While state Senator Scott Newman's local supporters cling to the talking point that their favorite son had only declined to meet with lobbyists, even though the local paper noted that the Minnesota Nurses Association had asked for a constituent meeting for a member, questions continue to be raised in west central Minnesota about the toxic email.
In Newman aide was wrong on meetings, the West Central Tribune in Willmar first notes the flap, then observes:
Once his “no meeting with opponent supporters” position became public, Newman issued a statement apologizing for the e-mail and accepting responsibility.
He also said, “It is not his policy to reject meeting requests on a political or partisan basis.”
We would hope so.
Any elected official is elected to represent all the people of their district, not just one political side or the other.
We commend Newman for stepping up quickly to clarify his position on meeting with the public regardless of political or partisan position.
The remaining issue is where Newman’s staffer got the idea to write this e-mail in the first place and what discipline the staffer received.
Those questions have not been sufficiently addressed by Newman.
In Senator Newman's timeline of #Epicfail, a blog post--re-published here with permission--Newman's opponent asks some of the hard questions, using the helpful investigative tool of a timeline:
. . .the timeline of the Newman email and following events interests me. Something just doesn't seem right.
At 2pm on Thursday January 20th, Senator Newman's LA sent the email that created the firestorm we witnessed yesterday. According to one reporter, they had placed a call to Senator Newman's office around 4:30 on Thursday asking for a response. Senator Newman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Friday January 21st, according to reporters at the Pioneer Press and the Startribune, both called Senator Newman's office and requested verification of the email and for the Senator to explain the response. Senator Newman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Monday January 24th, the same Startribune reporter called Senator Newman's office again asking for verification and asking for the Senator to comment. Senator Newman didn't respond to a request for comment. Later that afternoon the story broke at Bluestem Prairie. While Senator Newman failed to respond to repeated requests for comment, per Sally Jo at Bluestem, the Minnesota Republican Party had already been trolling her blog looking at the post. I find it hard to believe that former GOP hate blogger, State Senate employee, and Vice Chair of the Minnesota GOP Michael Brodkorb failed to see this coming.
Finally on Tuesday January 25th, after the AP ran a story picked up by the Pioneer Press, Startribune, and news feeds across the State of Minnesota, Senator Newman's office first responded by saying that Senator Newman would not comment and Kelley was unable to comment about her email. Later Newman responded that this was all a "innocent mistake" placing the blame with his Legislative Assistant. . . .. . .Do you really believe that Senator Newman's Legislative Assistant fired off that disrespectful response on a Thursday afternoon and didn't tell her boss about this until Tuesday morning? AFTER reporters from at least 3 media outlets were requesting the Senator to comment, since Thursday afternoon? Do you really think Senator Newman's LA came up with the reverse "pay to play" scheme on her own? Out of 75 comments at the Startribune on this story, only 2 seem to believe Newman's hastily concocted story. . . .
No wonder the West Central Tribune still has questions.
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