Rep. Elliott Engen (left) and Rep. Walter Hudson (right) (Supplied)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - House DFL members say they will file ethics complaints against Reps. Elliot Engen and Walter Hudson after Rep. Engen's drunk driving arrest last month in White Bear Lake, where Rep. Hudson was a passenger.
Ethics complaint
What we know:
House DFL leaders say they will file official ethics complaints against both Engen and Hudson on Tuesday for skipping official duties to drink and for allegedly showing up for duties drunk.
What they're saying:
In a statement, DFL Rep. Sam Sencer-Mura says: "As members of the Education Finance committee we make incredibly important decisions that impact the over 900,000 students who attend school in Minnesota. Reps. Engen and Hudson apparently skipped out on that important work to go drink at a bar, during a critical hearing the day before a legislative deadline. They were literally absent from a hearing on a bipartisan bill addressing student absenteeism. This behavior is unusual and concerning. Have they left official work before to do this? Minnesotans should be able to trust that their representatives are here to do work, not skip their duties to go to the bar."
House DFL Floor Leader Jamie Long added: "Reps. Engen and Hudson violated the public’s trust, and this type of behavior has no place in the Capitol. There has to be accountability for their actions that goes beyond removing them from committees. They left committee halfway through to go drink, choosing to let down their colleagues and constituents by not doing the job they were hired for on an important committee overseeing funding for Minnesota schools. "
Local perspective:
Engen and Hudson are also reportedly being removed from their committee assignments by House Speaker Lisa Demuth, according to the Minnesota Reformer.
Drunk driving arrest
The backstory:
Rep. Engen was stopped in White Bear Lake in the early morning hours of March 27 for speeding, expired registration, and a broken headlight.
According to the police report, as officers approached his vehicle, Rep. Engen volunteered that he was "sober cabbing" for the two passengers in the vehicle. Only one of the passengers is identified in the police report: Rep. Walter Hudson.
Breath tests for Engen registered a blood-alcohol content of .13.
The other side:
In the reports, police said Engen initially denied drinking at all but then admitted to consuming two 12-ounce Coors Light beers between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
At the police station, Engen doubted the accuracy of the test results and requested additional tests to be performed.
Dig deeper:
During Rep. Engen's arrest, Rep. Hudson also had his gun taken by police.
As officers were speaking with Rep. Engen, they spotted a bottle of liquor in a child car seat. When asked about the liquor, Rep. Hudson told police that the bottle belonged to him.
Rep. Hudson also notified officers that he was carrying a concealed weapon, a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol. Officers removed the gun from Hudson's waistband and confirmed Hudson had a valid permit.
Officers took the pistol and said they would bring it back to the station for safekeeping, telling Hudson he could retrieve it at a later time.
What we don't know:
The report makes no mention of police testing Rep. Hudson's blood alcohol level. In Minnesota, it is against the law to carry a weapon with a BAC above .04.