This image updates the story:
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| full story at Strib |
An April Strib online post reported:
As the legislative session got underway in mid-February, Sen. Erik Simonson introduced a bill to secure nearly $1 million in state infrastructure bonds for a major expansion at Lake Superior College.
On Wednesday, the Duluth Democrat started a new $100,053-a-year job as executive director of continuing education and customized training at the college, the same institution he was seeking to fund. While he’d applied months earlier, the transition, he said, was “accelerated” when cuts prompted by the coronavirus pandemic threatened his previous job as CEO of the Lake Superior Zoo.
The timing has sparked questions from some experts on government ethics. David Schultz, former president of Common Cause Minnesota, said the circumstances under which the lawmaker carried legislation to benefit a prospective employer “fits a classic definition” of a conflict of interest.
[...] Simonson disputes any suggestion of a conflict of interest. He said he had carried bills on behalf of the college before because it is in his legislative district. The idea that the bonding proposal might be problematic because he was applying for a job at the school “didn’t cross my mind.”
[...] The hiring wasn’t the first time Simonson’s legislative and professional work collided at the Capitol. In 2017, months before taking a job with the Lake Superior Zoo, he introduced legislation to secure $1.9 million in state bonds to build an amphitheater at the institution.
[links in original omitted] The present Strib report [per the image] states:
On Thursday, Simonson said he fixed the issues Martin pointed out and “hopefully it’s a little bit smoother.”
“I wasn’t trying to be sneaky, I get it,” Simonson said. “I am an assistant minority leader of the DFL caucus in the state Senate.”
At issue are phrases like “endorsed by Duluth DFL leaders” in a mailer recently sent to Duluth voters and a paid Facebook ad that says “labor and local DFL organizations are standing by Senator Simonson.”
Martin told Simonson that failing to include qualifying terms “may result in a false claim of support in violation of” state campaign law.
"Wasn't trying to be sneaky" wording nonetheless was crafted as reported, and likely was reviewed by campaign staff before publication.