Pawlenty: Don't send Sara Jane Olson back

The bitter controversy that accompanied Sara Jane Olson's departure will be waiting for her when she comes home.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican legislators made last-ditch efforts Monday to prevent Olson's expected return to Minnesota, ensuring that hard feelings would continue to swirl around the homecoming of the one-time fugitive and 1970s radical. She is scheduled to be released today from a prison in California, where she has served seven years for her role in two 1970s crimes.

Fast-track attempts to put the Minnesota Legislature on record opposing Olson's return were blocked in procedural votes Monday. A spokeswoman for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would say only that he had received the request of GOP colleague Pawlenty, who asked Schwarzenegger in a letter Monday to keep Olson in California to serve her parole.

"We ask that you make the determination to require that Soliah [Olson's birth surname] serve her parole in your state," Pawlenty wrote.

California prison officials would not confirm a departure time today for Olson, 62. Minnesota corrections officials have approved her request to serve her parole in St. Paul, where she lived for years, until her arrest a decade ago. California is still reviewing the relocation request, but a corrections official there said last week that he anticipated an approval from his state, which has the only legal authority to sign off on the transfer.

Olson was on the run for more than 20 years after being a member of the leftist Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. Her actions with the militants included attempting in 1975 to pipe-bomb two Los Angeles police cars and participating in a bank robbery in the Sacramento-area, during which an SLA cohort murdered a bank customer.

Legislative resolution

Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, who introduced the measure in the House, said she would urge legislators to write to Schwarzenegger directly.

Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's office, said late Monday that the governor had received Pawlenty's letter and that he was aware of the other actions in Minnesota but that no decision had been made about the request. A decision will be made before Olson's scheduled release, Page said.

Asked about Olson's release late Monday during an unrelated press conference, Schwarzenegger said he would let his Department of Corrections make the determination.

"We'll let them continue to take care of those issues and they will find the right solution to the problem," he said.

One of Olson's attorneys noted that corrections officials in Minnesota have said Olson can serve her parole in the state if California officials decide to send her home.

Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, who is also a Lutheran pastor, said forgiveness was in order: "This person [Olson] has gone to prison. She's paid her public debt. This is a question of whether we are willing to forgive, to implement a little reconciliation."

Besides Kubly, no one spoke up in favor of Olson, although she became a cause célèbre among many DFLers and local progressives after her arrest. A 20-44 roll call vote on Ingebrigtsen's motion broke down along party lines in the Senate, with DFLers blocking the effort. The bill could be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Ingebrigtsen, a former county sheriff, said later deliberations would be meaningless.

"We should really be sending this message to the authorities in California," he said. "Let's do the right thing."

Earlier, flanked by St. Paul Police Federation members at a Capitol news conference, Ingebrigtsen and Brod, acknowledged that Olson is not likely to pose a safety threat, but said she is a domestic terrorist who should serve her sentence, including parole, in the state where she was convicted.

"The crimes were committed there and it seems absolutely proper that she serves her full sentence in California rather than the place she fled from justice for 23 years," Brod said at the news conference.

If she returns to Minnesota, she would be under the supervision of Ramsey County Community Corrections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.