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Former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, says she wants the focus of the 2012 session to be the work ahead, not on her.

Koch says that's why she's been been doing a series of media interviews before the start of session on Tuesday. She had been out of the public eye since resigning her leadership post in December amid allegations of having a relationship with a male Senate staffer. Koch still won't comment on anything about the relationship. In an interview today with MPR News, she said she's been trying to bounce back from what she describes as an "unbelievably difficult situation."

"I bear responsibility for this, but it's really hard," Koch said. "I mean it's something that I would never wish on anybody. So, you make a decision then when something this difficult happens, you have to kind of make a decision to pick yourself. It's actually a conscious choice that you have to make to say all right, I'm going to pick myself up and move forward."

Koch said her previous decision to not seek re-election to her Senate seat in November still stands.

Politics and Government News

Capitol View®

Tim Pugmire

Author

Still not talking about private matters.


Koch talks present and future, not past

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