Aug 16, 2007 6:29 pm US/Central
Hatch Rebuked By Lawyers Board Over '06 Feud
St. Paul (AP) ―
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In a news release, Mike Hatch said he understood and accepted the findings and noted they would have cost him $50,000 to effectively contest. (File)
Former Attorney General Mike Hatch disclosed Thursday that he was admonished for violations of lawyer conduct rules stemming from his contact with a judge overseeing a lawsuit his office had filed.
The mild rebuke -- it doesn't contain any serious punishment or impede his ability to practice law -- was issued by the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board on a confidential basis in March. A spokesman for Hatch said the decision only recently became final, and he released it on his own so it wouldn't be used for partisan purposes.
Judge Lawrence Collins wrote in his admonition that Hatch's conduct was "isolated" and of a "non-serious nature."
In a news release, Hatch said he understood and accepted the findings and noted they would have cost him $50,000 to effectively contest.
At issue was a dispute between Hatch and Ramsey County District Court Judge William Leary. Hatch was accused last August of making improper and possibly intimidating contact with Leary, who was presiding over a debt-collection lawsuit filed by the attorney general. Hatch has disputed that he had pressured Leary, but admitted placing cell phone calls to him.
The lingering case proved damaging to Hatch during the Democrat's unsuccessful run for governor in 2006. Commercials aired late in the campaign fed off the feud with Leary, saying Hatch was under investigation for "threatening" a judge.
Hatch led Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the polls heading down the stretch but his campaign stumbled to a narrow defeat. Hatch has argued that the commercials by the outside group helped shift the outcome in Pawlenty's direction.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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