Just this morning Bluestem observed that we simply can't make this stuff up about the Republican Party of Minnesota when it comes to scandal and mayhem.
Tonight on 45 Local News' 9:00 p.m. broadcast, Jay Kolls reported that Representative Steve Smith had an "inappropriate relatioship" with a staffer, who was reassigned to a different area of the House, before leaving employment at the chamber. The report is the be expanded on KSTP 5 at 10.
Steve Smith, Republican of Mound, chairs the House Ethics Committee. This is political goatse of the best sort.
No post on either Hubbard Broadcasting station yet, but Kolls' tweeted a heads up. My, my.
Update: It's leading Channel 5's news, which reports that Smith was first approached by leadership to knock it off in summer. I'll post the link as it appears. Here it is: Another State Lawmaker Faces Questions About "Inappropriate" Relationship.
At least Smith voted no on the marriage inequality amendment, and no spouse is listed on his official legislative page, so City Pages won't be forced to publish another letter apologizing for the threat of gay marriage sneaking across the Iowa border and destroying Republican wedlock.
Channel 5 is reporting that Smith has been removed at the Judiciary committee chair but no word on the Ethics Committee assignment.
Second Update: A friend who is clever with the Web's Wayback Machine reports that Smith once had a spouse named "Cindi" listed on his site (take this 2003 Wayback link for instance) but that Cindi vanishes by 2007.
The Minnesota Republicans will soon learn to handle their affairs like the Washington Republicans did a few years ago...simply "turn over another page".
Posted by: T Pa or Coffee | Jan 11, 2012 at 04:41 PM