Senate committee to recommend censuring and reinstating Sen. Frye-Mueller

Rapid City lawmaker has been suspended from Legislature since Jan. 26

Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller was accompanied by attorneys Stephanie Trask and Steve Haugaard while testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion Tuesday. (Joe Sneve / The Dakota Scout)

PIERRE — A Senate panel probing conduct of a state senator accused of workplace harassment will recommend the suspended lawmaker be censured and then reinstated to her office.

While nearly four hours of testimony from the three people who were in a closed-door meeting that led to Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller’s suspension brought little clarity to what actually occurred, the nine-member Senate Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion closed its second day of proceedings by directing staff to draft a report recommending the Rapid City lawmaker be reprimanded. The recommendation also calls for her to have access restricted to Capitol support staff offices where she allegedly made inappropriate remarks to a legislative staffer about breastfeeding and childhood vaccinations.

“I feel that the committee has at this point appropriately balanced the need to resolve this quickly yet allowing a public process to occur,” committee Chairman David Wheeler said after taking testimony from an employee of the Legislative Research Council, Frye-Mueller and Mike Mueller — the senator’s husband.

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