Minnesota House Democrats and Republicans file ethics complaints accusing members of breaking chamber rules
Democrats and Republicans in the Minnesota House on Tuesday filed dueling ethics complaints against members of the opposite party, accusing them of breaking the chamber's rules for conduct.
The move follows a step by Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth to remove GOP Reps. Elliott Engen and Walter Hudson from their respective committees after police said they were involved in a DWI stop late last month.
The White Bear Police Department, according to their report, pulled Engen over in the early morning hours of March 27 and he told them he was "sober cabbing" other passengers in the car, one of whom was Hudson. Officers determined Engen was impaired by alcohol despite the lawmaker initially denying he had drunk anything, and Engen now faces DWI and speeding charges.
But House Democrats say their removal from committee doesn't go far enough, lodging an ethics complaint against Engen and Hudson after a photo taken hours before the arrest showing the pair eating lunch and drinking at a restaurant nearby before returning to the Capitol for floor debate afterwards.
Ethics complaints are rare in the House. DFL Rep. Jamie Long, the floor leader, said he has not ever filed one in his seven years at the Legislature, but the conduct in this case rose to the occasion because Engen and Hudson "completely disregarded" their duties as elected officials.
"Our ethics process is here to try to uphold the rules and the integrity of this institution and they violated those rules blatantly by leaving committee in the middle of consideration — a committee they had been appointed to until today by Speaker Demuth — -to go drinking at a local bar," Long said.
DFL members of the House have faced DWI charges before, including, most recently, Reps. Dan Wolgamott and Brion Curran. When asked why Democrats didn't take similar action against their own members, Long said the nature of the complaint against Engen and Hudson does not involve the DWI charge, but what they did before that happened.
Demuth said she made her decision to remove them from committees based on the White Bear Lake police report, which is related to the arrest only.
"There was nothing to indicate any problem as far as the floor debate that we had a week ago or almost two weeks ago now, there was nothing to give me any pause," she said.
House Republicans file complaint against DFL Rep. over ties to certain lobbying groups
As Democrats filed a complaint against Engen and Hudson, House Republicans filed their own ethics complaint against DFL Rep. Alex Falconer, accusing him of violating House rules barring lobbying. The GOP in their filing notes bills he authored that were backed by organizations he is associated with, like a group for which he was a paid registered lobbyist before being elected to office, according to state records, and Save the Boundary Waters, for which he is now listed as a "federal government relations manager" on the group's website.
"Whether they're paying Rep.Falconer to lobby only for the federal government, they are paying Rep. Falconer and having him carry bills in the Minnesota Legislature — that's a pretty big problem," said Rep. Harry Niska, the Republican floor leader.
Records kept by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board show Falconer was no longer a registered lobbyist for Northeastern Minnesotans for the Wilderness by the end of 2024, the year he was first elected to the House. Long argued that Falconer's current work with Save the Boundary Waters does not equate to state lobbying work
"We are a part-time Legislature where we are not paid enough for most members to be able to not work outside the Legislature. We have legislators who work in all sorts of fields, and they legislate on all sorts of issues related to their day jobs up here. So it really is difficult to draw the line, though the place we've drawn the line is on registering as a lobbyist and doing lobbying at the state level, and that is not a line that Rep. Falconer crossed," he said.
Republicans rejected that reasoning.
"I don't see that difference at all because if you're working on federal-based issues, but carrying a bill that mimics federal policy in the state of Minnesota, even if you're being paid on federal issues, you are still in direct conflict of our rules and ethics in the House," said. Rep. Spencer Igo, R-Wabana Township, who filed the complaint.
Demuth now has seven days to refer both the complaints to the House Ethics Committee for consideration and hearings will be scheduled to discuss each filing.
But that panel — like all but one in the chamber — is tied, which means Republicans and Democrats have to find agreement to advance bills or, in this case, find consensus on any disciplinary action the House should take.
With the deep partisan divisions, it is unlikely that will happen, so the complaints could not advance any further.
Engen apologized for his actions the night of his DWI arrest.
Falconer, in a statement, said the ethics complaint against him is a "desperate" effort to deflect from Engen and Hudson.