By Mike Kaszuba
Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, the DFLer from Fridley being criticized over a possible conflict of interest case, has a new challenge: Former state legislator Barbara Goodwin.
Goodwin, a six-year House member who left office in 2008, filed Tuesday to challenge Chaudhary in the DFL primary in August. She is currently a school board member in Columbia Heights and an adjunct professor at Hamline University. Chaudhary is facing a hearing later this month before DFL activists, who could vote to rescind his DFL endorsement over an episode in which the state senator inserted a last-minute amendment into legislation that tried to improve the walleye fishing on a lake in northeastern Minnesota where he has a cabin. The three-term senator has apologized for his actions, but has maintained that he did not have a conflict. A Senate ethics panel is scheduled to address the matter Wednesday. Goodwin said she watched Chaudhary's performance at a sometimes heated community meeting in Fridley last week, where Chaudhary explained his actions and answered questions. She said she also called the senator last week, and left a message that "he needs to make a lot of changes. It's not just on this issue." She said she agreed to formally challenge Chaudhary after a final meeting with local DFL activists Monday at her home. "I wanted to find out if I had a good chance of getting endorsed," she said. The meeting, she said, left her feeling "that there's a pretty good chance that I will be endorsed." Chaudhary is already being challenged in the November election by Republican Gina Bauman, a New Brighton city council member. "It'll be tough," Goodwin said of a possible primary battle with Chaudhary. "I intend to keep it clean." "This controversy aside, it should be a good seat for a Democrat" to win, she said.
