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A key House Republican wants a special audit of Minnesota Commerce Department data procedures following 

 that top Commerce officials tried to limit public disclosure of internal communications.

House Civil Law and Data Practices Committee Chair Peggy Scott said Friday she asked Legislative Auditor James Nobles to conduct the review. Her request comes a week after an ex-assistant commissioner at Commerce sued the state alleging sexual harassment and high-level directives to destroy or otherwise withhold data.

"If it's accurate information, it's troubling," Scott, R-Andover, said of the claims. "The Legislature relies on data practices requests as does the public to have some transparency in our agencies. If they're trying to obstruct that transparency then that's a problem."

Nobles said he will conduct a preliminary review before deciding if a full-blown audit is warranted. He said the existence of pending litigation complicates things.

"When we get a request like this, we take it seriously," Nobles said. "I will do the best I can."

The state agency has faced scrutiny in recent years over its approval process for health insurance premiums, the exit of one insurance company from the MNsure exchange and over the way it regulated a Minneapolis nonprofit that was found to have misspent heating assistance grant dollars.

The Commerce Department provided a written statement in response.

"The Commerce Department is committed to public transparency and accountability," the statement read. "The department welcomes and will fully cooperate with any examination of the department’s data practices procedures that the Legislative Auditor thinks is appropriate."

Politics and Government News

Capitol View®

Brian Bakst

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A key House Republican wants a special audit of Minnesota Commerce Department data procedures following allegations that top Commerce officials tried to limit public disclosure of internal communications.

Lawmaker wants probe of Commerce data handling

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