A central question after last week's senate ethics committee hearing was why the committee didn't ask an aide to Sen. Scott Newman to testify about her e-mail to a constituent that said he wouldn't meet with groups that supported his political opponent. The recording from the closed door portion of the meeting failed, and thus minutes released today are the best record of what happened when senators operated outside the public view to clear their colleague of wrongdoing. Minutes, signed by all four committee members, show Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, wanted to bring the Republican senator's aide before the panel to testify. In an interview, Sheran said she couldn't get support. She had wanted to get "confirmation" that the senator "had no knowledge and did not give direction to the Legislative assistant," according to the minutes. Sheran also put forth the idea that a "carefully worked apology" be issued. Senate President Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, who chaired the committee, also discussed the possibility of an apology in combination with the committee finding no probable cause to investigate. Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said "that it cannot be had both ways," according to the minutes. Senators on the bipartisan committee found Newman, a freshman from Hutchinson, credible in his testimony that he had no prior knowledge before his aide sent an e-mail that outlined a policy linking who he met with to campaign contributions and political support. Newman had testified he had no such policy. DFL Senator Linda Scheid of Brooklyn Park "stated that she believes Senator Newman, but also believed that conduct described in the complaint brought 'disrepute' to the Senate." Ingerbrigtsen agreed, minutes said, with Scheid's comments, and said "No probable cause is apparent." Sheran wanted Newman's aide Kim Kelley to testify "to make sure the subcommittee did its due diligence," minutes said. Sheran also suggested the subcommittee investigate, but she later withdrew that motion. In the end, the panel voted unanimously to clear Newman of the complaint brought by four DFL senators. There was not probable cause to proceed with an investigation, the committee found. In their resolution dated Feb. 9, the committee said that, if true, a policy banning meetings with those who supported or donated to an opponent's campaign would be a violation of senate rules. The committee's resolution said they found Newman's testimony "truthful and credible." The rules of the four-person panel require three votes to proceed with any action. Attached to minutes released today was an unsigned and unstamped memo dated last Thursday, from the staff of the committee. It shed additional light on what happened with the recording failure. Two of three sound cards used during the hearing last Wednesday had "technical malfunctions." About 25 minutes of the more than three hour public portion of the hearing was not recorded. None of the closed-door session was recorded. When staff listened to the sound card used during the closed door session, it had 53 minutes and 16 seconds where the recorder was operating, but "no words or sounds were recorded." The issue is not an isolated problem. There has been one other recording failure this year. And from 2007 to 2010, there were 34 Senate committee meetings where a recording failure occurred.