Fischbach lawyer: It could've been worse.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

It will cost taxpayers more than $146,000 to defend former Senate President Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, against a lawsuit that aimed to unseat her. But it could have been worse.

That's according to Kevin Magnuson, one of Fischbach's attorneys. He testified last week at a Senate subcommittee hearing while seeking public reimbursement for his firm's work on the Fischbach case. He said the firm halved its usual rate as a favor to taxpayers.

After hearings in two committees over two days, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee on Dec. 11 voted 5-2 to have the Senateand hence the publicpay Fischbach's legal bills. Its two Democrats, Tom Bakk and Sandy Pappas, voted no.

Fischbach ascended to lieutenant governor on Dec. 13, 2017, after Al Franken was forced out of the U.S. Senate and former Lt. Gov. Tina Smith was tapped as his replacement.

By law, that automatically slid Fischbach over to lieutenant governor. But the GOP Senate president didn't care to sink into obscurity as DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's little-noticed lieutenant. She sought and received a legal opinion from Senate counsel Tom Bottern, which said she could keep both seats if she wanted to.

Anticipating a lawsuit over that decision, Fischbach retained Kelley Wolter & Scott in December 2017, Magnuson said. The same firm had defended the Legislature in its 2017 lawsuit against Dayton over his line-item vetoes.

The firm began billable work for Fischbach on Dec. 22, 2017, a day after media reports surfaced that Bakk, the Senate's minority leader, considered a lawsuit likely, Magnuson said. On Jan. 12, the suit was filed.

A constituent from Fischbach's district, Destiny Dusosky, sued Fischbach as an individual in her role as senator and Senate president. Dusosky contended the constitution forbade Fischbach from holding two elective offices at once and that her dual role robbed Dusosky of appropriate Senate representation. She sought an injunction removing Fischbach from the Senate.

That suit was tossed out in mid-February by Ramsey County Chief Judge John H. Guthmann for lacking both ripeness and standing. But Dusosky sued again on nearly identical grounds in mid-session, after the Senate passed several measures by one-vote majoritiesvotes for which Fischbach could be considered the deciding factor.

The second suit went nowhere and was rendered moot when the 2017 legislative session ended and Fischbach resigned from the Senate. She promptly accepted an...