Editorial on Minnesota AG allegations

The Star Tribune ran an editorial calling for an independent investigation of the allegations involving the Minnesota Attorney General's office. Lori Swanson has been attacked by some current and former staff members who have accused her of ethical wrongdoing and union-busting. The editorial notes that these are only allegations thus far that may, as Swanson suggests, be politically motivated. Nevertheless, they argue and I agree, that because of the power and importance of that office, these serious allegations must be independently investigated. They suggest the Legislative Auditor, who has looked into the Secretary of State's practices around public data, the lawfulness of the governor's JOBZ program, and state lottery agency misappropriation of funds.

I don't know if the Attorney General would accept and cooperate with an outside investigation. I would hope she would. Busy legislators need to first call for such an investigation rather than remain silent. I'm looking forward to hearing a DFL legislator do the right thing and call for an investigation of his or her fellow DFLer, Lori Swanson.

More news on MN AG office disarray

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?

Attorney in AG office put on leave

UPDATE: The Star Tribune is running an Associated-Press piece right now on the lawyer being placed on leave.

Breaking news from the MinnPost.

Eric Black opens:

"Amy Lawler, the assistant attorney general quoted in a MinnPost story Friday about upheaval, fear and retribution in Minnesota Attorney General's Office (AGO), was placed on administrative leave Monday night, in apparent retribution for speaking to MinnPost."

Lawler was told she was being put on leave because she went to the media about an ethics concern when she should have filed a complaint with the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board instead.

What surprises me after reading Black's original story in the MinnPost last Friday was the lack of further media attention. There seems to be a lot of dysfunction in the office of Attorney General Lori Swanson. As far as I can tell, the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have yet to cover any aspect of this story. Searching on their websites, none of the local news stations have looked at the matter. Not even Twin Cities Public Television public affairs programs Almanac and Almanac at the Capitol. Only Minnesota Public Radio has given the matter attention, running a piece by Tim Pugmire last week.

Trouble in the AG office?

Both the Minn Post and MPR are running pieces about the personnel chaos pre-staging and continuing through a unionizing effort at the Minnesota Attorney General's office. New Attorney General Lori Swanson has not been well received by her employees and there has been some suggestion that some employees were retaliated against for their unionizing efforts.

Most troubling is the alleged circulation of an anti-unionizing, loyalty oath that was passed along to employees. A couple other allegations surfaced of staff attorneys being pressed to create legal cases in politically relevant ways in tight timelines, despite the lack of facts supporting going forward with a prosecution. An assistant attorney-general told reporter Eric Black that "Swanson told her to find someone to sue, draft a complaint and file suit within a week." I'm not a prosecuting attorney, but as I understand it, usually you allow the facts of the case guide you when making a decision whether to draft a complaint.

I voted for Swanson in the 2006 general election, but not in the primary. It's difficult to imagine the same allegations had Steve Kelley been elected Attorney General. Especially with Mike Hatch not in the governor's office and able to protect his protege, I would fully expect an intra-party challenge to Swanson come 2010.