SIOUX FALLS, S.D.— There are new developments in the investigation into Republican Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller.
Now that the western South Dakota lawmaker is re-instated, the closed-door testimony of a Legislative Research Council employee has been made public.
When the employee spoke under oath before the Senate Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion on Tuesday evening, the document quotes the woman as saying she felt violated by a conversation with the senator and that the conversation was unsolicited.
She told lawmakers quote, “This conversation went as far as to say my son would die, my child, that something physically might happen to him based on my parenting decisions… I truly believe that crossed a very clear boundary.”
On Wednesday, the committee sent forward its report on the encounter to the full Senate, saying it found Frye-Muller “engaged in harassment.” Lawmakers recommended censuring and re-instating the senator.
The Senate supported the motion. The final vote was 33-1, with only Republican Sen. Tom Pischke, her seatmate, voting against it.
While Frye-Mueller was reinstated as a state senator, she will have to limit her interaction and contact with staff of the Legislative Research Council, including interns and pages, to the director or the director’s designees.
Earlier on Thursday, Frye-Mueller dropped her federal lawsuit against Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck.
Schoenbeck, the Senate president pro tem, hasn’t reassigned Frye-Mueller to any committees.
