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May 28: Cleared by a review, AG fires accuser
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Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson fired a staff attorney Tuesday after an investigation ordered by Swanson said that the attorney's charges of unprofessional conduct in the filing of two lawsuits were unfounded.
Swanson dismissed Amy Lawler after the results of the investigation by Thomas Mengler, dean of the University of St. Thomas Law School, were released. In his report, Mengler said he found "no evidence of any unprofessional conduct" by Swanson or her staff in the filing of the suits against mortgage foreclosure assistance companies. The report said other charges by Lawler were based on hearsay and could not be corroborated.
Mengler said Swanson did not ask him to address broader concerns raised by Lawler on office morale and attempts by staff attorneys in the attorney general's office to form a union, efforts in which Lawler participated.
Mengler's 19-page report comes as the legislative auditor is conducting a separate probe into the attorney general's office. Lawler's charges had heightened controversy facing Swanson, who assumed office last year and has drawn criticism over her management style.
Lawler did not return phone messages Tuesday.
Swanson released a statement saying that news coverage of Lawler's allegations earlier this year "ignored the fact that with only 90 days experience in the office, the attorney was in a questionable position to judge the procedures utilized by the office."
Brian Bergson, a spokesman for Swanson, said Lawler was terminated based on the report's findings and because of "other issues" that he did not identify.
Bergson added that Lawler had declined to give Mengler the names of staff attorneys from whom she had heard some allegations. Bergson also said that at one point Lawler told Mengler that his request to interview the other attorneys was in the hands of a union organizing committee. "So, again, proof that it was all about [union] organizing," Bergson said.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, which has been attempting to organize the attorneys in Swanson's office, sharply criticized the firing. Said Eliot Seide, Council 5's executive director: "In her termination letter Attorney General Swanson gave no reason for firing Amy Lawler. Bad bosses routinely fire ethical workers for union organizing and whistle blowing."
Unflattering picture
Lawler, who began working in Swanson's office late last year, had created an unflattering profile of the office by voicing concern that, although the two lawsuits against the mortgage foreclosure consultants had merit, they might have been part of an effort to gain publicity for Swanson on consumer-protection cases.
Lawler also alleged that, in other instances, supervisors pressured attorneys to falsify information in a consumer's affidavit, pushed a staff attorney to take action against a company without reasonable cause and tried to get an attorney to provide unsound legal advice to a state agency.
But Mengler's report said that Lawler had firsthand knowledge only of the episode involving the lawsuits and that she said she learned of the others by "listening to other current and former office attorneys telling stories over drinks at bars."
In addition, his report said, Lawler violated a rule of professional conduct by making her allegations to the media without going to her supervisors or making her concerns known to the state Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility.
Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388
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Governor: Tim Pawlenty
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