Politics

ST. PAUL (AP) ― Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson's administration denied Tuesday it punished an attorney for union organizing, saying it put her on paid leave for not going through proper channels in raising ethics concerns.

Deputy Attorney General Karen Olson and Swanson spokesman Brian Bergson drew a distinction between Assistant Attorney General Amy Lawler's vocal involvement in a union movement and the decision Monday to suspend her.

"No one has been disciplined, no one has been terminated for any union activity," Bergson said.

Olson said Lawler was put on leave for failing to bring accusations of ethics violations to a board that investigates lawyer misconduct. In the suspension letter dated Monday, Olson tells Lawler she expects a full accounting of her ethical concerns by this week.

It's not clear how long Lawler's suspension will last or what she can do to appeal.

Lawler told The Associated Press she was exploring her options. She said her suspension serves as a "chilling message" to other attorneys who might consider speaking up about the way the office is run.

"I don't think this would have happened if I weren't active in the union organizing effort," Lawler said. "I think this is a direct result of my union organizing activity."

Last week, Lawler was quoted in stories by MinnPost.com and Minnesota Public Radio about a union drive and the climate of retribution she said the effort had caused. Among her allegations was that attorneys felt pressure to help Swanson get favorable publicity by tailoring lawsuits to particular consumer-protection issues that had been in the news.

She told AP on Tuesday that she found the leadup to the lawsuits ethically questionable. Lawler said she was given press releases from chief prosecutors in other states who had pursued mortgage industry lawsuits and was instructed by Swanson to find a defendant here. She disagreed with a claim in the Olson letter that she was provided with consumer complaints during a meeting with Swanson.

Olson said Lawler signed her name to two lawsuits accusing consulting companies of illegally charging fees and providing questionable service to people trying to keep from losing their homes to mortgage foreclosure. Lawler said the cases she ultimately filed had merit and she didn't have ethical qualms about the lawsuits themselves.

"My concern was always with the process," Lawler said.

Lawler, a recent Harvard Law School graduate, has worked for the office since November. Her caseload was transferred when she signed her name to a February letter advocating for a union, she said.

The unionization effort involving attorneys in Swanson's office has been brewing for at least a year, but similar drives have occurred under previous attorneys general.

Swanson insists lawyers in her office are not eligible to form a union. On Monday, she sent legislative leaders a packet of information supporting her contention that state law doesn't permit those attorneys to form a recognized collective bargaining unit. Last May, Swanson sought advice from an outside law firm about the ability of lawyers to band together under public employee laws; the opinion said a union wasn't permitted.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is attempting to help form a union nonetheless.

Swanson chalked recent accounts of turmoil in her office up to struggles by union organizers to gain traction.

"It is a common tactic for organizers to `stir the pot' and get louder in their rhetoric as an organizing campaign falters," Swanson wrote in a letter to top House and Senate Democrats.

Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5, said it appeared that Lawler had been punished for speaking to the media. He said the union would look for "every legal remedy" to help her.

"It shows why we need to protect the right of these attorneys to form a union," Seide said. "Who will uphold our constitution if Minnesota's top lawyer expects her employees to surrender their right to free speech and assembly?"

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