Senate leaders filed additional ethics charges against embattled Senator Jeff Hayden today including a charge he lied to the Subcommittee on Ethics. The new charges allege Hayden lied to the Subcommittee about his knowledge of financial troubles at Community Action Minneapolis (CAM) and about a trip he took to New York paid for with funds that were supposed to serve low income families.
At the time of his testimony, Hayden repeatedly denied knowledge of CAM’s financial troubles saying he “was not involved in the financial management of the organization” and “these allegations were new and foreign to us.” Information obtained by Minnesota Public Radio indicates Senator Hayden was copied on correspondence about compliance issues at CAM and attended meetings with CAM leaders about their financial problems as early as January 2014.
Hayden also repeatedly denied receiving any travel or other perks from CAM in his written and oral testimony to the Subcommittee on Ethics. Information from a data practices request received after the Subcommittee met show Senator Hayden accompanied his wife and others on an improper trip to New York City. The cost of airfare for Senator Hayden was $374.60 and was paid by CAM.
The new complaint meets the challenge issued by Hayden’s lawyer and Senator Tony Lourey during the Ethics Subcommittee hearings held late last year. Senator Lourey repeatedly asked Senator Hann for proof that the allegations in the initial complaint were true. That proof was uncovered through a data practices request fulfilled by the Department of Human Services, giving the public access to the documents used in their August 2014 audit of CAM.
“We met the challenge of the Subcommittee on Ethics to find more concrete evidence that Senator Hayden received travel perks and failed in his duties as a board member for CAM,” said Senator David Hann (Eden Prairie). “Unfortunately, we are now compelled to add the charge of lying under oath to the list of charges in our original complaint.”
New information was also recently brought to light by the court-appointed receiver for CAM. In a memo to the court, the receiver outlined a new list of ten allegations that he “deemed worthy of additional investigation.” One of the new allegations is “excessive gift giving to board members…” The receiver also indicated in his memo to the court that the FBI and the IRS are now investigating the activities of CAM.
“The FBI, IRS, Department of Human Services and the Department of Commerce are all investigating CAM and its activities. The Subcommittee on Ethics can no longer ignore the facts – they must find probable cause and move to the next phase of this ethics complaint against Senator Jeff Hayden,” added Hann.
Hayden Ethics Complaint by Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus