Attorney General Lori Swanson has won praise for high-profile consumer protection cases against bill collectors and for-profit colleges, among other industries.
But as she seeks a third term this year, her three opponents — from both the right and the left — are making a similar case against her: that she has politicized the office to further her ambitions and fallen down on the job's basic task as the state's chief lawyer.
Swanson faces Republican state Sen. Scott Newman, Independence Party candidate Brandan Borgos and Green Party candidate Andy Dawkins, a former DFL state representative.
Swanson has been a leading DFL vote-getter in recent years, including in the Republican wave of 2010, and has emphasized standing up for Minnesotans who can't afford to take on companies with abusive consumer practices.
"What I have tried to do is go to bat for regular folks. It's hard to get justice on your own," Swanson said. She cites cases like Accretive Health, which agreed to stop doing business in Minnesota after Swanson's office filed a federal lawsuit accusing the company of aggressive debt collection practices in hospital emergency rooms.
Patients on gurneys, some with tubes down their throats, were being harassed for money, Swanson said. "People are better off in the state of Minnesota because of a case like that," she said.
Swanson said she will continue to focus on these consumer cases, with a focus on the young and the old.
The two-term attorney general has sued two for-profit Minnesota colleges, Minnesota School of Business and Globe University, alleging they misled criminal-justice students about their job prospects after graduation.
As the state's population ages, Swanson said she will be on the lookout for scam artists trying to exploit seniors.
Her opponents — Newman and Dawkins especially — say these high-profile consumer cases may win headlines, but mask dysfunction in a politicized office environment.
"My first goal would to be restore respect to the office," said Dawkins, a longtime champion of left-wing causes who could be especially dangerous for Swanson if he siphons off DFL votes.
Dawkins said he's been told that state agencies and departments are frustrated they can't get proper legal advice that isn't colored by Swanson's political considerations.
Newman, R-Hutchinson, cites the recent case of Community Action of Minnesota as a prime example of Swanson viewing her work through a lens that benefits the DFL.
A state audit found that leaders of Community Action, an anti-poverty nonprofit supported by public dollars, had misspent more than $800,000 in taxpayer money on travel, a celebrity cruise, spa visits and a car loan for its chief executive.
"The statute says that the attorney general shall investigate unlawful business activities of a nonprofit corporation, and she refuses to do an investigation" because doing so would embarrass the DFL; several prominent DFLers sat on its board, Newman said.
Swanson said a state and federal regulatory structure is in place for oversight of groups like Community Action. She said her office is acting as legal counsel to the Department of Human Services, but letting that agency take the lead on the investigation.
"We're watching and monitoring, seeing how it develops," she said.
Both Dawkins and Newman said the attorney general has neglected a key aspect of the job: Helping rural counties with major criminal prosecutions and appellate cases that otherwise would strain their limited resources and expertise.
They both point to the Little Falls case of Byron Smith, who shot and killed two teenage intruders.
"Morrison County asked for help and she refused," said Newman, who, in addition to his work as a legislator, has been an administrative law judge, deputy sheriff, public defender and civil trial lawyer.
Dawkins said Swanson avoided the Smith prosecution because it was a politically volatile gun case that could raise the ire of the gun rights movement.
Swanson said it's simpler than that: Because of the overwhelming evidence against Smith, including audio recordings, the attorney general believed the county attorney could easily handle the case.
Finally, both Dawkins and Newman say the office has been plagued by high turnover rates, alleging lawyers have departed because they don't want to work in such a politically charged environment.
Swanson said turnover in the office is below that of national law firms' 18 or 19 percent.
Responding to the charge of politicization, Swanson rejected the accusation and pointed to the Accretive case, when she said she rebuffed a call from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to back off from the Chicago company. "We told him that type of intervention is inappropriate."
Newman said he would take "partisanship out of that office." While acknowledging he's a partisan Republican, Newman said that as the state's chief lawyer, he would look to represent the client, "take the facts, apply the law and make an independent decision."
Dawkins said he would restore the office's respect while also using the bully pulpit to rectify injustice and create a Minnesota movement against the influence of money in politics.
Swanson also faces Brandan Borgos of the Independence Party, a 2010 University of St. Thomas Law School graduate, who recently spent time as board chairman of Minnesota NORML, which advocates legalized marijuana. Borgos said he would bring compassion to the law, including reining in civil forfeiture cases, in which the government can take assets from suspected criminals without securing a conviction.
Asked about her own future beyond the attorney general's office, including a future run for governor, Swanson demurred: "My ambition is to be re-elected," she said.
Patrick Coolican • 651-925-5042
