ST. PAUL, Minn. — Fellow Republican senators came down hard on their colleague, Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids, after his arrest being pimped by a police decoy in suburban Bloomington. A statement issued by Senate Republican leadership said: “We are shocked. This alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation.” The caucus did add a sympathetic note: “Justin has a difficult road ahead and he needs to focus on his family.” House Lisa Demuth, also a Republican, called for Eichorn to resign: “While he is entitled to due process, we must hold legislators to a higher standard.” Democrats were in the chorus too. Said the Minnesota DFL executive director Heidi Kraus Kaplan: “No one who solicits children belongs anywhere near public office or the State Capitol.” She called Eichorn “an immediate danger to the public.”
Goose sauce, gander sauce
Eichorn’s record shows a hypocrisy. When Democratic Senator Nicole Mitchell was charged with burglary a ear ago, Eichorn was unequivocal “Senator. Mitchell’s premeditated actions are disturbing. They do not align with the values Minnesotans expect of their elected leaders.” The case has been made by legal scholars that the allegation against Mitchell was a “crime against property,” which was mitigatd by difficult famiy circumstances. The allegation aganst Eicchrn is at a whole different level — a “crime against a person.” who, all he worse, he thought was under age.
Eichorn. Neither Eichorn nor his office at the Capitol has responded to news media queries.