State Sen. Nicole Mitchell didn’t answer any questions about her felony burglary charge from a Senate ethics panel Tuesday night with her attorney decrying the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
The Senate Subcommittee on Ethics, meanwhile, could not reach agreement on any action late Tuesday, with the two DFL and two Republican members unable to settle on when to meet next or how to proceed with a complaint against Mitchell. As of 9:30 p.m. they were still in recess.
Mitchell, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor senator from Woodbury, allegedly broke into her estranged stepmother’s northern Minnesota home last month. Her attorney said the criminal case should be resolved before lawmakers investigate ethics violations.
Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, looks at her computer while at her desk in the State Senate chambers at the State Capitol building on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“Conducting an ethics investigation after the criminal case seems appropriate. But by conducting an ethics investigation before the criminal case, you are participating in a witch hunt,” attorney Bruce Ringstrom Jr. told the committee
Senate Republicans have been calling for Mitchell’s resignation following her April 22 arrest and filed an ethics complaint against the senator citing the felony charges, as well as contradictions between Mitchell’s alleged account of events in charges and in public statements. That, they say, could make her unfit to continue serving in office.
“This isn’t a criminal case. Those are handled by the courts, and we trust them to do their work. What we are examining today is whether the Senate will maintain its reputation and institutional integrity with its membership,” said Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, one of the GOP senators who brought the complaint. “We don’t need to wait for the criminal case to make a decision. We can review the information before us today.”
Mitchell says she won’t resign, and her fellow DFLers aren’t eager to push her out as it would end their one-seat Senate majority with just weeks of the legislative session remaining.
Demonstrators in front of the Minnesota State Senate chamber doors at the State Capitol building demand that Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, resign on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Members of the ethics committee can take action against a senator accused of an ethics complaint, such as making them apologize for conduct or even calling for expulsion — which has never happened in the history of the Minnesota Legislature. In cases where a lawmaker is convicted of a crime, they wait for the case to be resolved before taking action.
But the committee is split between two Democrats and two Republicans, so unless one member joins the opposite party in a decision, ties would prevent any action. Members include the chair, Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, Sen. Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, and Sen. Andrew Mathews, R-Princeton.
Mitchell is next expected to appear in Becker County District Court on June 10.
Champion made an argument similar to Ringstrom’s. He said the charging document and media reports are not proof of any wrongdoing on Mitchell’s part, and that the committee wouldn’t be able to take action until more facts emerge. He wants the committee to meet again sometime after Mitchell’s next court date.
Mitchell’s arrest and charges have been disruptive in the final weeks of the legislative session, as her party controls a one-seat majority in the Senate. If they’re one member short, the DFL will not be able to pass partisan legislation as bills would likely stall in 33-33 ties.
Votes on major bills already got delayed the week of Mitchell’s arrest, though the senator has since returned to the Legislature and has voted on bills and other measures — including measures advanced by Republicans to strip her of the ability to vote.
Republicans want to see her resign or removed from office, but for now at least, that’s unrealistic as there’s a two-thirds majority threshold to oust a senator. Some of Mitchell’s DFL colleagues have suggested she resign.
Mitchell, a first-term senator and former broadcast meteorologist who is a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, was elected in 2022 and is in the second year of her four-year term. If she remains in office, she won’t face election again until 2026.
Mitchell, 49, faces a felony burglary charge after police found her in her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home last month. Mitchell told police she had broken into the house to retrieve her father’s ashes and other sentimental items since her stepmother was no longer talking to her, according to charges.
But Mitchell later offered a contradicting account of events following her release from jail. In a post on social media, she said she had entered the house to check on her stepmother, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The stepmother has obtained a restraining order against Mitchell and told multiple media outlets she fears her stepdaughter.
Gender-transition surgery video complaint
Sen. Glenn H. Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Senate)
Mitchell’s complaint wasn’t the only ethics matter before the committee on Tuesday. Before taking up her case, the panel heard a complaint from last year by Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, against Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe. Maye Quade filed a complaint last year after Gruenhagen emailed a link to Senate colleagues with what he called “graphic” videos of gender-transition surgery.
Testimony and debate on that issue lasted about two hours, with Gruenhagen arguing he had shared the video because the Senate had planned to take up a bill related to transgender medicine for youth. Maye Quade said the content was inappropriate regardless of the context and did not have a direct relation to the bill.
A committee vote initiated by Republicans to dismiss the complaint failed on a 2-2 partisan tie, though they agreed to meet again on Wednesday.
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