Hagedorn's fired chief of staff had apparent link to company that got questionable payments
UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 19: Jim Hagedorn, Republican candidate for Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, is interviewed in his campaign office in Mankato, Minn., on September 19, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) ((Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call))
(FOX 9) - U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn's former chief of staff may be connected to a company that received questionable payments of taxpayer money through an arrangement that Hagedorn says he has since ended.
The allegation was part of an internal review that Hagedorn released over the Labor Day weekend. The first-term Republican congressman has declined to answer questions about the issue.
Hagedorn's constituent mail practices have been under the microscope for weeks because of more than $400,000 in payments made to two companies that have ties to Hagedorn staffers. Hagedorn has hired a prominent ethics attorney and appears to be readying himself for a House ethics investigation. He has blamed the spending on his chief of staff, whom he fired in June.
Hagedorn's office paid $340,000 since 2019 to Abernathy West, a limited-liability corporation registered in Delaware, which does not require LLCs to disclose their owners or corporate leaders. But the internal investigation conducted by attorney Elliot Berke found the company shares an address, phone service and registered agent with another firm led by Szu-Nien Su, the brother of now-fired Hagedorn chief of staff Peter Su.
Neither Peter Su, Szu-Nien Su, or Abernathy West denied the linkage, according to Berke's review. None of the parties responded to requests for information after initially agreeing to cooperate, Berke said.
Abernathy West does not appear to have done any constituent mail services for any other member of Congress, Berke found.
Hagedorn's office also spent $101,000 on printing and reproduction at Texas-based Invocq Technologies, LLC, a company that lists Hagedorn part-time staffer John Sample as its registered agent, director, chief financial officer and chief technology officer.
Invocq became a vendor because Su was frustrated with other vendors for being "too cookie cutter" and turned to Sample's company -- even though it, too, had never done constituent mail work for members of Congress -- because there was pressure to get mail pieces "out the door," according to Berke's findings.
Abernathy West and Invocq both charged Hagedorn's office "significantly more than fair market" for the services, Berke wrote.
Hagedorn suspended Sample but reinstated him in July.
Berke, the ethics attorney, has worked with two former congressman who resigned for misusing campaign funds. He said in his report that Hagedorn "fully agrees that he is ultimately responsible for the actions of those in his employ," but said the congressman "acted in good faith" and did not have knowledge of the questionable spending.
“I’ve taken corrective action and provided all available information to the House,” Hagedorn said in an emailed statement. “My focus moving forward is continuing my work to promote the interests of southern Minnesotans by sustaining our farmers, supporting small businesses, and maintaining our fine rural hospitals."
Hagedorn faces a rematch against Democrat Dan Feehan in November, which is widely expected to be one of the country's closest congressional races. Minnesota Democrats said Hagedorn's internal review was not enough.
“Congressman Hagedorn is responsible for using almost half a million of our tax dollars to line the pockets of his employees," DFL chairman Ken Martin said in an emailed statement. "This corruption within Hagedorn’s office went on unchecked for months until media reports exposed it to the public, at which point Hagedorn lied to the public and tried to deflect blame."