Good morning, and happy Wednesday.
The Minnesota Senate adopted new anti-harassment and discrimination policies Tuesday to prohibit inappropriate or offensive conduct outside the Capitol complex. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports the Senate rules committee approved several changes outlining how legislative employees report problems and how supervisors review them. The changes come after a former DFL Senate staff member alleged that she was sexually harassed by a House DFL employee while they were campaigning for Senate Democrats. Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer,-Big Lake, said it was important to approve new rules before a new group of senators and staff come to the Capitol in January. “HR really needs to have this be final so they can go ahead and print the booklets, make sure everything is all buttoned up and make sure that they can prepare for training to this improved policy,” Kiffmeyer said. Democrats urged the panel to reject a provision that would let accusers or those accused of harassment request a hearing instead of an investigation. Rules committee members rejected an amendment to strike that provision.
Three Minnesota Democrats are on a list compiled by the New York Times of 97 members of Congress whose financial trading or trading by a relative may present a conflict of interest. Rep. Angie Craig said her son had begun buying and selling a range of stocks without her knowledge while he was at college. She said she is in favor of a ban on stock ownership and trading by members of Congress and their immediate family. Craig said in a statement: “As a mom, I would be grateful if my college student son was not allowed to own or trade stocks. And as a member of Congress, I’m working to pass a law to force him to listen to his mother.” Rep. Dean Phillips, a member of the House Ethics Committee as well as the Financial Services Committee, traded more than 150 times in tech companies, banks and other financial institutions. A spokesman for Phillips said that he “did not direct the sale or purchase of any stocks after being elected” in 2018 “to avoid even the perception of a conflict of interest with his official duties in Congress.” Some of the transactions occurred after January 2020, when the representative said Phillips began moving most of his stocks into a blind trust, a process that took 18 months. Sen. Tina Smith said her husband does the trading and they keep their jobs separate. “I do not know about and have absolutely no role in any of his investment decisions,” she said in a statement.
MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell said Tuesday that federal agents seized his cellphone and questioned him about a Colorado clerk who has been charged in what prosecutors say was a "deceptive scheme" to breach voting system technology used across the country.The Associated Press reports Lindell was approached in the drive-thru of a Hardee's fast-food restaurant in Mankato, Minnesota, by several FBI agents, he said on his podcast, "The Lindell Report." The agents questioned him about Dominion Voting Systems, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and his connection to Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who claims voting machines have been manipulated, he said. The agents then told Lindell they had a warrant to seize his cellphone and ordered him to turn it over, he said. On a video version of his podcast, Lindell displayed a letter signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado that said prosecutors were conducting an "official criminal investigation of a suspected felony" and noted the use of a federal grand jury.
AP: Inflation slows, but remains stubbornly highConsumer prices defy expectations and rose again in August. It's giving Republican candidates something to talk about. Tyler Kistner, the Republican running against DFL Rep. Angie Craig in the 2nd Congressional District released his first TV ad. Looking into the camera Kistner recounts a quick biography and then says, “Our country’s suddenly not working since Angie Craig and Joe Biden took over. No offense, but now we’ve tried it their way. My wife, two kids and I can’t afford it their way. Can you? Let’s fix it.”
Another group is asking a Minnesota judge for a fresh look at an abortion ruling that upended several long-standing restrictions. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports a group calling itself Mothers Offering Maternal Support has filed a motion tied to a July ruling by Ramsey County District Court Judge Thomas Gilligan. He struck down a mandatory abortion waiting period, required information for patients and two-parent notification for minors seeking abortions. DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison declined to appeal. Susan Neuville is part of the group seeking to intervene now, and she said parental rights are paramount. “Without adult permission, my kids cannot go on a field trip, have their photo taken or receive basic dental care. They cannot be vaccinated or be served ice cream,” Neuville said. “What I would like to understand is how it would make any sense to ask that that same child decide whether or not to have an abortion?” The judge previously denied a separate attempt by a county attorney to intervene. That procedural decision is under appeal.
And the Associated Press reports this happened in Washington: Upending the political debate, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced a nationwide abortion ban Tuesday, sending shockwaves through both parties and igniting fresh debate on a fraught issue weeks before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. Graham’s own Republican party leaders did not immediately embrace his abortion ban bill, which would prohibit the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy with rare exceptions, and has almost no chance of becoming law in the Democratic-held Congress. The South Carolina Republican said rather than shying away from the Supreme Court's ruling this summer overturning Roe vs. Wade's nearly 50-year right to abortion access, Republicans are preparing to fight to make a nationwide abortion ban federal law. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're going nowhere," the senator said, flanked by women advocates from the anti-abortion movement. "We welcome the debate. We welcome the vote in the United States Senate as to what America should look like in 2022." | 