Sen. Lucero Makes Motion for Immediate Investigation into Democrat Senator Charged With Felony Burglary

Sen. Lucero Makes Motion for Immediate Investigation into Democrat Senator Charged With Felony Burglary 

Sen. Mitchell Continues to Vote Under Ethical Cloud  

    

In an urgent step to uphold the ethical standards of public office, Minnesota State Sen. Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael) and Senate Republicans filed a formal ethics complaint against Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury) following her recent arrest and subsequent charge of felony first-degree burglary.   

Wednesday April 24 was the first legislative session after Mitchell was charged with felony burglary and Sen. Lucero made a motion calling for the Rules Committee to immediately begin an investigation into Sen. Mitchell’s felony criminal charge.    

“Senators must be held to the highest standard of ethical conduct and the public trust has been violated. It is the duty and responsibility of the Senate to immediately begin due process proceedings under the ethics complaint, in accordance with Senate rules and procedures, to consider expelling Sen. Mitchell,” Sen. Lucero said. “A swift examination of the serious felony charge is required to ensure the integrity of the Senate and state of Minnesota is upheld.”    

Despite the gravity of Sen. Mitchell’s conduct, Senate Democrats rejected the motion to immediately begin the ethics investigation. On April 28, however, they implicitly acknowledged Sen. Mitchell’s wrongdoing by stripping her committee assignments and removing her from participating in caucus meetings.    

In a cloud of controversy, on April 29, Sen. Mitchell was the deciding vote of a Republican motion to prevent her from voting until the ethics complaint has been resolved. Moreover, Democrats used Sen. Mitchell’s tiebreaking vote to pass Democrat authored legislation, calling into question the legitimacy of the Senate’s work.  

Senate Republicans lodged several objections to Sen. Mitchell voting:  

  • They first offered a motion to prohibit a Senator from voting who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion.   
  • Second, they offered an amendment to prohibiting the Secretary of the Senate from registering and recording the vote of any Senate member who has been charged with a crime of violence until the conclusion of the investigation and submission of findings. Democrats rejected that motion.  
  • Following the passage of the bill, Republicans lodged a formal protest with the President of the Senate. The protest notes, “We protest and dissent against the vote on SF5289 which was adopted by the Senate with a deciding vote being cast by someone clearly unfit for office. We believe it is an abuse of power by both Sen. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Caucus, and its members.”    

“If this were anybody else in any other profession, that person would be immediately placed on leave and prohibited from participating in work until the conclusion of an investigation,” Sen. Lucero said. Because Democrats rejected Republican attempts to prevent Senators charged with violent crimes from voting on Senate business, the decision to participate is now left entirely to each Senator’s own discretion – even if that Senator is charged with a felony and has violated the public trust.    

A Senate ethics investigation will begin on May 7. As of this writing, no Democrat has explicitly called on Mitchell to resign.      

The Lucero ethics complaint against Sen. Mitchell was filed with the Senate President. It documents three different rules Sen. Mitchell has broken:         

  • 56.1 Members shall adhere to the highest standard of ethical conduct as embodied in the Minnesota Constitution, state law, and these rules.    
  • 56.2 A member shall not publish or distribute written material if the member knows or has reason to know that the material includes any statement that is false or clearly misleading, concerning a public policy issue or concerning the member’s or another member’s voting record or position on a public policy issue.   
  • 56.3 Improper conduct includes conduct that violates a rule or administrative policy of the Senate, that violates accepted norms of Senate behavior, that betrays the public trust, or that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor or disrepute.    

The Lucero motion enforced due process and emphasized Sen. Mitchell retains all rights to a fair legal process and is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Ethical standards expected of public officials require the allegations to be scrutinized without delay.          

Sen. Lucero added, “The allegations against Sen. Mitchell cast a shadow over the integrity of the entire Minnesota Senate and any legislation the body votes on until the matter is addressed. According to the criminal complaint, after being read her Miranda warning, Sen. Mitchell confessed, “I know I did something bad.” The Senate must address this breach of trust in the swiftest and most decisive manner possible.”