Minnesota House reconvenes after break to dueling ethics complaints over member conduct
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As legislators return to duty this week, Republicans and Democrats in the knotted-up Minnesota House are engaging in back-and-forth ethics charges against members of the other party.
House DFL members filed an ethics complaint over a traffic stop that led to DWI charges against GOP Rep. Elliott Engen of Lino Lakes and scrutiny of his passenger, GOP Rep. Walter Hudson of Albertville, who had a handgun confiscated by White Bear Lake police who suspected alcohol use by him, too. Hudson was never tested, but gun permit holders face restrictions on drinking while carrying.
At the same time, Republicans intend to pursue an ethics complaint against DFL Rep. Alex Falconer over his past work with a Boundary Waters Canoe Area protection organization, and his advocacy for the BWCA as a member of the House.
Hudson and Engen have been removed by GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth from their committee assignments. They’ll be replaced by other Republican members to maintain the party balances on the panels.
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Democratic Reps. Jamie Long and Samantha Sencer-Mura, both of Minneapolis, submitted the ethics complaint against Engen and Hudson. Long accused them of shirking their public duties by consuming alcohol at a time Capitol business was being conducted in late March.
“It's a pretty outrageous thing to do to leave your committee that you've been appointed to, to go day drinking,” Long said. “So that, to our mind, violates the ethics of the House — certainly casts the House in a bad light. And that's something that our own process is designed to take care of.”
Long made it clear that the ethics complaint is not about the DWI, but rather about Engen and Hudson allegedly drinking before returning to their duties at the House. Other members of the House have also faced DWI charges in the past.
Engen and Hudson have issued statements, with Engen apologizing for his actions and Hudson saying he regretted making poor decisions. Engen told police during the March 27 stop that he had consumed alcohol late in the evening, according to a police report. A picture that circulated on social media showed the pair at a St. Paul bar and restaurant hours before a lengthy House floor session.
GOP House Leader Harry Niska said Demuth took appropriate action to strip the pair of committee assignments.
Demuth said that she based her decision to remove Hudson and Engen from committees based on the police report.
When asked about a photo from Facebook showing the two drinking at a bar before a House hearing, Demuth responded, “I received the police reports publicly available for anyone, and that's what I based my decisions off of. I'm not addressing a photo that was out there, not addressing that at this time.”
Demuth said she saw no indications that either were intoxicated during a floor debate on March 26.
“There was nothing to indicate any problem as far as the floor debate that we had a week ago or almost two weeks ago now, there was nothing to give me any pause,” she said.
Hudson posted on social media after the DFL said it would file an ethics complaint.
“Hearing the Democrats have filed an ethics compliant [sic] against me. Dumb move. You'd think they'd have learned by now. Never give me a platform,” Hudson wrote.
Niska called it “troubling” that Falconer was previously a lobbyist and continued on as a “senior advisor” to Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, which is what the lawmaker lists on an economic disclosure form. Niska noted Falconer legislation that would benefit the northern Minnesota rustic area.
“The appearance of being paid by an interest group that's lobbying in favor of legislation that he's carrying. That's a pretty clear no no for legislative ethics,” Niska said.
Niska noted that while Falconer lobbied both at the state and federal level — and appears not to have stopped that work at the federal level.
“We have a very clear House rule that says you cannot be a lobbyist and be a member of the Minnesota House,” he said.
Falconer released a statement Tuesday morning, calling the complaint against him “desperate.”
“It’s no surprise to my constituents that I care about the Boundary Waters; I literally campaigned with a canoe on top of my car,” he said. “I’ve spent more than a decade working to protect Minnesota’s crown jewel for all generations to come and am proud of my work. My legislative work on this issue was vetted with nonpartisan House experts. It’s all above board.”
Long said the Falconer situation seemed like a House GOP effort to “change the subject” from the police stop involving two members.
“They've had a series of news stories about the actions from Representative Engen and Representative Hudson, and once we noticed that we were bringing our ethics complaint, they decided to file one of their own,” Long said.
“He is not lobbying on the issues of the Boundary Waters. He has cut ties with that. And I don't think there's any violation for caring about an issue that you work on in your day job,” Long said. “We have teachers up here who carry bills that impact teachers. We have Boundary Waters advocates who carry bills that impact Boundary Waters.”
Long said Falconer does work on federal issues for the Boundary Waters, but not state issues.
Asked if this was a tit for tat situation, Niska answered that it is a response to “concerning public information about Alex Falconer, and then there was a public news story about it that kind of tied all the pieces together. So of course, it was important to bring that forward.”
