Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt's personal financial issues may be behind him. But questions remain about how judgments against him were handled by his creditors, who are represented by a prominent law firm that also lobbies at the State Capitol. They deserve answers.
Daudt, 42, said Tuesday that credit-card debts that resulted in three legal judgments against him have all been resolved — the latest via a settlement reached last week — and a small property-tax late payment plus penalty was submitted Monday to Isanti County, where Daudt lives. The sums involved were modest, the largest being $9,356. Daudt says that the debt dates from 2011 — when he was laid off from a car dealership job — and that he received no special treatment in the disposition of the three cases.
But two of the cases were exceptional in one respect. The first two judgments against him were vacated and then "dismissed with prejudice" — meaning creditors could no longer come after him — on the motion of the creditors' law firm, Twin Cities-based Messerli & Kramer PA, according to reporting by Minnesota Public Radio. That's a rare move in such matters, one Daudt said he and his attorney — who also lobbies at the Capitol — did not originate. But if they didn't, who did? And why?
The details of his most recent settlement have not been released, nor its presession timing explained. They should be. With Daudt's legislative rank comes a duty of transparency to assure Minnesotans that he is not the beneficiary of personal favors from influence-seekers.
As the Republican leader said Tuesday, many Minnesotans got into debt trouble in the aftermath of the Great Recession. He said his experience would make him a more empathetic legislator. We hope that's true. And we hope that the release of more information about his cases will assure Minnesotans that when legislators fall behind on their bills, they are treated the way any other overdue debtor would be.
