Caledonia Argus

Davids ethics complaint dropped

Posted: 5/18/04

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

House DFLers dropped an ethics complaint against Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, after an unusual ethics debate on the House floor Friday, May 14.

Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, announced Friday morning theyíre were preparing to file an ethics complaint against Davids, alleging the a seven-term House member had bullied constituents.

ìIím at a loss of who Iíve intimidated,î said Davids on Friday.

Davids complained that by filing the complaint so late in the session, House DFLers could smear his name while not allowing enough time for an ethics hearing.

ìI was not going to leave this place without an up-or-down vote,î said Davids, speaking Saturday morning, May 15.

Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, House ethics committee chair, said she received the complaint at 8:36 p.m. on Friday. The Legislature must constitutionally adjourn on May 17.

While noting that House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, had opined that her committee could hear the complaint even after the House adjourned sine die, Erickson said according to Masonís Rules her committee had no authority after final adjournment.

No committee member could be compelled to go, she explained. Even had the committee found probable cause, there would be no legislative body to report back to, she explained.

The governor cannot call a single legislative body back into special session, she said.

Erickson didnít find the evidence in the complaint compelling. ìThis complaint doesnít have many facts,î she said.

Lesch, who withdrew the complaint after three hours of House debate, saw the House Republican handling of it as an abandonment of procedures.

ìThey were willing to sink this in the dead of night without an adequate hearing before the ethics committee,î he said.

Lesch said a House floor debate on the complaint would not allow the calling or cross-examination of witnesses.

ìSo I had to say Iím not going to participate in an unfair process,î he said of withdrawing the complaint.

The House floor ethics complaint was the only way the complaint could have been handled, said Davids.

Had the complaint come to an actual vote, Davids said it would have been dismissed by 100 votes.

Davids explains the complaint as orchestrated between his opponent in the upcoming election and Hausman, who are friends, he said.

ìThe people in my district are aware and smart. Theyíll smelled a big rat on this one,î he said.

Lesch said the alleged friendship between Hausman and Margaret Hanson hadnít lessened the DFL House support of the ethics complaint. It had merit, he said.

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