Monday morning, we did a post entitled “Attila The Hann’s Comment On His Role In The Pew d’ Etat“. Hann’s comment to the Star Tribune about the sacking of Amy Koch was, basically, “no comment.” And there’s a good reason for that, if you’re David Hann: the story he told at the infamous December 2011 Press Conference doesn’t add up (to put it nicely).
How do we know that? Because Monday afternoon, Minnesota Public Radio (“MPR”) did a story – let’s look!
If it smells like a power play…
Posted at 5:01 PM on January 28, 2013 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: PoliticsFormer Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch told WCCO Radio today she’s never watched (or listened to) the December 2011 press conference at which it was announced she’d resigned her leadership post because of an affair with a staffer.
She says she probably won’t ever watch it. That’s too bad, because looking back at it now, coupled with yesterday’s Star Tribune story, her claim that four of her male colleagues were staging a power play gains at least a fair amount of traction.
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Even before Ms. Koch broke her silence with yesterday’s Star Tribune article, there was a stench around the story and timetable the Republican men — Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley, Sen. David Senjem, R-Rochester, Sen. Geoff Michel and Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie — painted at the news conference announcing Koch’s resignation.
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Compare that to what Sen. David Hann said when he was asked about the news conference announcing Koch’s resignation. “It’s a total surprise,” Hann told MPR News.A surprise? It shouldn’t have been. Hann was one of the men who set Koch up at the Minneapolis Club.
The men insisted it was Koch who brought up the idea of resigning. But in her interview with the Star Tribune, that’s not how she remembers it:
(read rest of the story, here)
We know that at that infamous Gang Of Four (Hann, Michel, Gerlach & Senjem) Press Conference in December 2011, Michel clearly smiled at the cameras and proceeded to lie through his teeth.
Now Hann’s role in The Pew d’ Etat – the sacking of Amy Koch and Michael Brodkorb – is becoming clearer, and it sure looks like Hann smiled at the cameras and pulled a Michel.
GOP State Senator David Hann – the GOP’s Minority Leader in the State Senate – is rapidly becoming Minnesota’s most ethically-challenged politician.
Which, as stated in Monday’s post, should make Attila The Hann a shoo-in for the ethically-challenged MnGOP’s endorsement to run for governor in 2014….
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)
“No comment.” Well, to be completely accurate, here’s what it says in the Star Tribune story “Amy Koch: Affair gave GOP foes an opportunity; Ex-Senate leader accuses some of her most trusted allies of back-stabbing, lies.”: “Hann declined to comment for the story,…”.
Now, to me, The Sacking Of Amy Koch – a/k/a, “The Pew d’ Etat” – is NOT a scandal about sex, as salacious as sex is. This scandal is about a political power play – The Sacking Of Amy Koch (well, and Michael Brodkorb, too). And the real scandal is the brazen lying, which Koch talks about in the story. And we know there was lying going on; one member of the infamous Gang Of Four – then-GOP State Senator Geoff Michel(Attila David Hann, Chris Gerlach, and Dave Senjem being the other three) – lied to reporters at the December 2011 Press Conference talked about in the Star Tribune story liked to, above. And we know Michel lied; he later admitted it – basically saying “I only lied because I had to.”
So we know that at least one member of The Gang Of Four is an admitted liar. So we know that when Amy Koch alleges there’s some lyin’ goin’ on, well, we already knew that. And we also knew that David Hann, the now-GOP State Senate Minority Leader, was deeply involved involved with this sordid affair of calling the Press to attend a Press Conference where this Gang Of Four might tell some of the truth, but certainly some stuff that wasn’t the truth.
And Hann won’t comment.
Amy Koch has now commented; as has Michael Brodkorb previously.
Since December 2011, David Hann has been deeply involved in this Pew d’ Etat scandal, the infamous Lunch Hour Lit Drop scandal, and his personal conflict of interest scandal.
Which, of course, should make him a shoo-in for the ethically-challenged MnGOP’s endorsement to run for governor in 2014….
