A Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party intern tracked down Republican lieutenant governor candidate Donna Bergstrom at her home and lied to her spouse in order to gain entry.
“I’m disturbed to report that this weekend my amazing running-mate Donna Bergstrom returned to her home after a day on the campaign trail to find a young DFL tracker actually inside her home, sitting with her husband and 13-year-old son,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson wrote on Facebook Wednesday.
Johnson went on to relay that the individual, who was later identified as a DFL intern, lied to Bergstrom’s husband about needing “to use their phone to call for a ride,” and requested to wait inside their home until he was picked up.
“Donna’s husband kindly agreed. Obviously, Donna was quite startled to see the tracker sitting in her living room and talking to her family when she returned home,” Johnson continued, saying his campaign has decided against publicizing the individual’s name or taking “further action.”
“It’s ridiculous enough that candidates and their families are being chased out of restaurants and harassed in public by the left. To actually enter someone’s home under false pretenses is a new low,” Johnson concluded. “And, FYI, if anything like this happens again, the police will be involved.”
The DFL immediately condemned the incident as “unacceptable” and began working with the Johnson campaign to identify the individual, who was later described by DFL Chairman Ken Martin as “an over-zealous teenage student intern who has volunteered for several campaigns.”
“This individual is not, and has never been a DFL employee, and was not working officially or otherwise, as a tracker. Even so, I have personally called Jeff Johnson to apologize for today’s incident,” Martin said in a statement, adding that “no DFL employees are ever encouraged to act in this way.”
“Finally, it is important to remember that children often make mistakes,” the statement concludes. “As adults, it is up to us to show compassion when they do, and to make our expectations about right and wrong clear to them, so that they can learn, grow and move forward.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
