An outcomes-based' Judiciary panel.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

As he prepares to grab his first gavel since 2014, Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, the incoming chair of the newly configured Judiciary Finance & Civil Law Division, has a big agenda and plans for a more disciplined committee.

In contrast to the House Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee, led since 2015 by Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, Lesch said observers will find his committee operating in a more direct, outcome-based fashion. "I definitely have a different style from Representative Scott," Lesch said.

Scott lets people fully air out their views in committee, Lesch said. He plans to impose strict time limits in the interest of keeping bills moving, he said. He also will require speakers to directly address the bill at hand, he said.

"It's not a platform for personal grievances or beefs with respect to other legislation," Lesch said. "I want to make sure that the testimony before the committee is relevant and pertinent, which I think makes for a better experience overall."

That could sometimes spell trouble for folks like Rick Heller, the hunting-cap-wearing unofficial representative of the group Twice Exceptional and Print Disabled, who tends to approach the microphone and fight for his cause regardless of what's on the agenda.

Still, Lesch won't take the new approach to extremeshe said he'll make exceptions for constituents who endure long trips just to have their say at the Capitol.

Colorful character

Lesch, a private practice lawyer and former St. Paul city prosecutor, is one of the Legislature's nattier dressers and eloquent speakers. He also ranks among its more colorful characters: He likely is the only sitting legislator ever to be arrested on suspicion of Middle Eastern espionage.

That happened in 2006 in Syria while he was enroute to Baghdada trip that drew rebukes from both U.S. and Iraqi officials. They complained that the young lawmaker was grandstanding and putting himself at risk of kidnapping.

Years later, during a May 1, 2018, House floor debate, Lesch recounted for colleagues how he was arrested for using a satellite phonea practice banned by Syria's Assad regime. He spent a harrowing day in detention, he said. Several years after that trip, Lesch signed on as a National Guard infantryman; he retired as a captain last year.

As a legislator, Lesch has championed citizens' privacy and worked to keep both government and industry from manipulating peoples' private data with ill intent. But his...