Video (02:11) : Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said the Senate's hiring of a private attorney to confront any legal claims from Brodkorb should be fully aired.
Senate DFLers tried again Thursday to get answers about legal activities involving ousted Senate Republican aide Michael Brodkorb -- and perhaps keep an embarrassing issue for Republicans in the public eye.
Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said the Senate's hiring of a private attorney to confront any legal claims from Brodkorb should be fully aired. "Every one of us -- all 67 senators -- are the clients, and all I know as an individual client is what I read in the newspaper," Cohen said on the Senate floor.
Cohen's comments came after Brodkorb announced this week that he is being represented by a legal team, and Secretary of the Senate Cal Ludeman said the Senate had hired a private attorney.
Senate Majority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, promised Thursday that Senate leaders would be more "transparent" and deflected questions about whether DFLers are trying to politicize the issue. "Their questions are valid if you're in the minority," he said.
Senjem added that the Senate hired an attorney after "the secretary of the Senate felt that we were now in 'lawyer land'" regarding Brodkorb.
Before he was abruptly fired in December, Brodkorb served as the Senate Republican communications director and was executive assistant to former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. Koch resigned her leadership position after confirming that she had an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed male staff member.
Koch continues to serve in the Senate. She has declined to identify the staff member.
MIKE KASZUBA
