Rep. Hagedorn fires chief of staff after allowance spending

U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn has fired his chief of staff after a spending spree on taxpayer-funded communications.

The freshman Republican congressman, who represents Minnesota's First District, spent almost 40% of his office's annual expense allowances in the first quarter of this year, outpacing all of his colleagues in the House, according to LegiStorm, a firm that tracks the allowances. About half of Hagedorn's spending was on printing and mailing correspondence, totaling about $270,000.

His office confirmed that Peter Su, who had served as chief of staff since Hagedorn took office, has been fired.

Hagedorn said in a statement that he became aware of the issue two months ago and hired outside counsel to perform an independent review. He also alerted both the House Administration and Ethics committees.

"While these relatively routine duties were fully delegated to my former Chief of Staff and our finance officer, I acknowledge responsibility for the oversight of my office and will continue to make any necessary management improvements," Hagedorn said.

Hagedorn is running for re-election in a rematch with his 2018 opponent, Democrat Dan Feehan. The two were separated by fewer than 1,400 votes in 2018.

ASSOCIATED PRESS