We had a laugh yesterday afternoon at Minnesota Lawyers offices. When we put a poll on our main website asking voters whether we thought the attorneys at Minnesotas Attorney Generals office should be allowed to unionize, votes soon started trickling and then flooding in, as people on both sides of the issue frantically clicked the yes and no options. (The anti-union folks seem to have been much busier.)
The response demonstrated (take your pick) A) the passionate feelings this issue stirs; B) the silly lengths that some on both sides will go to in order to make their point.
Weve covered this story to some length, but a year after it first emerged, the basic facts remain the same: AFSCME wants to form a union in the AGs office, the AGO is digging in its heels, lots of lawyers (about one-third) have left the AGO, and morale in the office is bad and getting no better.
In the meantime, weve gotten numerous anonymous communications from pro-union folks (both on this blog and via e-mail) about the heavy-handed tactics that continue to be used against AGO employees, but little of substance around which to build a story that wouldnt be one-sided and full of unsubstantiated speculation.
At the same time, the AGO is as uncooperative with us as it is with other media outlets, refusing to return calls and failing to follow through on Data Practices Act requests. Lori Swanson and her loyalists seem all too happy to see this story go unreported, even if means pushing ethical boundaries. And current and former AGO employees who could potentially contribute to the story are either unwilling to speak for attribution or have a pro-union axe to grind.
That puts us and other outlets in a bind, because while there might still be a story to be told at the AGO, most of what weve heard is hearsay, and we cant use hearsay. We have all the Deep Throats we need on this one.
If there truly is more to be told, we hope a few people from both sides of this issue will drop their cloak of anonymity and let us know.
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[Source: Minnesota Lawyer Blog]
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