AG Lori Swanson has the right not to be heard

May 13th, 2009 by Mark Cohen

So what’s the deal with those heavy soundproof doors installed on the office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson?

There was much debate about the appropriateness of the expenditure. Was it for security concerns, as the AG’s Office claimed? Or was it to allow Swanson to keep underlings from overhearing her plans?

In either case, the expenditure was OK, Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles found in a report issued today.

Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Peace and Police Officers Association and former deputy mayor, provided a free security assessment recommending the doors in a March 28, 2007, a report that Swanson has declined to make public, according to Nobles. (Nobles saw the security report, but Swanson wants to keep its contents private. and has not shown any other government officials, according to report of the Office of the Legislative Auditor.)

Nobles went on to find: “even if the Attorney General had decided to soundproof her office in response to the personnel issues, we do not think that would be inappropriate since the Attorney General deals with many sensitive and confidential matters, and it is reasonable for her to have a soundproof and secure office.”

It strikes me as a bit odd that the exec direc of the Minnesota Peace and Police Officers Association did a personal (and free) previously undisclosed security assessment for a government official. But that said, I think Nobles’ finding that the expenditure was appropriate –even if it was for soundproofing – is the correct one.

File this one under “wall of silence.”

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4 Responses to “AG Lori Swanson has the right not to be heard”

Anonymous says:

May 14, 2009 at 7:40 pm

Timothy Leary, not Dennis, must be behind this.
NoName says:

May 15, 2009 at 12:01 am

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), which represents thousands of police officers across the state, has long had a cozy relationship with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Its current executive director, Dennis Flaherty (not Leary), served in the same role in the late 1990s. The MPPOA’s political endorsement is highly prized. Its magazine (funded by contributions and advertising solicited by telemarketing) has carried a column authored by the AG.
Mark Cohen says:

May 15, 2009 at 8:33 am

Thanks. I updated the post with the correct name. Perhaps I was thinking of thinking of Timothy Leary — although this may be more of a tune out situation than a “tune in” one.

Thanks for the background. It seems to me a security assessment for a public official ought to be reported — even if it’s free.
Anonymous says:

May 18, 2009 at 12:24 pm

I think that the former assistant attorneys general have been pulling their hair out trying to get people to pay attention to what is happening behind those soundproof doors. Jim Nobles has taken the easy road out at every possible opportunity to avoid even a perfunctory investigation into allegations at the AG’s office. At least some of the press is still paying attention:
http://wcco.com/iteam/iteam.ag.accusations.2.989842.html

I’m just curious – how much is the Minnesota legal community willing to accept? We’ve already established that Lori Swanson has busted a union in her office, has had her AAGs give bad advice to agency clients in order to generate good press for herself, has ordered subordinates to alter signed affidavits, has Mike Hatch answer her mail, and has misused medicaid fraud funds. Really, how much farther does it have to go? Does it really take a sex scandal to get an attorney general out of office?