Politics or business are definitely not off of the table, and Kiffmeyer noted she has already discussed a variety of options with friends in both areas. When asked if she would consider running for the legislature should Rep. Mark Olson’s seat be vacated due to his legal problems involving domestic abuse charges, Kiffmeyer cited her friendship with the family and noted that people can “come out stronger as a family” after these kinds of troubles. The ending to that story “is still to be written,” she said.
This week's Sherburne County Citizen has an article about Mark Olson's trial. The article restates the facts:
Rep. Mark Olson’s pretrial hearing on two misdemeanor domestic assault charges scheduled for last Friday has been postponed until Friday, Feb. 9.
The hearing was postponed after Olson hired a new attorney to represent him. That attorney was unavailable Friday.
Charges that Olson assaulted his wife were filed in November, five days after he was re-elected to office for the eighth time.
Olson and his wife, Heidi, were arguing, she told Sherburne County Deputies. Mark pushed her to the ground three times, hard enough to leave a bruise. Olson told investigators he grabbed his wife and “placed her” on the ground.
Olson appeared at his first hearing, after spending two nights in jail, without legal representation. Judge Alan Pendleton appointed a public attorney to help him. Olson refused to enter a plea at the time and later asked for forgiveness from God, his wife, his family and the public.
At his second court appearance, Olson appeared with Attorney Jim Fleming and entered a plea of “not guilty” to two charges of fifth degree domestic assault at a brief hearing in Sherburne County Court in December.
...Rep. Steve Sviggum, who once referred to Rep. Mark Olson as "conscience of the Legislature" seems in this article a bit... impatient:
If Olson is found guilty of either of the two charges, he should resign, Sviggum said. If he refuses to resign, the legislature does sit in judgement on its own members.
“The court has to work out the process,” said Sviggum. “We are all presumed to be innocent until we are found guilty, but statements Mark made after his first court appearance lead you to believe something not appropriate took place.”
...But, Olson won't go quietly:
Olson says he has no intent of resigning his position at the legislature and will press on. Only a felony charge would result in his being automatically removed from office.
“I have a lot of support and I don’t see why this would keep me from being able to represent people,” he said. “Really, all this does is elimnate the closed door meetings that I often have objection to. It is less stressful in some respects. I am free to do what I want to do.”
Olson wants to be free to do what he wants... what could that be?
No comments:
Post a Comment