Probe into Hagedorn's office spending focuses on staffer

Dec. 4—An ethics probe into Rep. Jim Hagedorn's office's misuse of funds for mail and printing services has turned its sights on John Sample, a part-time staffer in Hagedorn's office who allegedly concealed his ownership in a company that contracted and overcharged for those services, a new report released by the Office of Congressional Ethics states.

The report is the latest in an investigation into Hagedorn's inordinately high spending of taxpayer dollars on franked mail and printing services during his first year in office, from 2019 to 2020. Hagedorn's office spent nearly $500,000 on such printing services. That spending was directed to two printing companies: One was owned by the brother of Hagedorn's chief of staff, Peter Su, and the other was owned by Sample, a part-time digital media staffer in Hagedorn's office.

Both employees were suspended by Hagedorn soon after the spending came to light. Su's suspension became permanent, but Sample returned to his part-time status and continues to work for Hagedorn.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan, independent entity, said it is referring the allegation against Sample to the House Committee on Ethics because "there is substantial reason to believe that Sample may have been involved in and benefited from the use of official funds to procure services from companies owned or controlled by congressional staff members."

Hagedorn hired outside counsel to conduct an internal review of his franked mail practices, which led to the suspension of Su and Sample. Hagedorn and Sample have refused to cooperate with the OCE's inquiry, the report said.

The report states that Sample and Su, who knew each other and were employed together in Virginia state government before being hired by Hagedorn, sought to benefit themselves financially and tried to secure printing services for companies that "they or their families owned."

The report goes on to say that Hagedorn's knowledge of his two staffers' efforts remains unclear. But it says several factors indicate that Hagedorn "should have been aware and was negligent in overseeing these substantial contracting decisions."

Attention on Hagedorn's office's spending irregularities first began attracting public notice when Legistorm published a short article on on June 8, 2020. It noted that Hagedorn had spent 19 percent of his annual budget on franked mail in the first quarter of 2020. During that same period, an average member spent 0.8 percent of their budget.

The OCE says that Su did not cooperate with Hagedorn's internal review, but the OCE was able to obtain Su's "partial cooperation." Su said that Sample concealed his ownership interest in the company, Invcoq Technologies LLC. But it found some of Su's information unreliable and untruthful.

"Throughout the interview, Su equivocated as to whose idea it was to hire Sample," the report states. "Initially Su indicated that Rep. Hagedorn knew Sample and had made the initial contact on his own. Later, Su states that he made the initial introduction. Su openly acknowledges that he and Sample discussed the possibility of providing some type of media or constituent contact services to Rep. Hagedorn before either were hired by Rep. Hagedorn."

Su also said that Hagedorn told Sample and him to hire Blue Earth Graphics, a printing company from Hagedorn's hometown, to produce printed constituent mailers. But Su said that the company was unable to keep up with higher volume requirements. It also wasn't able to provide the level of customization in graphic and printing choices that Hagedorn required. That's when Sample suggested another company, Invocq, the company that Sample owns, Su said.

Later, OCE reached out to Blue Earth Graphics to corroborate Su's claim that the company was unable to meet Hagedorn's volume and customization needs. The company stated that their services were abruptly canceled with no explanation. It also said it was fully capable of meeting of Hagedorn's requirements for customizable mailings.

After hiring Invocq, Hagedorn's office paid $41,088 for its services in its first disbursement. Prior to that, his office had spent only a tenth of that amount, $4,754, to Blue Earth.

The scandal surrounding Hagedorn's office spending did not harm him in the 2020 election as he won a second term running against DFL candidate Dan Feehan. Last July, Hagedorn reported that his kidney cancer had returned. He has not yet stated whether he plans to run for a third term representing Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, which includes Rochester.

Last October, the House Ethics Committee accepted a recommendation from the OCE to further investigate allegations that Hagedorn misused office funds as well allegations that he failed to report an in-kind contribution of private office space.