Minn. Senate panel to take up ethics complaint over 'tweet'
A Minnesota Senate panel takes up an ethics complaint Monday prompted by the "tweeting" of a first-term legislator.
The Ethics Subcommittee will discuss a complaint from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, who took issue with the comments Republican Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, R-Vergas made about another legislator on her Twitter feed. Rest contends that Hoffman knowingly mischaracterized the remarks of Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, during a floor debate on the Health and Human Services bill.
Hoffman tweeted that Goodwin had called people with mental illness idiots and imbeciles. But Goodwin said Hoffman took her words out of context.
The ethics panel will decide whether Hoffman published material that she knew was false and whether she violated a Senate rule that says members should adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct.
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