The Star Tribune had just reported on October 15 that the United States House of Representatives January 6 investigation committee had set a vote on whether former Trump advisor Steve Bannon should be held in contempt for refusing appear before the committee.
Naturally, that would be the ideal moment for aspiring Minnesota Republican Attorney General candidate Doug Wardlow to appear on Bannon's War Room to talk about how Attorney General Keith is responsible for lawlessness in Minneapolis and does "just about nothing else" other than focusing on prosecuting police officers.
That should come to quite the shock to the Otto Bremer Trust. Or those on the receiving end of other actions listed here. But we digress.
Most of those who noticed the clip on social media in the advent of Thursday's news item, House votes to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt, didn't look at the content of the interview, but rather the obvious irony of a man seek to be a "law and order" Attorney General speaking on a show with a guy Congress wants to talk to about the January 6 riots inside the United States capitol.
Former Republican party and state senate operative Michael Brodkorb tweeted:
NEW: A congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol approved holding Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for failing to cooperate with a subpoena. Yet @doug_wardlow appeared on Bannon’s show recently to talk about “...lawlessness!” https://t.co/vKQQSJd5RM
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) October 20, 2021
But as a poor country blogger who fills her time during Minnesota legislative sessions watching hearings on bills and reading about bills, we were more taken by this passage:
You know, Keith Ellison--in fact, the attorney general can step in and should step in and should hire more prosecutors and send them out and take over prosecutions of folks that are committing violent crime, looting and rioting but instead, Keith Ellison's been focusing on prosecuting the police and just about nothing else.
We've mentioned the Otto Bremer Trust Case--and there are high profile consumer protection actions that Ellison's AG office has achieved. But Wardlow's "should hire more prosecutors" recalled a couple of articles published during budget years about Attorney General Ellison's vision for his office.
Take the January 2019 reportage for Minnesota Lawyer by Kevin Featherly in Keith Ellison seeks criminal unit boost:
Attorney General Keith Ellison told lawmakers last week that he will seek money this year to expand his office’s criminal division.
In his first testimony before any legislative committee on Jan. 17, Ellison told the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee that his biennial budget request will seek to bulk up that unit.
His committee appearance was mostly a get-acquainted session, giving Ellison a chance to fill lawmakers in on his role as AG and to field a few questions. He made no formal budget request, but offered a strong hint about what would ask for.
“I will tell you that we plan on submitting a supplemental request that will reflect the needs that I have been hearing about from my partners who are county attorneys,” Ellison said.
The AG’s criminal division is authorized to assist county attorneys in difficult criminal prosecutions when they ask for help. Ellison didn’t say how many additional lawyers he wants to hire or how much money he would need. He said only that “the request will be modest and will reflect the actual needs.”
In an interview, Ellison said he wasn’t ready to shed any further light on the plan. “But it’s a debate we’ve got to have,” Ellison said. “We need resources to help our people.”
In 2018, both Ellison and his GOP opponent Doug Wardlow campaigned on adding heft to the AG’s criminal division. The unit was sharply pared down after Skip Humphrey left office in 1999. Subsequent AGs emphasized consumer fraud, civil litigation and other activities within the office.
Ellison told senators last week that Minnesota county attorneys have convinced him in talks that they want more assistance from his office.
“County attorneys in greater Minnesota are excellent lawyers,” Ellison told the Senate committee. “But when you consider a county that has only one or two county attorneys on staff, and you have one murder there, that totally upsets the balance. Somebody has to cover the regular calendar.”
Ellison is likely to get support for his request from senators within his own party. But two Republicans on the Senate State Government committee were split in their opinions about the pending request.
Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, is himself an attorney who has worked as a public defender and administrative law judge. He supports the unit’s expansion and said it is long overdue.
“For many years the attorney general’s office was very active in criminal prosecutions,” Newman said in an interview. “That portion of the office almost doesn’t exist anymore and it is sorely needed.”
Newman said many outstate county attorneys don’t have the wherewithal, expertise or the staff to handle the most complex criminal investigations.
“But they are nevertheless really serious criminal matters,” Newman said. “When asked, that is when the attorney general does have a legal obligation, in my estimation, to step in and help. And that is what I think [Ellison] is going to do.”
The committee’s chair was less enthusiastic. Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, said that if Ellison wants to bulk up the unit, he should first look for ways to shift money around within his existing budget.
Kiffmeyer said she doubts her GOP Senate caucus—which currently holds a two-seat majority in the upper chamber—would support his request. . . .
Kiffmeyer won on that one.
