Lucero called for immediate investigation for senator charged with felony burglary

Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, continued his and his fellow Republicans’ efforts to strip Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, of her ability to vote.

Lucero expressed disdain for Senate Democrats rejecting the motion to immediately begin the ethics investigation, and he issued a second press release on the subject on April 29 after DFLers implicitly acknowledged Mitchell’s wrongdoing by stripping her committee assignments and removing her from participating in caucus meetings.

Mitchell, however, was the deciding vote of a Republican motion to prevent her from voting until the ethics complaint has been resolved.

“Moreover, Democrats used Sen. Mitchell’s tiebreaking vote to pass Democrat-authored legislation, calling into question the legitimacy of the Senate’s work,” Lucero stated in his release.

According to the release, Senate Republicans lodged several objections to Mitchell voting:

They first offered a motion to prohibit a senator from voting who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion.

Second, they offered an amendment to prohibiting the secretary of the Senate from registering and recording the vote of any Senate member who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion.

Following the passage of the bill, Republicans lodged a formal protest with the president of the Senate. The protest notes, “We protest and dissent against the vote on SF5289 which was adopted by the Senate with a deciding vote being cast by someone clearly unfit for office. We believe it is an abuse of power by both Sen. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Caucus, and its members.”

Lucero stated: “If this were anybody else in any other profession, that person would be immediately placed on leave and prohibited from participating in work until the conclusion of an investigation.”

Because Democrats rejected Republican attempts to prevent senators charged with violent crimes from voting on Senate business, Lucero said the decision to participate is now left entirely to each senator’s own discretion — even if that senator is charged with a felony and has violated the public trust.

Lucero stated in his release a Senate ethics investigation will begin on May 7, and that as of April 28 no Democrat has explicitly called on Mitchell to resign.