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St. Paul (AP) ― The leader of Minnesota's largest state employee union lashed out at Attorney General Lori Swanson on Friday, as more details emerged about turmoil in her office.

Swanson's endorsement by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5 last fall was deplored by Eliot Seide, the union's head. He said the first-term Democrat isn't living up to campaign promises to support collective bargaining and other labor rights. AFSCME is trying to organize lawyers who work for Swanson.

"Four words disgust us today, and those four words are `AFSCME endorsed Lori Swanson,"' Seide said at a news conference in the hallway outside Swanson's Capitol office.

Swanson issued a statement suggesting that Seide was threatening her.

"Seide claims that because I was endorsed by his union I must designate his union to represent the attorneys," she said. "While there were various attempts to organize a union under former Attorneys General Skip Humphrey and Mike Hatch, I do not believe that he ever threatened them if they did not agree to designate his union to represent the attorneys."

At least 30 members of Swanson's staff have left since she took office in January.

Another three employees received legal settlements worth a total of $40,500 for leaving as Swanson prepared to take over from her mentor, fellow Democrat Mike Hatch, according to Finance Department documents obtained through a Data Practices Act request.

They were Tom Ragatz, who headed the criminal appeals division; Hatch spokeswoman Leslie Sandberg and Amy Brendmoen, who worked in the press office and as an investigator in the residential utilities division.

--Ragatz said he got word of a pending reassignment from Hatch in December, before Swanson took over. He said Hatch told him the change had "nothing to do with my performance."

"Lori wanted to put her own team in place," said Ragatz, who worked his way up through the criminal appeals division for almost 12 years and took a similar job with Ramsey County. He said he asked for and got a standard severance agreement, which paid him $17,419.

He declined to comment further about the transition or Swanson's management.

--Sandberg said she left because she was ready for a change after 9 1/2 years with the office. She said Hatch offered her a $12,616 settlement in lieu of a severance package, which she would have qualified for automatically if she had completed 10 years of employment.

"I left on good terms," said Sandberg, the office's public face under Hatch.

Asked about working with Swanson, she added: "I can't tell you how she is as attorney general, but I can tell you as solicitor general she was top-notch. ... We really enjoyed working with each other."

--Brendmoen said she, too, was told she would be reassigned as Swanson took over. She said she was expecting the news but it came across as "sudden." She said the job she was offered "was just not comparable to my previous position."

Beyond that, she didn't want to comment. Her settlement, after more than 10 years with the office, was worth $10,504.

The clash between AFSCME and Swanson started Thursday when the attorney general said union leaders had threatened to work against her in the media and blogs if she didn't go along with their organizing drive.

Seide denied that charge in strong terms Friday.

"Nobody -- not me and no one in my organization -- threatens anyone. That's not what we do," he said.

Seide demanded that Swanson recognize the union for the purposes of meeting with the lawyers to talk about working conditions, and help press for legislation to allowing them to negotiate union contracts. He also demanded that she rehire Kari Ferguson, an assistant attorney general whom he said was fired for union recruiting.

Without naming Ferguson, Swanson's statement denied that an employee was terminated for union organizing and challenged her to make her personnel file public.

Swanson also said the decision to unionize is up to the attorneys in her office.

Swanson was solicitor general under Hatch, a two-term attorney general who now works for her after losing a campaign for governor last year. She has characterized the turnover as a routine part of a shift in administrations. She oversees more than 350 employees, including 170 lawyers.

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