Senate DFLers tried again Thursday to get answers on the legal maneuvering involving ousted top Senate Republican aide Michael Brodkorb – and perhaps keep an issue that is embarrassing to 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 earlier this week he was being represented by a legal team, and Secretary of the Senate Cal Ludeman said that the Senate had hired a private attorney.
Senate Majority Leader David Senjem promised Thursday that Senate leaders would be more "transparent", and afterward deflected questions whether DFLers were trying to politicize the issue. "Their questions are valid if you're in the minority, as we were at one point," said Senjem.
"You like to have a little idea of what's going on – I think it's fair," he added.
Senjem said he knew that the Senate would be hiring a private attorney, but said he was not involved in the attorney's selection. He added that the move came 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 the executive assistant to former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, who resigned her leadership position after confirming she had an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed staff member.
Koch continues to serve in the Senate but – like Brodkorb – has declined to identify the unnamed staff member.
The scandal sent Senate Republicans reeling politically, and came only a year after the party had gained control of the Minnesota Senate for the first time in more than a generation.
