The AG Saga Continues (Again)

I can't tell you how stunned and shocked and amazed I was when I read this story....NOT! (HT HA again)

The WCCO I-TEAM first told you about expensive, sound-proof doors in the Attorney General's Office. Now there are allegations of unethical and unlawful behavior from two former lawyers in the office speaking publicly for the first time.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson issued a press release response but refused to sit down with WCCO for an interview. And the State Legislative Auditor has just reopened an investigation based on the sworn testimony of several lawyers who have not spoken out before now.

Paul Civello was a Medicaid fraud attorney under former DFL Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch and his successor, the DFLer Swanson.

"It was always political mode," said Civello.

Actually - anyone who has been following this story for the last year is not surprised at any of Civello's allegations.

In an interview with the I-TEAM, Civello said employees were routinely pressured into working on high profile cases intended only to bring publicity and political attention to the boss.

But there's more to his charges than just politics.

"The problem I found in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit was an attempt to deceive the Office of Inspector General (about the make up of the unit)," said Civello.

When Eric Black (from MinnPost) first started digging into the many allegations of corruption in the AG's office he covered the Medicaid Fraud unit allegations specifically! As did the bloggers of the Minnesota Independent! One has to wonder about the timing of the WCCO story. Where was Mr. Kessler last May when Eric Black (among many others in the blogosphere) was digging into these very allegations?

No matter - the good news is that because these two new attorneys have come forward, Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles is re-opening his investigation into the office.

But in an unusual move, the auditor is now taking another look.

"Certainly if there are misrepresentations, we want to uncover that," said Jim Nobles, Minnesota's Legislative Auditor.

The steady drip, drip, drip of allegations into the Attorney General's office is putting an uncomfortable spotlight back on Ms. Swanson at a time when she probably would least like to have it happen. The MN Senate race is going to be going to the courts and the AG's office is going to have to (as the representatives of the people of MN) step in and ask for some resolution soon. It is bad enough that you have will most likely have a Democrat AG asking that the courts seat a fellow Democrat in a disputed election - but when that Democrat has the stench of corruption floating about her, that is going to cause people to second guess WHATEVER she advocates for! These allegations are also coming as both parties start gearing up for election 2010. With Ms. Swanson up for election in 2010 and two years worth of corruption allegations swirling about her, you know that the primary challengers are lining up now - trying to quietly build a grass roots movement behind them...and you know that the Republicans are salivating over the opportunity to run against a tainted opponent.