Union Busting...

...Democrats:

The state's largest public employees union and the Minnesota attorney general are locked in a dispute over the firing of one of its lawyers who said she had tried to organize a union during a flurry of staff departures in the past three months.

Kari Ferguson, an assistant attorney general, was fired last week after handing out union solicitation cards, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Solicitor General Al Gilbert said the dismissal "was not based on any union activities." He declined to say why Ferguson was dismissed, citing employee privacy laws.

The dispute exposes an unusual rift between Attorney General Lori Swanson, a top DFL officer holder, and a large labor union that Democrats rely on for political support. AFSCME endorsed Swanson in her run for attorney general last year.

In theory, the DFL is all in favor of unions. Unless of course they get in the way of running their little political fiefdoms. Unions for thee, but not for me.

Word on the street is that there is a lot of discontent within the attorney general's staff, some of it no doubt exacerbated by the presence of the elephant in the corner office: Lori Swanson's old boss and former AG Mike Hatch. Makes you wonder who's really running the show?

UPDATE-- The word on problems within Swanson's office isn't only on the street, it's in the Pioneer Press as well:

"I've never seen morale lower," said one employee who asked not to be named. "The place feels like a morgue."

And you thought you had a tough work environment.

The fun continues:

Speculation and concern in recent weeks about the escalator out of the attorney general's office led Mark Cohen, editor in chief of the weekly Minnesota Lawyer, to comment on the matter in a blog Saturday. More than 40 commenters rapidly piled on before Cohen ended the string Thursday morning, saying it was becoming unproductive.

Among the comments were several laudatory posts praising Swanson and signed by staff members. One former employee accused Hatch of pressuring staff to post positive comments on the blog, in one case even writing a comment for the staffer.

Hatch denied doing so. "I haven't written any blogs," he said. "In fact, I don't even have an e-mail address."

What is this new fangled "com-pew-ter" thing that you speak of?

Glad to see that our former AG, who came within a whisker of becoming governor last fall, is right there on the cutting edge of technology. Proud to be a Luddite he is.

However, I find it hard to believe that Hatch, who is still working in the AG's office in some capacity, doesn't have an e-mail address of some sort. Seems like the kind of thing an enterprising reporter could easily check up on.

Past and current employees told the Pioneer Press the stream of resigning assistant attorneys general reflects how demoralized Swanson's staff has become.

"People are being micromanaged and fired for any reason at the drop of a hat," a former staff member who left in recent months said.

A current staffer said some of the office's best lawyers have been driven out or fired, "and they are having a hard time hiring people other than kids straight out of law school."

Others said they were shocked at the departures of Eiden, a longtime Hatch loyalist, and Vanselow, a highly regarded lawyer.

"They stuck around after the election because they thought it would be easier to work under Lori than under Hatch," said an insider familiar with both supervisors. "But they never imagined that Lori would hire Mike to come back. That just came out of the blue."

Mike Hatch is hard to work for? Imagine that.