Rep. Elliott Engen, R-White Bear Township, told members of a Minnesota House ethics committee Friday that he’s a good legislator who doesn’t like to listen to “nonsensical ideas” brought forward by lefty activists. That’s why he ditched a committee hearing in March to grab lunch at a local bar and have a beer.
Engen was defiant and said that he hadn’t done anything wrong when he and fellow Republican Rep. Walter Hudson left a March 26 House Education Finance Committee hearing for Burger Moe’s in St. Paul, where a former House staffer took a picture of the duo at the bar during the time their committee was meeting.
“To say that I was anything other than official and professional in my duties the day of the 26th is, quite frankly, wrong, and my work ethic stands for itself,” Engen said.
Hudson also defended himself: “As everyone with any proximity to the Legislature well knows, members leaving hearings or floor sessions for a wide variety of reasons, both official and personal, is extremely commonplace.”
Engen acknowledged he had one beer with his lunch, and Hudson said he had two alcoholic drinks. The duo slapped back, accusing other lawmakers of similarly shirking their work.
Hudson, who complained that he was denied due process because he didn’t have enough time to garner witnesses, implied that drinking on the job isn’t unusual at the Capitol.
“I would have had the opportunity to present witnesses who could testify to the number of vodka shooters that they find in the women’s restroom off of the retiring room,” Hudson said.
The duo testified in response to a Democratic-Farmer-Labor ethics complaint that the two violated House rules by leaving the Capitol to go to the restaurant. The ethics committee — two Republicans, two Democrats — were deciding whether Engen and Hudson’s actions betrayed the public’s trust or brought dishonor onto the House.
“In no other job is it acceptable to leave in the middle of the work day to go drinking, and it should not be acceptable at the Capitol either. The public expects us to do our job,” said DFL House floor leader Jamie Long, who filed the ethics complaint, on Friday.
The ethics committee found no probable cause and dismissed the complaint against Engen and Hudson. The committee read aloud a statement clarifying the norms and rule of the House stating that lawmakers are expected to attend committee meetings.
Neither the ethics complaint nor the committee discussed Engen and Hudson’s post-game adventures, which went sideways in the early morning hours of March 27.
Engen was arrested and charged with a DWI after a traffic stop in White Bear Lake. Hudson was a passenger in Engen’s truck, and police said Hudson was impaired while carrying his handgun — a misdemeanor in Minnesota. Police did no screening tests on Hudson, so he will not be charged for carrying while impaired due to the lack of evidence. Friday’s discussion was centered around Engen and Hudson’s decision to leave the House Education Finance Committee and drink during the day.
Because of the March 27 incident, GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth stripped Engen and Hudson of their committee assignments.
Engen during his testimony repeatedly asserted that he felt no need to stay through the entirety of the March 26 House education hearing because nonprofit leaders and Department of Education employees were testifying, and he said he didn’t want to listen to them because of their role in fraud in Minnesota’s public programs.
“When the parts of the job that aren’t productive, that aren’t conducive to good policymaking are requiring you to sit and continue playing in that charade, I don’t play that game. I will leave happily knowing that they can continue to blow hot air without my presence,” Engen said.
Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth, asked whether Minnesota taxpayers, who pay Engen’s salary, want him to skip work to have a drink.
“I’m extremely grateful to every taxpayer that helps pay for my salary … I think a reasonable person, an average Minnesotan, would see taking a lunch with a full packed work day … I think that they would see it as completely common sense.”
On Friday, Hudson, an Albertville Republican, implied that the former staffer was planted in Burger Moe’s by the Democratic Party to paint the duo in a bad light. In the photo taken by the former House staffer, Hudson and Engen are pictured with beers and empty tumbler glasses. Engen said they were joined by a third person who worked at the Capitol who left the empty glasses there.
“In (the staffer’s) inflammatory social media post, he deliberately framed two members taking a lunch break as though we were slacking off from our jobs,” Hudson said. “At face value, this does not appear to be neutral evidence. It looks a lot more like partisan opposition research.”
Hudson said much of the work of the Legislature is performative, and referenced a Reformer story about House members leaving the floor and casting votes for one another.
“The reason why people are so eager to leave the House floor is because none of it matters. Everybody knows how they’re going to vote. It’s all been caucused. It’s all been pre-programmed,” Hudson said.
Minneapolis Attorney Chris Madel spoke in defense of Engen at the hearing, noting that other DFL lawmakers have been convicted of DWIs and faced no legislative consequences.
He also said that Sweeney’s Saloon in St. Paul is promoting a “Dine Across the Aisle” special, which provides Republican and Democratic lawmakers with free lunch if they eat together. Multiple duos have been pictured with beers, and no ethics complaints have been submitted against them, Madel said.
Madel argued that the ethics complaint was hypocritical.
“(Engen) does not need to be treated this way for political theater,” Madel said. “I know what goes on here. I know what happens at that northeast exit. I know when you leave there, occasionally you can go out there and smell pot, and I’ve seen the people that are doing that.”
