Former Republican Senate communications director Michael Brodkorb has hired two prominent Twin Cities lawyers to represent him regarding his dismissal from his Senate job.
Brodkorb lost his job at the same time that former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with an unidentified male staff member. Koch resigned as the Senate majority leader, but continues to serve as a state senator.
Koch's sudden political fall in December – along with Brodkorb's mysterious ouster – created an extraordinary controversy for Senate Republicans, who only a year before had gained political control of the Minnesota Senate for the first time in more than a generation.
When Republicans took over the Senate last January, Brodkorb quickly emerged as a formidable – and controversial – figure at the state Capitol. At one point, he served not only as the Senate Republican communications director, but was also Koch's executive assistant and deputy chair of the state's Republican Party.
Lawyers Philip Villaume and Gregory Walsh were announced Monday as Brodkorb's attorneys. Villaume said that if Brodkorb took legal action against the Senate, Koch would not be a defendant in any legal case.
"We've been ascertaining details surrounding events leading up to and immediately following Mr. Brodkorb's departure from the Minnesota Senate," Villaume said in a statement.
He added that he hoped any legal proceedings would take place "with minimal disruption to the current legislative session."
