know enough about Minnesota legislative jurisdiction to know who would have the authority to hold hearings. The House doesn't have any judiciary committee. There Emmer has focused his efforts on the all-powerful Rules Committee chair and house majority leader, Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm). The Senate does have a judiciary committee, but I don't know what if the Attorney General's office falls within their scope. Reluctance of DFL legislators in investigating the Attorney General are understandable. She's a DFLer and the Attorney General is a constitutional office elected by the people of Minnesota. Still, if their were allegations of ethical lapses and union busting activities by the governor, you can bet they'd be itching to look at that.
Amy Lawler, the lawyer put on leave last week after going public with some of these concerns responded with a letter and attachments 27 pages long. She presents a pretty damning case on a number of fronts on the goings-on in that office. Check out the full letter here [pdf]. After reading this, I don't know how legislators could NOT call for an investigation.
An aside: Isn't 'Amy Lawler' just about the perfect name for a lawyer?
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