Part-time, citizen legislators bring expertise from their day jobs — and potential for conflicts  • Minnesota Reformer

Minnesota’s part-time, citizen-Legislature gives the Capitol expertise across a range of fields, from insurance brokers to police officers, doctors to teachers. 

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

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

On the flipside, however, lawmakers like Johnson Stewart who work in a special 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. Since 2008 — before Johnson Stewart ran for office — Professional Engineering Services has received over $10.5 million in direct contracts with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, according to the agency. Johnson Stewart’s company has also received over $12 million in subcontracts — meaning a company working directly with the state subcontracted the work with Professional Engineering Services.

In 2021, Johnson Stewart voted for a biennial transportation budget bill. It’s unclear whether Professional Engineering Services contracts were funded directly from the bill because MnDOT has other income streams. 

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

The company was not directly named in legislation — a practice often used by Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers in recent years to directly allocate state budget dollars to companies and nonprofits.

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 her initial run for office in 2020, but it took time to find a buyer.

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

Her Republican challenger in her comeback race is Kathleen Fowke, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2022 and has faced her own questions about financial ties to the state’s biggest electric utility.

The Senate is now evenly split 33-33 between Democrats and Republicans, and the race is drawing big money in outside spending as Republicans seek to break up the DFL’s trifecta. Senate District 45 includes the western Twin Cities suburbs 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 the Senate could come to an agreement on crucial 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 the Reformer in an interview that she didn’t vote on bills to benefit her company. She did vote for the 2021 transportation budget bill, but Professional Engineering Services had to go through a competitive grant process to receive the funds, and her company wasn’t given a hand-out.

“Every vote I took in the Senate was based on what was best for my district and my constituents, who have urgent infrastructure needs. The Senate has a clear policy around conflicts of interest, and I’ve always followed that policy to a T. When (Professional Engineering Services) applies for contracts, it goes through the same competitive process all companies go through with MnDOT, and legislators have no role in that process,” Johnson Stewart later said in a statement.

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

When asked whether she would abstain from voting on bills that impact any Professional Engineering Services projects if she’s elected to the Senate again, she said no, because she no longer owns the company.

“Especially since we only have a one-seat majority, and we’re voting on funding for critical infrastructure projects, I wouldn’t know ahead of time if (Professional Engineering Services) is going to work on that project, so I would have to abstain from everything,” Johnson Stewart said.

Lawmakers earn $51,750 annually and are in session less than half the year. Even though the job is typically full-time, given the demands of constituent services and off-session policy work, many lawmakers have another job. As realtors, farmers and attorneys, they are often drafting policies, with their expertise, that will directly affect their other occupation. 

Many lawmakers have been accused of conflicts of interest, including former Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, whose family ties to deer farming put him under scrutiny during a vote on chronic wasting disease.

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