The so-called Surly bill was among the most high-profile accomplishments of the 2011 legislative session. That legislation allowed breweries to operate bars on their premises.

The recent flurry of Freedom Club-sponsored pro-right-to-work direct mail pieces sent to the districts of GOP state senators seen as potential opponents of the controversial ballot initiative were sent from a mail house owned by one of their Senate Republican caucus colleagues, Sen. Chris Gerlach.

The complaint filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings says Senate Republicans used public funds to print partisan literature that was distributed at Republican precinct caucuses last week. State law prohibits using taxpayer money for any campaign purposes.

Minnesota Republicans started the 2011 session having conquered titans. In the Legislature, GOP lawmakers had made a historic 54-seat gain in the House and Senate that fall, a swing that handed them majorities in both chambers for the first time in 38 years.

Geoff Michel’s short but memorable reign as acting Senate majority leader came to an end last Tuesday when the chamber’s GOP caucus elected a new chief, Dave Senjem, along with a whole new slate of assistant majority leaders. And though his tenure was only 12 days long, the episode has apparently left Michel among the figures most damaged by the upheaval surrounding the resignation of former Majority Leader Amy Koch.

Senate Republicans will head into the 2012 legislative session and election cycle with a new leadership team at the helm after one of the most dramatic downfalls of a Minnesota politician in decades. In an 11-hour marathon session at the Radisson hotel in Roseville on Tuesday, Republican senators elected Rochester Sen. Dave Senjem as their new majority leader.

The Minnesota Senate Republican caucus is in disarray after a tumultuous few days that saw Majority Leader Amy Koch suddenly step down following allegations of an “inappropriate relationship” with a direct subordinate on the Senate staff.

Behind the scenes -- for now, at least -- the internecine warfare surrounding the Senate Republican caucus appears to be growing more bitter, and threatening to spill into the news again.

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch sent shock waves through the Capitol complex late Thursday afternoon when she announced that she will not seek re-election in 2012 and that she is resigning her post as Senate majority leader, effective immediately.

Allegations of an improper relationship with a legislative staffer are what pushed former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch abruptly resign her post Thursday and announce she would not seek re-election in 2012, GOP caucus leaders confirmed at a Capitol news conference Friday. They would not identify the staffer in question, citing legal concerns, but said it was a male staffer and someone who reported directly to Koch.