When we ran a Google news search on Jim Hagedorn for the past week, we found a handful of stories--aside from the supporter/non-supporter letters-to-the editor--that weren't related to his franking scandal. And that hand would belong to someone who lost a finger or two in the workplace.
There's The Hill's article, Hispanic Caucus campaign arm endorses slate of non-Hispanic candidates, which mentions the Caucus's endorsement of Hagedorn's opponent, Dan Feehan. In the Albert Lea Tribune article, Local residents rally for Postal Service, we learn organizers hadn't heard back from Hagedorn's office about the issue.
But since any news is good news, according to the old cliche, one might say Hagedorn's got this scandal going for him.
The most recent article, Gabe Schneider's D.C. Memo: A big franking problem, at MinnPost, tells readers:
First District Rep. Jim Hagedorn is in the news for a few reasons. For one, Legistorm pointed out that he’s spent the most money of any House office in the first quarter of 2020. Most of it was spent on letters and postcards sent by franked mail, a congressional privilege that allows members to send their constituents mail for free (the cost is for the companies that printed the mail).
But more importantly, Daniel Newhauser, a freelancer at The Minnesota Reformer, pointed out that he’s been paying some of it to a part-time employee in his office: a violation of House ethics rules. Since then, Hagedorn has fired his chief of staff and hired a lawyer.
Want to get up to date on what happened? Read more at MinnPost.
The DFL hosted a panel with several campaign finance experts, who said Hagedorn’s office had clearly violated congressional rules. Craig Holman, one of the most prominent experts in government ethics in the country, said that if Hagedorn knew about the payments, the consequences will be severe.
“That is a clear violation of congressional rules and this is clearly on the agenda of the House Ethics Committee. At the very least, I would expect Hagedorn to reimburse the federal treasury for whatever spending was in violation of the rules,” Holman said. “However, if Hagedorn was more culpable and knew what was going on, the consequences would be even more severe, including a possible censure from the House of Representatives.”
Additionally, Patrick Condon and Briana Bierschbach at the Star Tribune obtained emails showing Hagedorn was involved in making constituent mail decisions.
In a recent statement, Hagedorn responded to both the DFL and the reporting from the Strib:
“The nuts and bolts duties of establishing franking service, hiring vendors, and sending out mail were fully delegated to my former chief of staff,” Hagedorn said. “For Democrats and the Star Tribune to conflate those duties with my work to review mass mail communications or help staff field media inquiring about our office budget is complete nonsense, careless journalism, and purposefully mixing apples and oranges to further this non-story.“
Over at Bring Me The News, we learn Pressure on Rep. Jim Hagedorn rises as DFL calls for ethics probe:
Minnesota Congressman Jim Hagedorn is under increasing pressure after it emerged his office used tax dollars to partner with a business owned by one of his staff members.
DFL party leaders denounced Hagedorn’s recent campaign spending Wednesday alongside a government ethics expert. The 1st District Congressman, who was among the highest spenders in the U.S. House in the first quarter of the year, spent $100,000 on a Texas-based company Invocq to do some of the printing for his campaign mailings. First reported by the Minnesota Reformer, the company is part-owned by Hagedorn staffer John Sample.
“What Hagedorn has done with his franking privilege is hired Invocq technologies, a company partially owned by a staff member in Hagedorn’s office,” said Craig Holman, an expert in government ethics with Public Citizen, in a DFL release.
“That is a clear violation of congressional rules and this is clearly on the agenda of the House Ethics Committee. At the very least, I would expect Hagedorn to reimburse the federal treasury for whatever spending was in violation of the rules.”
...After the spending came to light, Hagedorn fired his chief of staff Peter Su. Hagedorn told the Daily Caller he took immediate actions after learning of the issue in June. He also said he will stay within his $1.4 million office budget for the year, and that the mailings were approved by the House Administration Committee.
Hagedorn claimed he had fully delegated responsibilities of the mailings to Su. But emails obtained by the Star Tribune show Hagedorn was involved with mailing decisions in 2019 and early 2020. . . .
There's more at BMTN. At the Minnesota Reformer, Daniel Newhauser reported in Exclusive: Hagedorn says he does not own mysterious company, Abernathy West:
Rep. Jim Hagedorn said for the first time Thursday that he does not own a mysterious company his office has paid more than $300,000 for printing.
In an exclusive interview with the Minnesota Reformer, Hagedorn said that he has nothing to do with Abernathy West, which hides its ownership structure behind Delaware incorporation paperwork. The comments came one day after a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official and campaign finance experts called on Hagedorn to explain his relationship with the company.
“I do not own Abernathy West,” Hagedorn told the Reformer in a telephone interview. “I don’t own it. I have no interest in it. I have nothing to do with it. However those relationships were put together to have our printing done — which was all done in Rochester, Minn., by the way — I was not aware of it.”