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)
Last week, we discussed Verified Twitter Accounts – specifically, that Minnesota Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson had one. On Monday, we looked at Chief Justice Lorie Gildea’s expenses on her Campaign Finance Reports (“CFB”) for her campaign website – well, specifically, the lack thereof.
Today, we’re going to look at website expenses for the campaign of Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson – and several other prominent Republicans. We’ll start with one such prominent Republican, the soon-to-be former GOP Senate Caucus Leader Dave Senjem – a screenshot from Senjem’s CFB report is above. On Sen Senjem’s CFB report, you’ll note the expenses of $250 and $12 on 31 July and 17 September 2012 for website related fees to “Election Energy” to a street address in Apple Valley. That street address matches the address listed which was found during a Domain Search for www.ElectionEnergy.com; link to screenshot here.
Justice G. Barry Anderson also used Election Energy as a vendor; on his latest CFB report it’s his largest vendor – accounting for almost 30% of his campaign’s expenditures (almost $19k). Except, on Anderson’s CFB report, there’s a different address for Election Energy; it’s listed as a P. O. Box.
Hmmm…. Time to check property tax records for the address reported by Senjem’s campaign! And what do we find? It seems the address used by Senjem, and NOT used by Anderson, is owned by: “Grant B. and Louise H. Anderson”.
Sources have confirmed the address used by Senjem, but NOT by Anderson, is indeed Justice G. Barry Anderson’s home.
Of course, it’s possible that “Election Energy” – using a business address of State Supreme Court Justice Grant B. Anderson, who goes by “G. Barry Anderson” – isn’t owned by Justice Anderson; it’s possible it’s owned by his son, Grant Anderson, who is acting as Justice Anderson’s digital director.
Better check with the Secretary of State’s Office, and find out who is the registered owner(s) of “Election Energy”!
Hmmmm….. An on-line search, via the Secretary of State’s office reveals: “No results match the criteria entered.”. Hmmm, maybe I’m doing something wrong? No, said the nice person at the Secretary of State’s Business Services Section – they couldn’t find any record of registration either.
Does a website company that’s physically located in Minnesota, has customers in Minnesota, and is soliciting for more business need to be registered? Well, according to the nice person at the Secretary of State’s office, who did NOT know the nature of the people involved – a sitting State Supreme Court justice, for one – said while not an attorney, it appears that under statutes 303 and 331 – the short answer is yes.
To recap: what we appear to have is an unlicensed business being run out of the home of a Supreme Court Justice that has said Justice as a customer. Additional customers include current GOP Senator Senjem, former GOP State Rep Keith Downey, soon-to-be GOP House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, and fellow Supreme Court Justice David Stras, whose campaign sent $5,000 to Election Energy’s P.O. Box.
Here’s what I wrote in the post about Gildea:
If there is anyone who’s campaign finance reports should be squeaky clean and transparent, it’s a judge running for re-election – especially the judge running to retain the seat for Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.
Consider that said about Justice G. Barry too. There’s some ‘splainin’ to do….
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)
Well, and out of touch, too.
That screen shot, to the “far right” (pun intended)? Those are tweets that were fired off last night by Bob Koss – who bills himself as, and this is a quote: “Free thinking conservative. Proud staffer at the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus.” Koss is a Legislative Assistant for Joe Gimse.
The target of Koss’ tirade? Republican State Representative John Kriesel, an Iraq War Veteran. Rep. Kriesel’s offense, to “earn” comments such as “RINO” & “Piece of (stuff)” & “SOB” & “shameless self promoter”?
Kriesel had the audacity to speak his mind on the floor of the House of Representatives and then allow that speech to be included in a television ad advocating a “No” vote on the marriage restriction constitutional amendment.
Predictably, the media picked up on Koss’ WAY out of line attack; KSTP TV reported on it this morning – “Twitter War Breaks Out Between Rep. Kriesel, Staffer Koss” – and City Pages not only wrote about it; they have screen shots of the entire exchange.
This so-called “twitter war” is simply the latest example of an out of control Republican Senate Caucus.
