Bluestem must be moving up the food chain in the Cities, because the DFL Senate Caucus actually sent me the following press release about the Scott Newman scandal.
Thank heaven for small favors, or I'd never know there was an ethics problem with my state senator.
January 27, 2011Senators seek ethics hearing regarding conduct of Sen. Scott Newman
Three members of the Minnesota Senate have signed and delivered a letter to Sen. Michelle Fischbach requesting the Senate’s ethics subcommittee begin an investigation into allegations concerning the conduct of Senator Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson. The subcommittee now has up to 30 days to meet and consider the complaint.
The letter was delivered to Sen. Fischbach this afternoon. A copy of the letter is attached PDF here: Ethics_subctee_letter.
The ethics hearing would center on an e-mail sent from Sen. Newman’s Capitol office to the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA). The MNA was seeking to set up a meeting between Sen. Newman and a nurse that lived in Sen. Newman’s district. In response, Sen. Newman’s office stated that he would not meet with the constituent, because the Minnesota Nurses Association had supported his opponent during his most recent reelection campaign.
Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, one of the members requesting an ethics hearing on the matter, offered the following statement:
“Requesting an ethics hearing is a very serious matter, and we spent considerable time reviewing the facts and public comments made by Sen. Newman. We still have many questions regarding this incident, and we hope that a complete and full investigation by the Senate ethics subcommittee will provide Minnesotans with some much-needed answers.
The facts are clear: Sen. Newman’s staff sent an e-mail stating the Senator would not meet with individuals or groups who contributed to or supported his opponent during his most recent election campaign. Nobody should feel like they need to pay a toll to gain access to their elected representative. We believe the ethics subcommittee should investigate this incident as quickly as possible in order to restore and maintain the public’s trust in this institution.”
Get the popcorn: I'll be watching this one.
You can tell the RPM's worried about this, because former "independent blogger" Brodkorb has been working his Twitter account like a rented mule trying to create a fake scandal around Tom Bakk's alleged dissing of social media. Whoop dee doooo!
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Jan 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM
By the way: Speaking of Twitter, which is the better hashtag for this -- #payforplay or #paytoplay?
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Jan 27, 2011 at 10:32 PM