Senate Committee Approves $30K Settlement With Brodkorb

The legal fallout from former St. Michael Sen. Amy Koch’s affair with onetime GOP spokesman Michael Brodkorb appears to have reached its conclusion.

The Minnesota Senate’s Rules Committee OK’d a $30,000 settlement with Brodkorb on Monday, the Star Tribune reported. The settlement agreement permanently dismisses all of Brodkorb’s claims.

He initially sought $500,000.

Brodkorb sued the state Senate in July 2012 after he was fired after information came to light about an affair with Koch, who was then Senate majority leader. He said that he was fired because he was a man and that female employees in similar circumstances weren’t fired.

Senate officials countered that he was an at-will employee who could’ve been fired at any time.

The settlement, while lower than Brodkorb sued for, is just a fraction of the litigation’s costs. In September, costs climbed to about $300,000, according to the Star Tribune.