A Republican push to oust a Democratic-Farmer-Labor state senator accused of felony burglary has stalled once again in the Senate’s ethics committee.

At a Thursday hearing, the Senate Subcommittee on Ethics deadlocked 2-2 on partisan lines on two new complaints against Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, who was arrested last April in Detroit Lakes on suspicion of breaking into her estranged stepmother’s home to retrieve sentimental items, including her father’s ashes.

The committee will take up the matter again after Mitchell’s trial.

Mitchell has faced calls to resign since her arrest — including from members of her own party — but Republican efforts to remove her from office have failed in the Senate, where Democrats currently have a one-seat majority.

Republicans filed an ethics complaint against Mitchell last year and renewed their efforts in February after prosecutors filed an additional felony charge against the senator.

New complaints

One of the two new complaints includes the additional charge. In a second complaint, Republicans argue Mitchell had a conflict of interest when she voted to block a Senate motion that would have opened the path to an expulsion vote.

When that motion came up in January, the Senate was tied 33-33 between the parties following the death of Minneapolis DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic. If Mitchell didn’t vote, Republicans would have prevailed 33-32.

However, if that motion did succeed, an expulsion vote still required backing from 45 of the Senate’s 67 members to pass. It’s unlikely 12 DFLers would vote with Republicans to deprive themselves of a majority.

DFLers argue Mitchell should face due process, and that there shouldn’t be any action on Mitchell until her trial is complete. Right now that’s scheduled for June — after the legislative session ends. It was originally scheduled for January but Mitchell’s attorney’s obtained a delay because state lawmakers can postpone trials if it coincides with the legislative session.

Hours of testimony

While prospects of Mitchell’s removal remain remote, the GOP continues to push for discipline. The four members of the Senate ethics committee — two DFLers and two Republicans — heard hours of testimony Thursday from Mitchell and Republican senators on the new complaints.

A measure to find probable cause that Mitchell violated Senate ethics rules and another to investigate Mitchell further failed on party lines.

Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, argued Mitchell had a conflict of interest while voting on her own fate in the senate.

“There can be no greater conflict of interest than the threat of losing one’s job in its entirety,” he said, noting the pay, benefits and other privileges that come from serving in office. “She had everything to gain from casting her decisive vote on Jan. 27 and everything to lose.”

Mitchell, meanwhile, argued Senate rules specifically apply to measures where a member has a financial interest such as ownership of a company or stocks, not employment.

“We all vote on things that impact ourselves because we are also citizens of Minnesota,” Mitchell told the committee, using bonding bills funding district projects as an example.

Further, Mitchell said she did not vote on her expulsion, but a procedural vote which would have opened that possibility. If an expulsion vote happened, Mitchell said she would excuse herself.