McMahon: No crime such as Eichorn is accused of comes without additional victims

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You’ve got to hand it to the Minnesota GOP: It wasted no time in rallying the troops to expel the disgraced state Sen. Justin Eichorn.

Eichorn, whose campaign video shows his wife and four young children, had decried the “metro liberals threatening our [northern Minnesota] way of life.” Eichorn was arrested on Monday in Bloomington for allegedly attempting to buy sex from a police detective posing as an underage girl.

The messages he allegedly exchanged with a child he believed was 17 are damning. According to a criminal complaint, Eichorn asked how much extra it was for an encounter without protection, and whether quick, 15-minute sessions were available.

When Eichorn arrived at the location where he believed he would be meeting the girl he solicited, he was quickly arrested. The Bloomington chief of police, Booker Hodges, said, “As a 40-year-old man, if you come … looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up.”

Hours before his arrest, Eichorn engaged in what can be generously described as an act of political theater, but more accurately characterized as a waste of taxpayer money: introducing a bill (SF 2589) before the Minnesota Legislature to legally define “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness.

The bill says the malady is illustrated by the “acute onset of paranoia” and “hysteria” that produces an “inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump’s behavior.” News of the bill spread quickly around the country, but Eichorn’s family now finds itself in the crosshairs of a scandal that has reached international status.

I too am from northern Minnesota, and I can only imagine what Brittany Eichorn is facing. My heart goes out to her. She now has to explain to her four young children why Daddy is probably going to prison for many years, why everyone at school knows his face, and what exactly he was doing with cash and a condom in the door of his car.

Someday, Justin Eichorn’s children will read what the FBI said about him in the criminal complaint, and they’ll see that according to the complaint he knew the lingo of soliciting sex workers. He knew which websites to visit. He knew how to try and establish that his victim was a real person and not a scam.

They’ll forever associate St. Patrick’s Day with the day their father twice embarrassed them: the first time by introducing sham legislation that makes a mockery of mental health care, and the second by appearing in a mug shot, accused of a crime that irretrievably injured their family.

My heart is broken for the innocent Eichorn children. They too are Justin’s victims.

Justin Eichorn was set to be expelled from the state Senate, as he should have been: Representing Minnesotans is a privilege. He has no constitutional right to wield power and appropriate the money Minnesotans work hard to earn.

Shortly after Eichorn’s arrest, the Senate Republican caucus said that “this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation.”

State Rep. Elliott Engen wrote, “Resign in disgrace. Prosecute to the fullest. Throw away the key.”

Former Rep. Kelly Fenton said on X, “Zero tolerance for this sick behavior! … Republicans have opportunity to show leadership and push him out immediately.”

So clear was the writing on the wall that Eichorn opted to resign his position rather than face his fate in the Senate, where he was going to be openly rebuked in the State Capitol before being unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

One can’t say the same of the Minnesota DFL and state Sen. Nicole Mitchell. Mitchell was once a meteorologist, and should be a former state senator. Instead, she has refused to leave office after being charged with invading the home of her stepmother in the predawn hours of April 22, 2024. Mitchell claims she was there to retrieve her late father’s ashes, and that her stepmother is suffering from dementia.

But that does little to lay to rest the fact that, according to a criminal complaint, Mitchell was dressed all in black when she was apprehended, that she was in possession of burglary tools, and that she allegedly told investigators that she was just really bad at doing burglary, and maybe that’s why she had been caught. Mitchell, too, should be expelled.

This isn’t partisan, it’s principle. If you’re charged with a felony in a court of law, you should lose your position of trust in government. As a longtime teacher, I can tell you that I would be removed from the classroom if I had been charged with a home invasion, even though I had yet to be convicted. You have a constitutional right to a presumption of innocence in court, but not when it comes to the public’s trust. Not when it comes to children.

Character matters, and our leaders should not be giving even the appearance of impropriety, as Mitchell is doing while casting tie-breaking votes that benefit her future in the Legislature.

And as for Eichorn, I say this with sadness for his wife and children, but with gladness for his victim(s): Please go directly to jail. And I hope to never have to write of you again.

Sharon McMahon is a contributing columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune. She has been dubbed “America’s Government Teacher” with millions of followers on Instagram. She focuses on topics related to government and civic engagement.