Chief public defender in northwestern Minnesota reappointed despite pushback

The chief public defender overseeing northwest Minnesota was reappointed to her post Tuesday despite pushback from some staffers.

The Minnesota Board of Public Defense voted 5-2 to reappoint Ninth Judicial District Chief Public Defender Kristine Kolar to another four-year term. She was first appointed chief of the district in 1996.

The move comes after staffers from Kolar's office sent the board and State Public Defender Bill Ward, who oversees it, an anonymous letter in early January urging that she not be reappointed. A few sent other letters with their names attached. They alleged that Kolar created a toxic workplace, perpetuated a culture of retaliation and did not care about her attorneys, among other claims.

Kolar declined to comment about the allegations in January and did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Sarah Prentice-Mott worked under Kolar for five years but recently quit for a job in the Ramsey County Public Defender's Office in part because of the issues with Kolar.

"As public defenders, we're used to seeing people in power do the wrong things, and today felt no different," said Prentice-Mott. "The board voting how they voted knowing what they know sends a clear message that they don't care about us."

Ward, who does not vote on reappointments but made a recommendation to the board, said staff opinions are considered.

"That clearly is not the case whatsoever," Ward said of Prentice-Mott's statement. "The board does care about the sentiment and... the board wanted to take those sentiments into account in making their decision."

Ward declined to comment further about his recommendation and the reappointment discussion because it's a personnel matter protected by law.

Board members Elizer Darris and Prince Corbett voted against the reappointment after a 2 1/2-hour private meeting of the board to discuss the matter. Board members who voted to reappoint Kolar were Molly Jannetta, Helen Meyer, Anna Restovich Braun, Herb Kroon and Daniel Le.

"I'm always interested in having a robust appointment process to make sure that we have chief public defenders that are as communally connected and responsive as possible to the conditions on the ground," Darris said.

Darris, a community leader, declined further comment, noting the legal limitations. Corbett declined to comment. Braun, the board chair, did not return messages seeking comment.

Hannah Lomax-Vogt was a public defender under Kolar for a few years, but quit last year and now works in Missouri. She wrote the board in January asking them not to reappoint Kolar.

"Ms. Kolar's failure or refusal to support attorneys and her temperament created a persistent climate of fear and acrimony in the office, and I believe that is one of the reasons the Bemidji office lost so many well qualified attorneys during my time there," Lomax-Vogt wrote. "...I determined that I needed to leave the office to take care of myself, even though I cared deeply about my clients and my coworkers."

Lomax-Vogt and Prentice-Mott said the office's clients pay the price for issues they believe originate with Kolar's management.

In a letter addressed to the board, Prentice-Mott said that when COVID hit and kept their clients in jail for months due to suspensions of court activity she wanted to file motions to dismiss their cases due to speedy trial violations. However, she wrote, Kolar resisted taking such action because she did not want to look bad in front of others.

"...Our clients are the ones who suffered the most," Prentice-Mott wrote, adding that she is the fourth attorney to quit in the Bemidji office.

Ward said the public defender's office has the appropriate number of fulltime employees in the district but that statewide the office has seen "a large attrition" among its staff.

"We'll need to work harder on recruitment and retention to help our clients," he said.

The Ninth Judicial District encompasses 17 counties in northwest Minnesota from the Canadian border to Aitkin County.