But Ellison didn't give up, trying again with this year's legislative budget session. Stephen Montemayor reported for the Star Tribune in Keith Ellison reshaping Minnesota Attorney General's Office with eye on criminal justice.
While that article frames the reshaping around the Chauvin trial, Montemayor noted:
. . . But [Ellison] wants to return the office's criminal division to the stature it held in the 1990s under Hubert Humphrey III when it had 12 full-time criminal attorneys. Just one remained when Ellison took office. . . .
Ellison's budget request this year faces an uphill climb. The GOP-controlled Senate has vowed since last year to seek retribution for his enforcement of Walz's executive orders during the pandemic. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka's initial budget offer to House Democrats proposed to waive penalties for businesses that violated the orders.
The House passed a state agency appropriation bill with added money for the AG office, but the senate did not. The Senate wouldn't budge in conference committee.
We're also curious how many county attorneys are working with the Attorney General's office beyond the cases related to the Floyd killer and Officer Potter's case in the killing of Duante Wright. We'll update this post with that number.
UPDATE, 10/22/2021 Via an email from Deputy Chief of Staff John Stiles, here's the list of cases the Criminal Division of the Minnesota Attorney General's office is currently handling with county attorneys;
In district court:
State v. Munoz-Teran, Big Stone County (fugitive)
State v. Victor Morales, Grant County
State v. Christopher Colgrove, Clearwater County
State v. Jonathan Greyblood, Morrison County
State v. Eric Reinbold, Pennington County
State v. Nicholas Thompson, Jackson County
State v. Sheldon Thompson, Carlton County
State v. Neil Dolan, Clearwater County
State v. Ricardo Martinez, Todd County
State v. Devin Weiland, Freeborn County
State v. Hardy Wills-Traxler, Le Sueur County
State v. Robert West, Cook County
State v. Tommi Hintz, Cook County
State v. Jacob Johnson. Cook County
State v. Janelle Johnson, Beltrami County
Currently on appeal (of cases we prosecuted):
State v. Jason Bolstad, Kanabec County, Becker County
State v. Devin Pulczinski, Pennington County
State v. Morris Dodd, Becker County
State v. Braxton Anderson, Chippewa County
Currently on postconviction review in the district court (of cases we prosecuted):
State v. Kenneth Andersen, Becker County
State v. Jeffery Silvernail, Wilkin County
State v. Jonas Nelson, Le Sueur County
According to Stiles, no one these cases involve law enforcement officers as defendents.
[end update]
We can only conclude that if Wardlow really wants Ellison to hire more criminal lawyers, he should call Mary Kiffmeyer and ask her to introduce money for that in supplemental spending when the legislature convenes next year. Since she's turned Ellison down twice, even she shouldn't have much trouble coming up with a figure that will get the job done.
Here's the Rumble clip:
A more complete transcript that begins with Wardlow's comments:
Wardlow: . . .Violent crime is absolutely out of control in Minneapolis and St. Paul. There's really a general insurrection going on in our state against law and order. That really is the problem and Keith Ellison, he is at the root of this , he's one of the causes of this.
Just last weekend, there was a shootout in a very popular St. Paul bar, in downtown St. Paul, and a 27-year-old woman was killed in the crossfire ,and fourteen others were injured.
And just last night, in Minneapolis, inside of 45 minutes, there were three separate shootings and at least six people were injured. So it is absolute chaos in our state of Minnesota and this is happening in Democrat-controlled cities across the United States. So we have to restore law and order and Keith Ellison isn't doing anything about it.
Bannon: Is this part of the "defund the police" problem and can an Attorney General really step in? Ae we seeing the manifestation of the "defund the police" when we see the shootings that are out-of-control and the police don't show up because they're understaffed and under-resourced?
Wardlaw: That's exactly right. You know, Keith Ellison--in fact, the attorney general can step in and should step in and should hire more prosecutors and send them out and take over prosecutions of folks that are committing violent crime, looting and rioting but instead, Keith Ellison's been focusing on prosecuting the police and just about nothing else.
And now he's come out in favor of a proposal in Minneapolis that would actually dismantle the entire police department; dismantle the entire police department and replace it with a department of public safety, that would take a comprehensive public health to policing the , a public safety approach and no one actually knows what that means, an absolutely insane proposal and yet Keith Ellison is absolutely supporting it. He's using the bully pulpit of the AG's office to push this nonsense that will eliminate police in Minneapolis, largely.
Bannon summarizes that and the clip ends.
Photo: Attorney General Keith Ellison makes his first committee appearance before the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee on Jan. 17, 2019. (Staff photo: Kevin Featherly/ Minnesota Lawyer.
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