Republican Senator Mary Kiffmeyer from Big Lake says she’s considering legislation that would prohibit the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office from having lawyers on staff paid for by special interest groups. It’s prompted by a lawsuit from a conservative group alleging billionaire Democrat Michael Bloomberg “planted” a lawyer in Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office. Kiffmeyer says, “If the attorney general can have a person in his office doing state business, paid for by an outside special interest, where could this end? Where could this go?”
Attorney General Ellison responds it’s legal and he’s happy to accept the assistance of New York University Law School “to help me advance the cause of environmental stewardship.” Kiffmeyer responds most Minnesotans would say, “this doesn’t smell right.”