Saturday, May 12, 2012
Sens. Gretchen Hoffman, Barb Goodwin hugged on last day of session.
Here is video of the farewell speech in which state Sen. Gretchen Hoffman apologized to Sen. Barb Goodwin, who represents part of Fridley: But I made it personal last year. And to Sen. Goodwin I want to say I'm very sorry from the bottom of my heart. I wish I would have said that sooner to you. The two share a hug at the end of the clip. In May 2011, Hoffman tweeted about Goodwin from the floor of the Senate while Goodwin was speaking, with a message that misconstrued what Goodwin said. Another senator filed an ethics complaint, and in June a Senate ethics panel ordered Hoffman to apologize to Goodwin in writing.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Sen. Gretchen Hoffman offered apology, hug to Sen. Barb Goodwin over tweet.
Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50), who represents much of Fridley, got a verbal apology and a hug from Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-Vergas) Thursday during Hoffman's farewell speech to the Minnesota Senate. Hoffman ridiculed Goodwin in a May 2011 tweet from the Senate floor that misconstrued remarks Goodwin had just made in a floor speech. A Senate ethics committee dropped a complaint against her by another DFL senator in June 2011 after Hoffman agreed to write a formal letter of apology. But Thursday's apology—and hug—was different. "I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart," a tearful Hoffman said. "And I wish I said that earlier."
Thursday, February 9, 2012
MN senator representing Fridley cited felons' ease of getting gun rights.
State Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) said Friday she would object to a gun-rights bill on the Senate floor because committees won't take into account news that Minnesota's laws on felons getting guns are among the nation's "loosest." Goodwin, who represents parts of Fridley, cited a New York Times article ("Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights"). The article includes this: Using partial data from Minnesota’s Judicial Branch, The Times identified more than 70 cases since 2004 of people convicted of “crimes of violence” who have gotten their gun rights back. A closer look at a number of them found a superficial process. The cases included ... [a] man whose petition was approved without even a hearing, even though his felony involved …
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The written apology is part of deal to drop ethics complaint.
A letter from Minnesota Sen. Gretchen Hoffman to Sen. Barb Goodwin apologizes for a May 18 tweet that took Goodwin's floor-speech remarks about the mentally ill out of context. It's part of what a Senate subcommittee asked Hoffman to do in exchange for dismissal of an ethics complaint against her. (via Minnesota Public Radio) Update (7:45 p.m.): Goodwin sounded less than satisfied in an email Thursday evening: Senator Hoffman still has (or has recently put) the same blatant lie on her campaign website. Plus, as you know, she closed her past twitter account - the one she was supposed to issue the apology or a link to the results of the ethics committee. She added: "I really hope it's over soon." Update (9:45 a.m., Friday): Here is Hoffman's…
Hoffman's tweet about Goodwin is gone—as are all her other tweets.
The Twitter acount at the center of a Minnesota Senate ethics case disappeared Wednesday. The "@gretchenmh" account belonging to Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) no longer exists, according to Twitter. That's the account at which Hoffman posted a tweet May 18 about Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) that prompted an ethics complaint. (See video.) A Senate subcommittee met for five and a half hours Monday before resolving to offer Hoffman a deal: Apologize in writing to Goodwin, delete the tweet, and post a link to our resolution, and we'll dismiss the complaint. The resolution asks Hoffman to use the Twitter account that as of Wednesday is not active. (See PDF of subcommittee's resolution.) Fridley Patch sent email requests for comment late Wednesday …
Monday, June 13, 2011
Complaint concerned tweet about Sen. Barb Goodwin.
A state senator who tweeted that a colleague called mentally ill people disparaging names will have an ethics complaint against her dropped if she deletes the tweet, tweets a link and apologizes. That was the decision that a Senate panel reached Monday evening after five and half hours of testimony and debate that often tested the four panel-members' patience—and their understanding of Twitter. At issue was a May 18 tweet and a later press statement from Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) in which she said Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) had referred to mentally ill people as "idiots and imbeciles" in a Senate-floor speech about health and human services funding. In her speech, Goodwin used those terms, as well as "the insane," to describe how the …
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Senator says she assumed colleague had deleted it.
With an ethics hearing into the affair two days away, state Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) said Saturday she was "shocked and unhappy" to see that a colleague has not deleted a Twitter message accusing her of applying disparaging terms to mentally ill people. Goodwin said via email she assumed that Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) had removed the tweet—until she followed a link to it in Hoffman's Twitter stream in a Fridley Patch article Thursday: I was really shocked and unhappy about it. I believed it had come down after the first couple of days. That's a long time for people with mental illness and their families to assume anyone in the Legislature would say such awful things. No Conflict Another familiar Fridley face will be present Monday …
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The UpTake will carry video as panel airs complaint Monday.
A Minnesota Senate subcommittee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday to hear the ethics complaint on behalf of Sen. Barb Goodwin about a colleague's tweet. The UpTake will carry live, streaming video of the hearing. Goodwin (DFL-50) demanded an apology after Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) May 18 claimed in a Twitter message that Goodwin had applied derogatory terms to mentally ill people during a floor speech: #Sen Goodwin just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill #offensive #mndfl #mnsrc #mnleg Goodwin used the terms in reference to what state mental hospitals used to be called—"Institutions for Idiots and Imbeciles and the Insane"—as part of a debate over the state's budget for health and human services…
Avonna Starck
10:56 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Too little too late. Hoffman should have known better in the first place, she is no better than a high school bully. Barb should have received this apology before the situation reached an ethics hearing. I give Barb an A+ for being a class act through this entire thing. Hopefully this is the last we see of Hoffman. more ›