Minnesota Lawyer
Michael Brodkorb
Michael Brodkorb, the disaffected Senate GOP communications staffer who was fired last year after the revelation of his affair with former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, is reaching back to his roots in the political blogosphere.
Brodkorb announced on Monday the creation of politics.mn, an “inside view on Minnesota politics.” The site will be run exclusively by Brodkorb, who is currently suing the state Senate for “gender discrimination” after his December 2011 firing.
Brodkorb first cut his political teeth as the anonymous founder and chief writer for conservative watchdog blog Minnesota Democrats Exposed. A lawsuit against the site eventually outed Brodkorb as the author. After embracing his new notoriety, Brodkorb quickly rose through the ranks of the party, winning an election to serve as deputy chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota alongside Tony Sutton, and eventually earning the role of executive assistant to Koch after Republicans won control of the Senate in 2010.
“This is my first endeavor with blogging since I started Minnesota Democrats Exposed in 2004 – 8 years ago,” Brodkorb wrote on the site. “I always enjoyed blogging, but I have debated about the best platform for re-entering Minnesota’s blogosphere and honestly, Minnesota politics publicly.”
According to the post, the new site will provide “analysis, breaking news and commentary about Minnesota politics from the perspective of a political insider.” The site has tabs covering everything from 2012 legislative and amendment campaigns, the media and Capitol buzz to musings about the 2014 gubernatorial race. The site will not, however, provide insight into his ongoing legal dispute with the chamber.
“I will not be able to comment on any aspects of my legal case on politics.mn. Please do not confuse my inability to comment as any lack of understanding on my part about the issues involving my case,” he writes. “At a time appropriate in the future, I will likely have an an opportunity to speak. Until such a time, I will continue to make little, if any, public statements.”
Brodkorb also made it clear that politics.mn will not have the same focus as Minnesota Democrats Exposed, which served almost exclusively as a means to attack liberal politicians. As part of his ongoing lawsuit with the Senate, Brodkorb is threatening to reveal the details of romantic affairs on both sides of the aisle to prove that he was treated differently than female staffers in the same situation.
“Politics.mn wil be nothing like my former blog. Make no mistake about it – I’m still a proud partisan Republican. But politics.mn will be much different. Some of the most enjoyable professional experiences I have had in the last few years have been opportunities to work alongside Democrats and people with differing political ideologies,” Brodkorb wrote. “If you’re looking for an updated version of my former blog, you won’t find it on politics.mn. If I put my head out the window, I could probably hear the laughing from some of the Democrats I previously wrote about.”
