MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (KTTC) - Fired Minnesota Senate aide Michael Brodkorb is being charged with drunken driving and other counts after a January crash that left him injured.
Lilydale City Attorney Thomas Lehmann says Wednesday he has issued a complaint charging Brodkorb with four counts, including fourth-degree driving under the influence, a misdemeanor. He also faces a misdemeanor count of careless driving, and a petty misdemeanor count of wearing no seat belt.
Brodkorb crashed his sport utility vehicle on a highway near St. Paul on January 23rd and was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Brodkorb was a communications aide to Senate Republicans. He was fired in 2011 after an affair with then-Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.
Brodkorb says he has no comment at this time.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has granted the state's request to dismiss three counts from Brodkorb's lawsuit over his firing-- leaving only two discrimination counts remaining.
Brodkorb was fired in 2011 after Senate leaders discovered his affair with then-Majority Leader Amy Koch. Brodkorb sued, claiming he was unfairly treated because female Senate staffers who carried on affairs weren't punished.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson dismissed Brodkorb's claims that he was defamed. She wrote that statements made by former Senate Secretary Cal Ludeman in the context of "heated" negotiations were not defamatory.
Nelson also dismissed the state as a defendant, as well as references to unnamed Senate employees. Dayle Nolan, the Senate's attorney, says the Senate is the only remaining defendant.
