As Bluestem Prairie noted in Tales of Hoffman: supporter blames "Book of Rules for the Old Boys Club" for ethics ruling, the Fergus Falls Journal's letters and comment sections are buzzing with local supporters of Senator Hoffman.
In the worldview of these folks, Hoffman is a victim of DFLers and the Old Boys Club, both forces which rule the Minnesota Senate's Subcommittee on Ethics. One letter writer, Peter Balega (Becker County Republican Chair in 2010), noted Friday that Goodwin should be the one apologizing.
Okay then.
Perhaps these Otter Tail and Becker County conservative stalwarts can contact Politics in Minnesota to ask why it's carrying content like that in this afternoon's story, Hoffman ethics complaint dropped:
The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against GOP freshman Sen. Gretchen Hoffman over a tweet she sent out about DFL Sen. Barb Goodwin in the midst of a heated health and human services debate.
GOP Senate Ethics Chair Michelle Fischbach issued a letter Tuesday saying Hoffman has fulfilled the requirements set by the committee and the complaint has been dropped. Last Monday the committee ruled that Hoffman must issue a written apology to Goodwin, delete the original tweet, and post the committee resolution on her Twitter account.
Hoffman angered DFLers when she tweeted that Goodwin had “just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill” on the floor in May. Goodwin was referencing the fact that state institutions for those with mental illness used to be called “institutions for idiots, imbeciles, and the insane,” and asked Hoffman to apologize on the floor. When she did not receive an apology, DFL Sen. Ann Rest filed an ethics complaint.
Hoffman sent a written apology late last week and removed the original tweet from her account, but further angered DFLers by closing her old account and tweeting the report link on a new account with no followers.
Perhaps the OTC/BC GOP sorts who champion Hoffman's victim status will have the chance to ask a member of the Old Boys Club of the Ethics Subcommittee in person why they oppress poor Gretchen at a rally next Tuesday.
Via the events page of the 7th CD Republican Party on Facebook, political junkies learn about:
Tuesday, June 28 · 5:30pm - 8:30pmNP Park, Fergus Falls, MN
This is a rally to show support of a conservative budget. Speakers include Senator Gretchen Hoffman, Representative Mary Franson, Peter Balega, Brian Nelson, Danielle Saul, and Brian Kohout. Representative Nornes, Representative Murdock, Representative, Westrom and Senator Ingebrightsen have been invited to speak as well.
Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, played the adult for much of the hearing and provided a little levity with his lack of sophistication in social media.
"I struggle with this, Twitter-Tweeter thing we have there," he said.
"Anybody who knows me, I get up every morning, roll the stone from the front of my cave and drag my knuckles to work."
Ingebrigtsen noted that his statements had been misstated on social media before, but "my skin is a little thicker than others'," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth its weight in tweet, or Twitter."
Then Ingebrigtsen offered some wisdom that could only come from a knuckle-dragger: Hoffman should probably apologize at some point. He didn't post it on Facebook or send it out on his iPad, he just said it, straight up. The committee agreed and told Hoffman to remove the tweet.
It seemed like a very adult thing to do.
Ah, yes, telling Hoffman to remove the tweet and apologize. The old boy has some explaining to do if he shows in Fergus Falls in a week. The peanut gallery in Otter Tail County claims only DFLers object to Hoffman's tweet--will Ingebrightsen uncloak his secret donkey self?
More seriously: will Hoffman do the mature thing and set her local supporters, some of whom are local Republican party officials, straight about the ethics process and her own apology? Since the letters are appearing in the local paper, Hoffman might want to put her corrections in writing in the paper as well.
Or does she approve of their mispresentations of the record and the Senate ethics process, including the conduct of that process by the Republican President of the Senate?
Photo: Gretchen Hoffman. Bluestem is not making this stuff up; these letters and comments really are in the local paper.
Lawyers, puns and money: on doing the right thing, and moving on
Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history
Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn seller's "sensitivity" defense unravels, forced to apologize
Tales of Hoffman: Senate Ethics Committee to workshop freshman pol's tweet on Monday
Tales of Hoffman: Vergas yarn peddler slapped with ethics beef; local editorial jeers her tweet
Tales of Hoffman: Unsweet tweet may meet ethics complaint fate
Tales of Hoffman; or, Newman off-shores Minnesota job-killing tax blame game
Tales of Hoffman: Attention gay Raelians! Schedule your next skeet shoot in Fergus Falls!
Why do I have the feeling Hoffman's supporters are delivering Kvetchin' Gretchen's kvetches so she doesn't have to do so? That way she would get to say "but I really did apologize" when confronted even as the swarming of her letter-writing brigade makes it seem as if other folks are the ones in the wrong.
And I thought Nixon had perfected the non-denial denial during Watergate.
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Jun 22, 2011 at 02:22 PM