Johnson must apologize to Senate

Saying they doubted they could force state Supreme Court justices to testify, members of a Senate ethics panel Friday agreed to dismiss a complaint against Majority Leader Dean Johnson, averting an inquiry that would have pitted the credibility of the court against that of the senator.

In exchange, Johnson agreed to apologize Monday to the full Senate concerning his claims of talking with Supreme Court justices about whether they would be likely to overturn a state law banning same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court has denied that such conversations ever occurred.

Members of the Senate special subcommittee on ethics said they agreed to the deal in part because they feared they would never be able to determine who was telling the truth without being able to question the justices. They said the justices might have claimed they were exempt from testifying before the Legislature.

"We wanted to avoid that potential separation of power ... conflict," said Sen. Thomas Neuville, R-Northfield.

The panel, which has two DFL and two Republican members, voted unanimously in favor of the agreement after a nearly two-hour closed session attended by Johnson, his attorney and two GOP senators who brought the ethics complaint. They will drop the complaint after Johnson apologizes.

"I'm glad it's over," Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said afterward, adding that he did not violate Senate ethics rules. "It's behind us."

But the deal leaves unanswered questions about what conversations -- if any -- Johnson had with Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice Russell Anderson denied that any conversations about the law occurred.

"It doesn't resolve it," Neuville said of the deal and the controversy.

Changing versions

Senators Mike McGinn, R-Eagan, and Claire Robling, R-Jordan, accused Johnson of violating Senate ethics by lying or misleading people about the conversations that he said he had with justices.

Johnson's attorney, Ellen Sampson, argued during the closed session that his claims didn't amount to an ethics violation, according to a recording of the session released later on Friday.

"He made a comment he wishes he could take back," she said. "But I don't believe it rises to the level of bringing dishonor on the Senate or the court or anybody else."

The panel's chairman, James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, said Johnson wasn't given any direction on the apology he must deliver to the Senate.

"He's going to write it this weekend," Metzen said.

The written agreement said that Johnson "shall make a public apology on the floor of the Senate to the Senate and his constituents." Johnson apologized last week at a news conference.

Foes of same-sex marriage say the state law defining marriage as a union between a man and woman is vulnerable to a court challenge like one that overturned a similar statute in Massachusetts. They favor a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions that would give same sex couples many of the rights of marriage.

Johnson and others who oppose the amendment say the Minnesota law, which has never been challenged, affords adequate protection.

The deal also requires Johnson to write a letter of apology to clergy who attended a January meeting in Spicer, Minn., where he offered assurances that the marriage law would prevail.

At that meeting, a pastor secretly recorded Johnson relating a conversation he said he had with then-Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz about the state's marriage law. He quoted Blatz telling him, "Dean, we all stand for election, too, every six years. We're not going to touch it."

He also is overheard telling the clergy that he had talked with two of three justices named Anderson and that they also assured him that they wouldn't take up the law.

After reports of the recording surfaced, Johnson said he "embellished" a discussion he had with a single judge who offered him no assurances but said the law seemed strong and the court was unlikely to reverse it. Johnson said he told the embellished version to satisfy clergy worried that the law would fall. Johnson later offered another version, in which an unnamed justice merely acknowledged that the law existed.

Johnson's recorded comments were contradicted by Blatz, who issued a statement saying it would have been "highly unethical" for her to "comment on a matter that might come before the court" or offer assurances on how the court would decide a potential case. "It just never happened," she said.

Blatz was unavailable for comment Friday.

No request for testimony

Senators on the ethics panel said Friday that they didn't ask justices whether they would be willing to testify, and hadn't sought a legal opinion on whether they could force them to do so if they refused.

Robling and McGinn said they were satisfied with the outcome.

"In the best interests of the Senate, we thought the resolution that we came to at this time was appropriate," Robling said. "We need to put it behind us."

Mark Drake, executive director of the state Republican Party, said that "in extracting a formal apology, the Senate has taken the first step in restoring the integrity of the Minnesota Senate and the Supreme Court."

But Drake said the party intends to keep the issue alive, maintaining a website on Johnson that chronicles the events surrounding the controversy and to remind voters of it.

DFL Chair Brian Melendez praised the agreement and blamed Republicans for exploiting Johnson's problems.

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