DFLers miffed over edited sex offender report

Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Terry Morrow say former Human Services Commissioner and current Secretary of the Senate Cal Ludeman withheld critical information from the Legislature when he edited a report on sex offender treatment.

The two DFL legislators from district 23, which is home to one of the state’s sex offender treatment facilities, voiced their concerns Tuesday after a Star Tribune report showed that Ludeman made 35 redactions to a 63-page report on the state’s sex offender treatment program, including complete sections describing community treatment programs.

Ludeman – who served under the administration of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty – told the paper that the report “was promising too much.” Pawlenty was advocating for tougher sentencing of sex offenders.

Ludeman was recently elected as the secretary of the state Senate by the new Republican majority, a move opposed unanimously by Senate DFLers.

Morrow and Sheran said his “doctoring” of the report was politically expedient for Pawlenty, but robbed the Legislature of critical information needed in order to make decisions regarding funding for sex offender treatment facilities.

“This is a much too serious topic to be playing political games,” Morrow said.

Sheran said Ludeman’s actions also hurts legislators’ confidence in his ability to work impartially as the Senate’s secretary. “If that history of filtering information to predetermined political positions is the way in which the former commissioner is functioning in the secretary position, that creates further distrust,” she said.