William Butler Yeats concludes his great sonnet, Leda and the Swan, with the lines:
Being so caught up,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
Switch up the genders, and make it consensual, and it sounds a lot like what’s described it a new post this morning at City Page’s Blotter, Michael Brodkorb created a hostile work environment, Republican senator says:
Michael Brodkorb created a hostile work environment months before he was fired in the wake of Amy Koch’s resignation, a Republican state senator tells City Pages.
Brodkorb, the Republican Senate caucus’ former communications director, was “abusive,” “vicious,” and “threatening,” according to our source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to potential litigation. The senator says “numerous” state legislators complained to former Majority Leader Amy Koch about Brodkorb.
“He was the ultimate hostile work environment, and what we couldn’t figure out is why Koch wouldn’t fire him,” our source said. “She wouldn’t take any action against him. Well, he was the guy we found out was in control.”
For months, Bluestem routinely wrote about “Majority Leader Michael Brodkorb” but we didn’t identify the manner which he drew his power from Senator Amy Koch. Now news reports and literature provide as much a glimpse as we need.
In the Greek myth, the trysts between Zeus (in swan drag) and Leda eventually lead to the sacking and destruction of Troy. This may be as good a metaphor for Republican control of the Minnesota state capitol as it gets, but Bluestem will leave completion of that tale to the state’s gifted young spoken word artists and DFL field organizers come November.
Image: Michelangelo’s Leda.
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