Ethics panel deadlocks on Minnesota Senate president’s alleged conflict of interest

Members of a Minnesota Senate ethics committee took no action — to investigate or dismiss — a conflict-of-interest complaint against Senate President Bobby Joe Champion on Monday, deadlocking in a 2-2 vote.

The Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct, which has two Republican and two Democratic members, received a complaint last month from a group of GOP senators against Champion, alleging he violated the chamber’s rules when he pushed legislation to provide a grant to a nonprofit he had represented in his private capacity as an attorney.

In 2023, Champion introduced legislation to steer $3 million to 21 Days of Peace, a violence prevention nonprofit run by the Rev. Jerry McAfee. Champion represented McAfee and his nonprofit Salem Inc. in several court cases. Champion also introduced legislation this year to provide another $1 million to 21 Days of Peace.

Champion has said he represented McAfee pro bono and did not stand to gain from 21 Days of Peace receiving state funds.

Sen. Michael Kreun, R-Blaine, was the chief author of the ethics complaint against Champion and told the subcommittee the situation represented an “irreconcilable conflict between the two sides of Sen. Champion’s legislative and professional life.”

“How could he have maintained an independence of judgment as a legislator when he was the lawyer for the group asking for public funds?” Kreun said. “That is impossible.”

In a statement after the subcommittee hearing, Kreun said it was “disappointing that partisanship won out today.”

“Democrats would rather look the other way than acknowledge what is plain to anyone else — Sen. Champion’s actions directing funds to a legal client (were) wrong,” Kreun said.

But Champion and his attorney argued he had followed the Minnesota Senate’s conflict-of-interest rules.

“If we believe those rules should be changed,” Champion told the committee, “then we have the responsibility then to step up with a bill ... but it’s unfair to now make a senator responsible for what others believe or perceive should be the changes in the rules.”

In a statement after the committee vote, Champion said he was happy to have the issue behind him.

“I did not introduce or advocate for legislation on which I had a conflict of interest and I’m grateful that the subcommittee did not find probable cause,” Champion said.

Champion previously chaired the subcommittee and stepped down from the role last month and sought an advisory opinion on the issue. Members reached a mixed finding last month.

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, was appointed to replace Champion on the subcommittee and said Monday that the appearance of a conflict of interest can be “in the eye of the beholder.”

“In this case,” Pappas said, “I just don’t see that we can hold Sen. Champion to a standard that’s not really clear enough in our own rules.”