Hagedorn’s spending on printing — which recently outpaced what many congressional offices spend on their entire office staff and expenses — has drawn scrutiny after a Reformer investigation revealed the outlays made to Abernathy West and another company owned by a member of Hagedorn’s own staff.
In a previous statement issued on Wednesday, Hagedorn said he fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, in June over the questionable spending. On Thursday, he further explained to the em>Reformer that he was unhappy about what he was getting in return for the money his office was spending on printing and sending mail, which amounted to about 20% of his annual office budget in just the first three months of the year.
“I was concerned about the fact that we weren’t getting value for what we did,” he said.
Hagedorn, however, declined to answer who does own Abernathy West. He also declined to address questions about payments his office made to the other company, Invocq Technologies, which is owned by John Brevard Sample, who was at least until recently a part-time congressional aide to Hagedorn. Paying a company owned by a staff member is a violation of House ethics rules, according to several ethics experts.
Hagedorn said he would rather wait for the results of an internal review, which is being conducted by well-known D.C. ethics lawyer Elliot Berke.
“We’re going to have our internal review completed. Our lawyer’s working on all that. At that time we will tell you whatever we can tell you about that,” Hagedorn said. “We’ll wait for our independent review. We’ll get it out. We’ll talk about all these things. That should happen shortly.” . . .
Fox 9's Theo Keith reported Thursday in Hagedorn points finger at fired staffer for questionable spending, answers few questions:
U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn pointed the finger at his now-fired chief of staff Wednesday for questionable spending of taxpayer money that has raised ethical concerns, and declined to answer questions about how much he knew about the spending.
In the first three months of 2020, Hagedorn's office spent $570,000 of his annual $1.4 million congressional budget and doled out much of the money to pay for constituent mail services. At issue: two companies -- one led by a Hagedorn staffer and another with mysterious ownership -- received most of the payments.
With the spending coming to light in recent weeks, Hagedorn has fired his chief of staff and hired an outside lawyer -- a sign that he could be expecting a House ethics investigation. Minnesota Democrats said they were talking to members of the state's congressional delegation about the process to file an ethics complaint, but said they expected the House to take up the matter regardless of whether a formal complaint got filed.
"It’s very clear this is more than just smoke here," Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin told reporters Wednesday. "There's clearly a fire now. Is this a five-alarm fire or not?"
Hagedorn's office paid $101,000 over the past year to Invocq Technologies, LLC, a Houston-based company that lists Hagedorn staffer John Sample as its registered agent, director, chief financial officer and chief technology officer, according to Texas business filings.
The spending includes $60,000 for printing and reproduction in 2020, plus $41,000 last September, according to congressional office spending records. Spending during the second quarter of 2020 is not yet public.
Sample is a part-time staffer in Hagedorn's office, earning a roughly $45,000 a year salary, according to congressional salary records.
A second company, Abernathy West, LLC has received $340,000 over the same time period.
Delaware-based Abernathy West does not disclose its corporate leaders.
Emails to Hagedorn's congressional office spokesman went unanswered. Hagedorn declined to say whether Sample would remain on his public payroll or whether his office continues to pay Invocq Technologies. He also would not say who owns Abernathy West.
Instead, Hagedorn's campaign emailed a one-page statement from the congressman that addressed few of FOX 9's questions.
In the statement, Hagedorn said he first became aware of the spending issues in mid-June, fired his chief of staff, and hired the outside lawyer.
"The nuts and bolts duties of establishing franking services, hiring vendors, and sending out mail were fully delegated to my former chief of staff," Hagedorn said in the emailed statement.
Hagedorn declined to answer how much he was paying the outside lawyer. He did not say whether he thought the relationship between his office, Sample and Invocq Technologies was permissible. . . .
The Mankato Free Press editorial board opined Answers needed on mailings.
Who can argue with that?
Related posts:
- More MN Reformer: Expect an ethics complaint against Jim Hagedorn, DFL Chair Martin says
- But his emails! Strib reports Hagedorn personally involved in decisions about publicly funded mail
- Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media
- The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal
- Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
- MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?
- Hyperbole, much? Hagedorn's revelation about November 2020 is galloping nincompoopery
- Coals of criticism heaping on Jim Hagedorn; UnitedHealth Group says no more cash for you
- Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative" (2009)
- Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
- RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
- MN01: Meet a Hagedorn Washington legislative assistant working on agriculture issues
- MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings
- Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics
- MN01: Hagedorn echoes colleague's remark about kids being free to leave detention centers
- Congressman Hagedorn's campaign emails share only the finest COVID-19 news sources
Photo: A pensive Hagedorn, via CNN.
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