JENNINGS GOES TO COURT #2
It seems that Jennings' attorney is using the Forest Gump defense. Jennings was a legislator for 18 years, but according to his lawyer he is a "simple guy."
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Trial begins for ex-Rep. Loren Jennings
Former state Rep. Loren Jennings deceived Minnesota citizens by pushing through legislation to help a utility pole recycling business he was deeply involved in, a federal prosecutor told jurors as his fraud trial opened Tuesday in St. Paul.
Jennings, 54, a DFLer from Harris, spent 18 years representing the Chisago County area in the Minnesota House, including a stint as the chairman of the Regulated Industries and Energy Committee. He lost a 2002 reelection bid and then was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon said Jennings authored bills, lobbied for legislation and used his influence with regulators at the state Commerce Department. "And he did all this ... and never told anyone of his personal interest" in a company called Northern Pole Inc.
Jennings' attorney, Douglas Kelley, told jurors that Jennings acted out of "false and misplaced loyalty" and was fooled in an elaborate scheme by banker John C. James, who has since pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges.
"Loren Jennings is a simple guy, not a bean counter," Kelly said. "He'd just as soon be on his tractor, but he's loyal and stands by a friend, keeps promises, trusts and respects people. The trouble is when you expect that in return, you can be fooled, and that's what happened."
The complicated case will center on a law change Jennings helped steer through the Legislature in the late 1990s. It expanded the so-called Conservation Improvement Program that mandates large power companies to charge customers and spend that money on conservation programs.
The change Jennings pushed through opened the way for some of that money to go to Northern Pole, a company Jennings and his partners lent $670,000, according to the indictment. After the change took effect, Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy) and Minnesota Power, the state's two power giants, earmarked $650,000 of those state-mandated conservation funds to Northern Pole. The company used about $284,000 to pay off 40 percent of Jennings' loans, Dixon said.
Kelley said Jennings was merely one of dozens of people duped by James, who was in an alcoholic "fog" and fooled state and federal regulators for more than six years before his Town & Country Bank in Almelund, Minn., was closed by regulators. James is now cooperating and, in his opening statement, Kelley accused the FBI of pressuring a man with terminal cancer to secretly videotape a meeting with Jennings, or else federal authorities would go after the man's son.
The trial, presided over by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, is expected to last three weeks. Source: Star Tribune, July 13, 2005
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Trial begins for ex-Rep. Loren Jennings
Former state Rep. Loren Jennings deceived Minnesota citizens by pushing through legislation to help a utility pole recycling business he was deeply involved in, a federal prosecutor told jurors as his fraud trial opened Tuesday in St. Paul.
Jennings, 54, a DFLer from Harris, spent 18 years representing the Chisago County area in the Minnesota House, including a stint as the chairman of the Regulated Industries and Energy Committee. He lost a 2002 reelection bid and then was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon said Jennings authored bills, lobbied for legislation and used his influence with regulators at the state Commerce Department. "And he did all this ... and never told anyone of his personal interest" in a company called Northern Pole Inc.
Jennings' attorney, Douglas Kelley, told jurors that Jennings acted out of "false and misplaced loyalty" and was fooled in an elaborate scheme by banker John C. James, who has since pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges.
"Loren Jennings is a simple guy, not a bean counter," Kelly said. "He'd just as soon be on his tractor, but he's loyal and stands by a friend, keeps promises, trusts and respects people. The trouble is when you expect that in return, you can be fooled, and that's what happened."
The complicated case will center on a law change Jennings helped steer through the Legislature in the late 1990s. It expanded the so-called Conservation Improvement Program that mandates large power companies to charge customers and spend that money on conservation programs.
The change Jennings pushed through opened the way for some of that money to go to Northern Pole, a company Jennings and his partners lent $670,000, according to the indictment. After the change took effect, Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy) and Minnesota Power, the state's two power giants, earmarked $650,000 of those state-mandated conservation funds to Northern Pole. The company used about $284,000 to pay off 40 percent of Jennings' loans, Dixon said.
Kelley said Jennings was merely one of dozens of people duped by James, who was in an alcoholic "fog" and fooled state and federal regulators for more than six years before his Town & Country Bank in Almelund, Minn., was closed by regulators. James is now cooperating and, in his opening statement, Kelley accused the FBI of pressuring a man with terminal cancer to secretly videotape a meeting with Jennings, or else federal authorities would go after the man's son.
The trial, presided over by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, is expected to last three weeks. Source: Star Tribune, July 13, 2005
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