Minnesota Senate Republicans file ethics complaint against Champion

Yahoo

11-04-2025

Senate president Bobby Joe Champion, right, talks after leading the session during the regular legislative session Monday, March 27, 2023. Photo by Nicole Neri for the Minnesota Reformer.
Minnesota Senate Republicans filed an ethics complaint against Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, arguing that he used his elected position to steer funding for his legal client.
The Reformer first reported last week that Champion, a practicing attorney, had advocated for millions in grants for a nonprofit headed up by one of his legal clients, the Rev. Jerry McAfee.
Champion says his pro-bono legal work for McAfee concluded just prior to the start of the 2023 legislative session, when he successfully steered $3 million in public funds to McAfee's violence prevention group 21 Days of Peace.
Earlier this month, Champion introduced another bill allocating $1 million to 21 Days of Peace. Champion did not disclose to his fellow senators that he had represented McAfee and his nonprofit Salem Inc. in four court cases involving nonpayment of mortgages on multiple Minneapolis properties.
Senate Republicans in their ethics complaint argued that Champion's failure to disclose his relationship with McAfee 'violated Senate Rules by falling short of the highest ethical standards, betraying the public trust, and giving the appearance that his independence of judgement was impaired by his legal relationship with Rev. McAfee and Salem Inc.'
'This is a clear and deeply troubling case of a public official using their legislative position to potentially benefit their private legal clients,' Sen. Michael Kreun, R-Blaine, said in a statement. 'With what we know, at a minimum this is a conflict of interest that warranted disclosure. At worst, it's an abuse of public office for personal and professional gain.'
Champion earlier this week told the Senate Jobs and Economic Development Committee that the reporting about his connection with McAfee and the grant funding he steered to the nonprofit was a 'smear' on his name.
Champion has temporarily stepped down as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Ethics, and he has asked the committee to issue an advisory opinion on whether his actions on behalf of McAfee's group represented a conflict of interest and should have been disclosed under Senate rules.
'There's no conflict from my vantage point,' Champion told the Senate jobs committee.
McAfee isn't the only legal client to benefit from Champion's grantmaking: In 2024, he provided legal representation for a Minneapolis-based substance abuse treatment provider, Turning Point. The prior year, Champion spearheaded a successful effort to direct $1 million in public funds to the organization for improving their facility.
Champion said he was not compensated for his legal representation of Turning Point, and he was involved in the case only briefly.
The Star Tribune reported that Champion's executive assistant, Shemeka Bogan, previously worked for McAfee's 21 Days of Peace. Champion and Bogan both previously worked for the nonprofit Stairstep Foundation, and Champion in his Senate role has advocated for public funding for Stairstep.
Champion's ethically questionable conduct underscores the perils of Minnesota's part-time Legislature when most lawmakers need to earn a living beyond their $51,750 legislative salary, and how lawmaker-directed grants create an ethics minefield. Some lawmakers are now seeking to curtail the practice of lawmakers giving public funds directly to nonprofits.