Part-time citizen legislators bring expertise from their daily work – and potential for conflict • Minnesota Reformer

Minnesota’s part-time Citizens Legislature provides the Capitol with expertise in a range of areas, from insurance brokers to police officers, doctors and teachers.

Former Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart, who is running for the Minnesota Senate in a contentious Nov. 5 special election, has brought a wealth of civil engineering knowledge to a Legislature that spends billions each year on roads and bridges, sewage, lead pipe removal and other public works projects.

Johnson Stewart has a cult following for her quirky YouTube videos in which she explains various aspects of infrastructure.

On the other hand, legislators like Johnson Stewart, who work in a specific field, also face the problem of the appearance of conflicts of interest.

Johnson Stewart is the founder of Professional Engineering Services, which specializes in civil engineering and construction management. According to the agency, Professional Engineering Services has received more than $10.5 million in direct contracts with the Minnesota Department of Transportation since 2008 — before Johnson Stewart ran for office. Johnson Stewart’s company also received more than $12 million in subcontracts – meaning a company working directly with the state subcontracted the work to Professional Engineering Services.

In 2021, Johnson Stewart voted for a biennial transportation budget bill. It is unclear whether professional engineering services contracts were directly funded by the bill because MnDOT has other sources of revenue.

Johnson Stewart served as a sitting senator in 2021 and 2022, and during that time MnDOT gave her company the green light to begin work on 18 contracts, the agency said.

The company was not directly named in the law – a practice often used by Democratic farm and Labor lawmakers In recent years it has been possible to distribute state budget funds directly to companies and non-profit organizations.

Johnson Stewart said she sold the company at the end of 2022 and now works there part-time. She said she initiated the sale years before she first ran for office in 2020, but it took time to find a buyer.

The 60-year-old civil engineer is running again for Senate in District 45 – the only Senate seat on the ballot this November after former Senator Kelly Morrison resigned to focus on her run for Congress. Johnson Stewart left the Senate in 2022 after redistricting placed her in the same district as Morrison, and Johnson Stewart chose not to run.

Her Republican challenger in her comeback race is Kathleen Fowke, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2022 and has had to deal with her own questions about financial ties to the Republican Party the state’s largest energy provider.

The Senate is now evenly split 33-33 between Democrats and Republicans, and the race is drawing big money in outside spending as Republicans look to break up the DFL trifecta. Senate District 45 includes the western Twin Cities suburbs of Minnetonka, Wayzata, St. Bonifacius, Orono and Excelsior.

In 2021, Republicans controlled the Minnesota Senate, and Gov. Tim Walz had to call a special session so the DFL-controlled House and Senate could reach agreement on key budget bills and avoid a government shutdown. The transportation budget bill was approved in a 67-0 vote on June 21, 2021.

Johnson Stewart told this reformer in an interview that she had not voted on draft laws that benefited her company. Although she voted for the 2021 transportation budget bill, Professional Engineering Services had to go through a competitive grant process to receive the funds and her company did not receive any funding.

“Every vote I made in the Senate was based on what was best for my district and my constituents who desperately need infrastructure. The Senate has a clear policy regarding conflicts of interest, and I have always followed that policy closely. When (Professional Engineering Services) applies for contracts“It goes through the same competitive process that all companies with MnDOT go through, and the Legislature has no role in that process,” Johnson Stewart later said in a statement.

During her time in the Senate, Johnson Stewart said she remembers excusing herself from voting at least twice to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest surrounding a vote on the Southwest Light Rail Train line that her company was involved in was working at that time.

When asked if she would abstain from voting on bills impacting Professional Engineering Services projects if re-elected to the Senate, she answered “no” because she no longer owns the company.

“Especially since we only have a one-seat majority and are voting on funding for critical infrastructure projects, I wouldn’t know in advance whether (Professional Engineering Services) will work on this project, which I would have given up on everything,” said Johnson Stewart.

Lawmakers make $51,750 annually and meet less than half the year. Although the position is typically full-time, most lawmakers have other jobs given the demands of voter services and policy work outside of sessions. As real estate agents, farmers, and lawyers, they often use their expertise to draft policies that directly impact their other activities.

Many lawmakers have been accused of conflicts of interest, including former Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, who was involved in the deer farm because of his family ties Subject of a vote on chronic wasting disease.

Rep. Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, helped negotiate changes to the state’s legal cannabis law in 2024 as a partner started a cannabis business.