This news was a shock to me, involving allegations — and we must stress that these are only allegations at this point — against a female politician whom I have actually met:
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch resigned from her leadership post the day after fellow Republicans confronted her about allegations that she had an “inappropriate relationship” with a staff member.
“We’re here today with a lot of humility and some sadness and even shock,” interim Senate Majority Leader Geoff Michel said Friday at a hastily called Capitol news conference. . . .
Koch could not be reached for comment Friday. Michel and the others refused to identify the staffer by name.
Michel and other senators said they had heard from several staffers over the past two weeks that Koch was having a relationship with one of her direct subordinates. They said that when they confronted Koch on Wednesday night, she didn’t admit to the relationship or deny it.
“Her response to the conversation was …’I think I need to consider resigning,’ “ said Assistant Senate Majority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. . . .
Not long after the news conference, Michel announced that Michael Brodkorb, who was Koch’s powerful communications chief, was no longer employed as a Senate staffer, effective Friday.
(Via TPM and Memorandum.) Gays are celebrating Koch’s downfall because she was an opponent of same-sex marriage. And enemies of Michele Bachmann are celebrating because Koch endorsed Bachmann’s presidential campaign in October.
As I say, I actually met Amy Koch while I was in Iowa in August. It was at a reception at the Iowa Governor’s Mansion, and I got a photo of Sen. Koch posing with Caffeinated Thoughts blogger Shane Vander Hart:
Of course, this was perfectly innocent, although I’m sure when I get to Iowa next week Shane will kill me for posting this. But how were we to know, in August, that Sen. Koch would subsequently be embroiled in a scandal? And I think this illustrates another unfortunate aspect of such a situation: Once a person is accused of an “inappropriate” relationship, this creates a shadow of suspicion about all of their other relationships.
Maybe Shane and I can hold a joint press conference in Iowa:
Bloggers Claim ‘We Did Not Have Inappropriate Relations With That Woman, Senator Koch
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