And where are the Republican Senators? Senate Majority “Leader” Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, is in Rochester trying to save his political skin. Asistant Majority “Leader” David Hann, R-Eden Prairie (the alleged co-chair of the Republican Senate Re-Election effort) is, well, who knows where? He’s been ducking the press ever since Fox9 TV ran a story: “What Does Hann Do For A Living?”.
As far as I can tell, it’s understandable the Senate Republican Caucus’ Communications “Director” – Steve Sviggum – couldn’t jump into the fray and stop Koss, a caucus staffer, from committing poltical hari kari on twitter last night – because as far as I can tell, Sviggum – the Communications “Director” – isn’t even ON twitter.
It’s an insult to clown cars to call the scandal plagued Senate Republican Caucus a “clown car.”
Hopefully next Wednesday, they WILL be called “the MINORITY Republican Senate Caucus.”
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)
This is not a story about Amy Koch, Michael Brodkorb, and/or sex. Yes, it’s a scandal, but not because it’s scandalous/salacious – it’s a scandal because four Republican State Senators called the media to attend a press conference in December of 2011, smiled at the camera — and one of them, for sure, proceeded to lie through his teeth. How do we know this?
Because just a few weeks later, he tried to explain it away by basically claiming “I only lied because I had to.”
Two of those four Senators, Dave Senjem of Rochester and David Hann of Eden Prairie (far right, literally), are on the ballot in November. The other two, Geoff Michel of Edina and Chris Gerlach of Apple Valley opted not to run.
That’s the scandal, Gentle Readers – elected officials brazenly lying to the press. We know Geoff Michel lied; he admitted it. What isn’t known is what the other three knew, and when did they know it.
Last night on Fox9 TV, Reporter Tom Lyden interviewed Michael Brodkorb. Brodkorb strongly inferred all four new quite a bit more than what they claimed at that December 2011 press conference.
It’s interesting that Tom Lyden got this scoop. I’m speculating it’s because Republican Senators have a recent history of not quite being quite fully truthful with Mr. Lyden; see MnGOP State Senate: “…we are in this together…” and MnGOP State Senate: We Are In This Together Part 2. The short story of this case of Republican “less than truthfullness” is he MnGOP Senate Caucus was campaigning (“Lunch Hour Lit Drop”) out of a room in the State Capitol (which is a no, No, NO!”). Tom Lyden had the email; he had the video. When he asked a GOPer (camera rolling) about this illegal campaigning out of a State Capitol Office, his response was basically “Who ya gonna believe – us, or yer lyin’ eyes?”
So basically, there’s a pattern here, of GOPers tellin’ whoppers to the media, and I found it fitting Tom Lyden got the interview. And there was a funny – as in ironic – claim in that interview: Brodkorb claimed the Judge’s gag order was lifted because GOPers in the Senate Caucus had been violating it by talking to the media about the case. So Lyden asked the GOPers about it; their response was “no comment.”
Assuming that’s true, you can’t make that up. When they can’t talk to reporters, they do; when the Judge lifts the gag and they can? They don’t.
The story that’s evolving is that David Hann was actually a ring leader in what Brodkorb called “a palace coup” and Hann may even have been in on it from the very beginning. If so, that means when Geoff Michel was telling the press whoppers from a table (see picture, above) that David Hann was sitting at, David Hann knew – KNEW – that what Michel was saying was simply not – NOT – true.
Let’s take a look at today’s Strib story about this scandal:
Asked about Brodkorb’s allegation on Sunday, Republican Sen. David Hann, who was involved in confronting Koch about the affair in December, denied any political motivation for his actions.
“Of course, it’s not true,” said Hann, R-Eden Prairie.
Hann, who narrowly lost his bid to be majority leader after Koch resigned, also questioned the reasons for Brodkorb’s accusation, noting that Brodkorb is suing the Senate over his firing.
“You have to consider the source,” Hann said.
“You have to consider the source.”
Indeed. And when the “source” of any claim is a Minnesota GOPer, especially from the State Senate, that source is exceedingly suspect.
David Hann and Dave Senjem need to come clean with what they know and when did they know it. And if/when Hann & Senjem state what they knew, and when they knew it?
Consider the source.
And remember: You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different.
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)
