| Dean Johnson |
Article Index for Dean |
Website Links For Dean |
Information AboutDean Johnson |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DEAN JOHNSON | |
| 1947 births | |
| living people | |
| minnesota state senators | |
| people from minnesota | |
| people from willmar, minnesota | |
| united states army generals | |
|
Dean's wife of 21 years, Avonelle Johnson, died of cancer in 2005. In March of 2006 there was a controversy over remarks Johnson made in January of that year to a group of pastors. Johnson said he had a conversation with an unnamed Minnesota Supreme Court justice. This justice supposedly gave Johnson informal assurances that the court would not overturn Minnesota's statute defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The concern was that the Minnesota Supreme Court might strike down Minnesota statue the way the Massachusetts Supreme Court had struck down a similar statute in that state, thus legalizing gay marriage. When a tape recording of these remarks surfaced, the justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court denied that any such conversation had ever taken place. Republicans filed an ethics complaint against Johnson. Johnson subsequently apologized for embellishing the story. This was in the context of a failed attempt by conservatives to put on the fall state ballot a proposed amendment to the Minnesota's constitution that, if passed, would have made it impossible for the state court to overturn the current marriage statute as unconstitutional. Links Dean Johnson State Senate page: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?district=13 |
|
|