Senator Newman and the Senate Caucus

My good friend Eric Austin has a great post about the Republican Senate Caucus role in the whole Scott Newman tax on constituent work.

One point Eric made jarred my memory.

Given the dual role of “Executive Assistant to the Majority Caucus” and “Vice Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party“, has Michael Brodkorb been whispering in the ears of legislative assistants? Did those assistants take his advice a little too far?

I had a chat with a former GOP Senator last Spring before the end of the session.  While he named several reasons for leaving the Senate, he spent considerably more time discussing the efforts of Michael Brdkorb and Cullen Sheehan and the influence they had on Senators.

Legislators get a plethora of information before taking votes.  This specific retired Senator told me of a confrontation he had with Sheehan.  The confrontation centered over information the Senators were furnished with.  The data that had been provided the Senators wasn't accurate and he openly questioned the data.  He went on to state that a majority of the information he was receiving was heavily distorted, something he hadn't seen during his long service in the Senate.

It wouldn't be a surprise that Brodkorb and his crew are putting pressure on the legislative assistants.  Certainly they're working hard to blur the line between legitimate work on behalf of the state and shady partisan nonsense on the tax payers dime.

A Minnesota Data Practices Act request for correspondence between Newman and his LA and his LA and Brodkorb would probably provide the lefty blogosphere with weeks worth of fodder, and shed some much needed light into the workings of the Republican Senate Caucus.