Lawmaker cited for making out undecided on 2016

Published 9:29 am Friday, September 18, 2015

ST. PAUL — One of the Minnesota lawmakers cited for making out with a fellow Republican legislator in a public park said Thursday that she wants to move past the incident, which she refused to discuss in detail, and that she’s still considering whether to run for re-election next year.

Rep. Tara Mack returned to the Capitol for an interim hearing on health care issues and made her first public remarks since she and Rep. Tim Kelly were cited by a Dakota County park ranger for making out inside a car. The ranger wrote in his notes that Mack’s pants were pulled down.

As the details of that citation trickled out, Mack and Kelly, who are each married to other people, called it a lie and vowed to lodge a complaint against the ranger. The pair later paid the $260 fines and eventually issued a broad apology to the law enforcement community for the episode.

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Mack declined to discuss the specifics of the Aug. 25 incident, but she said she still disagrees with some of the ranger’s account. She said she and her husband are still deciding whether she will run for a fifth term.

“It’s been a really difficult couple of weeks for me and my family,” the Apple Valley Republican said. “I’m focused on moving forward.”

She declined to answer questions about the Dakota County sheriff’s account of his conversations with Mack after the citation. In documents obtained by The Associated Press, Sheriff Tim Leslie said Mack initially told him the ranger saved her from an “uncomfortable situation.” Days later, she said the story could ruin her career.

The two lawmakers — who are married to other people — were first elected in 2008, rising to chair powerful committees in the Republican-controlled House.

House Speaker Kurt Daudt said his two fellow Republicans will maintain those roles and said he’s had no conversations with Mack or Kelly about them resigning. He called the incident “unfortunate,” but he declined to delve into the specifics of the ranger’s account.

“Whatever the facts of the situation are, and I don’t know what they are, I’m not sure really anybody does,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s really relevant.”

Amid repeated calls from Democrats that their apologies should have been addressed directly to the Dakota County park ranger, Daudt defended Mack’s and Kelly’s apologies as adequate and heartfelt.

Mack said her statement — which apologized for offending men and women in law enforcement — included the ranger who cited her.