by Steve Karnowski
Associated Press
A Minnesota Senate ethics panel deferred further action May 7 on a complaint against a lawmaker who’s charged with burglary for allegedly breaking into her estranged stepmother’s house until after her next court date.
Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, told police she broke in last month because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to the felony criminal complaint.
The ethics panel, which is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, deadlocked on several potential paths until the members decided to return June 12.
Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, and Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, were the GOP co-leads in the hearing to present information and answer questions pertaining to probable cause that Sen. Mitchell violated Minnesota Senate rules of ethical standards, according to a press release sent to the Star News from Lucero.
The complaint is signed by 11 members of the Senate, all Republicans. Lucero and Housley were the only two who spoke on behalf of the complainants.
“It is never easy to stand in judgment of a colleague; however, our responsibility requires us to make difficult decisions. We are not asking the ethics committee to serve as a court of law. We are asking them to uphold the integrity of the Senate and restore public trust,” Lucero said. “The reason we work so hard to uphold the public’s trust and abide by ethical conduct the public should be able to rely on what their representatives say to the media. If the ethics committee doesn’t trust what Sen. Mitchell and her attorneys have said to the media about what happened on April 22, then I believe we have our answer as to whether her conduct upholds the highest standards of trust and transparency to the public.”
Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, who chairs the panel, told his colleagues that the prudent thing to do was to wait until the evidence could be tested for accuracy.
Mitchell’s status has posed a dilemma for her fellow Democrats because they hold only a one-seat majority in the Senate, so they need her vote to pass anything that lacks bipartisan support. They have excluded her from caucus meetings and taken her off her committees but have not publicly asked her to quit.
Mitchell resumed voting last week on the Senate floor, even on votes that affect her fate.
She attended Tuesday’s hearing but did not speak. One of Mitchell’s attorneys, Bruce Ringstrom Jr., told the panel that Mitchell would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to answer any questions the members might ask. He also refused to confirm or deny the accuracy of the key allegations in the criminal complaint, as well as news reports that Republicans introduced as exhibits in the ethics case.
Ringstrom said Mitchell “desperately wants to tell her story, but I am not letting her.” He urged the panel to defer action until her criminal case is resolved, saying she’d be happy to answer their questions once it’s complete.
Ringstrom told them Mitchell might enter a plea at her next court hearing, which is set for June 10, but said the proceeding could be delayed. The decision means the panel will take no further action before the legislative session’s adjournment deadline of May 20.
A Republican panel member, Sen. Andrew Matthews, of Princeton, said the Senate has the authority to determine whether Mitchell has violated its ethics rules and does not need to wait for the courts.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, who has called on Mitchell to resign, told reporters last week that she deserves due process in court. But, he said, the Senate should hold legislators to a higher standard, even if it’s politically difficult. He said it’s not right for Democrats to protect her because they need her vote.
Ringstrom refused on Mitchell’s behalf to say whether any Democratic senators have asked her to step down.
No Senate seats would normally be on the ballot this November. But the state chairman of the Democratic Party in Minnesota, Ken Martin, said recently that he’d like for Mitchell to resign by June 8 so that her seat could be filled in a special election on election day. Mitchell represents a mostly Democratic suburban St. Paul district that would be easier for Democrats to hold if it’s on the November ballot when turnout should be high.
House Democrats approve some gun legislation measures
House Democrats recently approved three gun bills which state Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, said will do more to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens than crack down on violent criminals.
The three bills include new laws on storage, requirements for reporting stolen firearms, and a new “trigger activator” definition that may render some commonly used guns illegal. These latest proposals follow last year’s changes Democrats enacted regarding universal background checks and red flag confiscation orders.
Hudson said the bill regarding reporting stolen firearms wrongly criminalizes a victim of a crime if they do not report a firearm theft within a government-prescribed period of time. He indicated that the state could do better to combat violent crime by stepping up efforts to enforce existing laws, with prosecutors who are willing to fully charge violent criminals and courts that stop turning dangerous people back out on the street with a slap on the wrist.
“Democrats keep making new laws that make it impractical and legally hazardous for law-abiding people to own guns,” Hudson said. “Meanwhile, Democrats also propose repealing mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes involving the possession or use of a firearm. It’s clear Democrats don’t want you to shoot the bad guys, don’t want to punish the bad guys for shooting you, and don’t care if the bad guys steal your property.”
After passing the House along party lines, the three bills are now in the hands of the Senate, where Democrats have a one-seat majority. Hudson said that means a senator who currently faces first-degree felony burglary charges could cast deciding votes on bills undermining people’s ability to defend themselves during a home invasion.
The bills House Democrats approved include:
• H.F. 4300: Requires a person to store a firearm that is not in the person’s direct control or within reach in a gun safe, gun room, or unloaded with a locking device. There are criminal penalties for failing to comply with the firearm storage requirements.
• H.F. 601: Requires firearm owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm to the local law enforcement agency within 48 hours of its loss and creates a penalty if a person does not report the loss within that time frame.
• H.F. 2609: Includes bipartisan language House Republicans propose to increase penalties on straw buyers of firearms, but also features a controversial provision regarding the definition of a “trigger activator” that may impact some commonly used guns and render them illegal.
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