ST. PAUL
Minnesota State Rep. Tom Hackbarth has been stripped of his leadership role in the Republican caucus after an incident in which St. Paul police detained him and seized his loaded gun.
Hackbarth, who hasn't been charged with a crime, said he accepts the decision by Rep. Kurt Zellers, the House speaker-designate, but maintains the entire incident is "a complete misunderstanding."
Zellers released the following statement Wednesday: "Due to an incident on Tuesday, November 16, State Representative Tom Hackbarth has been suspended from any current and pending leadership roles within the House GOP Caucus. The suspension will remain in effect until the issue is fully resolved."
It's unclear what "fully resolved" means. Police reports state the Nov. 16 incident involving Hackbarth, who has a permit to carry a loaded gun, is "closed." When asked Wednesday whether he expects any further legal proceedings, he responded, "Absolutely not."
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A note accompanying Zellers' statement said neither he nor the party caucus would have any further comment Wednesday.
According to police reports and Hackbarth's own statements to the Pioneer Press, the Anoka County lawmaker went to the capital city's Highland Park neighborhood to check up on a woman he'd met on an online dating site to see whether she was seeing another man.
The anti-abortion lawmaker, who was first elected in 1994, parked his Ford pickup in the parking lot of the Planned Parenthood on Ford Parkway after 5 p.m. Hackbarth
told police and the Pioneer Press he had no idea it was a Planned Parenthood. He said he didn't see a sign and no protesters -- often seen outside the clinic -- were present.
A security guard at the clinic saw Hackbarth's holstered .38-caliber revolver and called police. Hackbarth walked down an alley, returned to his vehicle and drove off. Police officers stopped him a few blocks away.
While the clinic bans firearms on the premises, state law carries an exception for parking areas, so Hackbarth, who never entered the building, appears not to have violated the clinic's ban or state law.
He told officers he was "jealous" over his "girlfriend," for whom he could provide no information other than a name. Officers took his gun, citing public safety concerns. He retrieved it Tuesday.
He was handcuffed briefly, tested for alcohol (none was detected) and released. The next day, Hackbarth was named the next chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee by GOP leadership.
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Hackbarth, 58, said he is separated from his wife and that they're planning to divorce.
On Wednesday, he said he didn't believe the incident warranted any action but that he was willing to accept whatever the caucus wanted for him.
"I want to do whatever's good for the caucus is what I want," he said in a telephone interview. "The speaker called me and told me it's something he wanted to do. I'm OK with that. It's temporary until this all gets sorted out. I think the caucus has some concerns. I understand those concerns. I tried to alleviate them. I keep telling people it's the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just a misunderstanding that got blown way out of proportion."
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
