When Bluestem last left Vergas' former yarn peddler State Senator Gretchen Hoffman, she'd just been slapped with an ethics complaint for her budding genius as a creative writer of twitterverse.
As readers may recall, Senate Majority Leader Michael Brodkorb had retweeted her imaginative take on a floor statement by DFL colleague Barbara Goodwin, inventing a storyline in which Goodwin called people with disabilities names.
Hoffman later thickened the plot by reiterating that Goodwin indeed meant the things that the Republican claimed.
Now, this fanciful development gets its day on The Uptake. MPR reports in Senate Ethics Committee schedules hearing on Hoffman complaint:
The Senate Ethics Committee has scheduled a Monday morning hearing to discuss DFL Sen. Ann Rest's complaint against GOP Sen. Gretchen Hoffman.
Rest filed the complaint in the final days of the 2011 legislative session. She said Hoffman mischaracterized DFL Sen. Barb Goodwin's comments during a Senate debate on her Twitter feed.
"Sen Goodwin just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill #offensive #mndfl #mnsrc #mnleg"Hoffman's tweet was redistributed when Senate Republican Caucus spokesman Michael Brodkorb retweeted it so his 2,500 followers could read it.
The offense:
Both Goodwin and Rest said Hoffman misrepresented Goodwin's remarks. Goodwin said she was talking about the history of developmental disabilities and mental illness in Minnesota during a debate over the Health and Human Services budget bill. Hoffman refused to apologize and said she was "offended" by Goodwin's remarks.
The four member Ethics Committee will decide whether Hoffman published material that she knew was false and whether Hoffman violated a rule that says members of the Senate should adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct.
Pop some corn.
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