Sex, lies, and (a missing) video tape

Who needs Rosemary Woods with this bunch in charge?

THE SEX: at a press conference on Friday, December 16, 2011, then Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel, flanked by Sens. Chris Gerlach, David Hann, and (what should we make of this?) new Majority Leader David Senjem (elected in a caucus meeting on December 27th), called for the public stoning of recently deposed resigned Majority Leader Amy Koch over her "inappropriate relationship" with a male staffer. [And that, boys and girls, is a single complete sentence with only one independent clause.]

The four, shown here, led us to believe that this "inappropriate relationship" was fresh news to them, and they wanted to be completely open and transparent with the public about it. Right.

MPR photo

THE LIES: It wasn't a week before that whopper was unraveled. It turns out that the "inappropriate relationship" was known about for months, and the then Deputy admitted it.

And to complete the week of cheek, Sargent (Cal) Ludeman says that Michael Brodkorb -- Koch's paramour -- who was being fired by Sargent Ludeman at just about the same time the presser was occurring, was not fired for having an "inappropriate relationship" with Sen. Koch. Senate leadership just lacked the "will" to keep Brodkorb on, necessitating his immediate firing and cleaning out his desk at midnight.

THE MISSING VIDEOTAPE: It would be fun to go back and watch the presser on December 16th, wouldn't it? You know, at the Senate Media Services website. The one where they have videos of the press conference announcing that Minnesota cattle are tuberculosis free, or the presser where Lester Bagley moans about the changes in stadium financing plans.

Yes, boys and girls, that would be fun. But you can't do it.

Do you know why?

Because no video was taken. Apparently, nobody in the GOP caucus thought it would be newsworthy. (And you can be sure that the DFL caucus wasn't consulted.) Certainly not as newsworthy as tuberculosis-free cattle or the moaning Lester Bagley!

Really, though, Cal and Geoff knew it would be very newsworthy, and for a very long time. So they made sure there would be no tape. How did they do that? By letting the media services office of the Senate know about the presser ten minutes ahead of time, when, according to a spokesman there, the media crew was "out." (I've searched for video taken about the same time as the presser elsewhere on the Senate media website, but I can't find any.)

The same person said he didn't think, alas, that  there was any video anywhere extant on the presser. What a surprise.

Remember, this is an "inappropriate relationship" that the Senate caucus leadership knew about for months. But suddenly, there was the need for a hurry-up press conference on a moment's notice on a Friday afternoon.

Hmmmm. Curious, no?

There is one other curious thing I didn't know until I started looking into this. Do you know who the Senate media services people report to? Sergeant (At Arms of the Senate) Cal Ludeman.