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TOM CRANN: Republican state representative, Tony Cornish, is facing new allegations tonight that he crossed the line when it came to his interaction with female lawmakers, lobbyists, and legislative staff. MPR News talked to 25 people with ties to Cornish and learned that he often blurred the line between his legislative work and his pursuit of women at the Capitol.

Tom Scheck joins me now with the latest to discuss a detailed report that's now live at mprnews.org. And be advised, this report contains language some listeners may find objectionable. So Tom, welcome.

TOM SCHECK: Hi, Tom.

TOM CRANN: So you are reporting these allegations against Representative Cornish. What have you found?

TOM SCHECK: Well, there are four key findings. First, Cornish sent messages to women about his sexual attraction to them and gossiped even with others about conquests that he hoped to make. Second, a firm reassigned a lobbyist because Cornish kept pursuing a woman who worked at that firm. The firm's leader also decided that the lobbyist should no longer meet alone with Cornish over concerns of Cornish's behavior.

Third, two people told us that legislative leaders were so worried about Cornish's behavior that they opted to not assign women to work with Cornish starting in 2013. Now a spokesperson for Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt is pushing back on that, telling us there have been no special rules regarding Cornish to date. And fourth, a former House staffer brought concerns to a supervisor about Cornish's behavior toward a female colleague. And it's unclear how that complaint was resolved.

TOM CRANN: Now, these new allegations involve lobbyists and staff. Does Cornish face new allegations from other fellow lawmakers?

TOM SCHECK: Right, yes. We learned this week that former DFL representative Carly Melin received messages from Cornish that focused on her appearance. Melin said she ignored it in part because she said she was warned about Cornish's behavior when she was first elected to the legislature in 2011. Melin said she never complained about the messages to anyone in House leadership. Now, Melin is the second lawmaker to confirm she's received such texts from Cornish. DFL representative Erin Maye Quade said last week that she got texts from Cornish commenting about her appearance.

Now, we also found that Cornish messaged lobbyists and staff, asking about their relationship status. And this is pretty graphic. In one instance, Cornish inquired about a lobbyist and wrote how he wanted to, quote, "drag her off." He later wrote the same lobbyist, quote, "always turned my crank."

Now, the messages we reviewed show Cornish trading texts with a lobbyist about possible conquests with women. He then quickly shifts to texting about a bill that the lobbyist was working on.

TOM CRANN: So what is Cornish saying about this?

TOM SCHECK: Well, we left him voicemail messages earlier today, and we also emailed him 13 specific questions. He sent an email back saying, thanks for the heads up about the article, but never responded to our questions. But last week, Cornish denied the most serious allegations against him that he cornered a female lobbyist in his office. He also apologized for sending the messages to Representative Quade.

In last week's interview, Cornish also denied that anyone in House leadership confronted him about his conduct. Now, that doesn't square with what former House Speaker Kurt Zellers told us. Zellers said last week, he confronted Cornish after learning about second-hand accounts about Cornish's behavior.

And now finally, Cornish, who is single, was careful to say last week that, quote, "I'm an adult, not a saint," when we asked him about his conduct. He said he understands people have doubts about politicians but stressed that it's hard for him to defend against a he-said, she-said accusation.

TOM CRANN: So what are Republican leaders in the Minnesota House saying and doing about this?

TOM SCHECK: Well, Republican Speaker Kurt Daudt suspended Cornish as chair of the Public Safety Committee. They also hired an outside investigator to look into one allegation against Cornish. That investigation is costing $275 an hour. Now, Speaker Daudt said yesterday that no one, including Speaker Kurt Zellers, told him about any past misconduct regarding Cornish. And Daudt also said there are no complaints against Cornish or anyone else in the House since he started as speaker in 2015.

Daudt has avoided calling for Cornish to resign, and that's a big departure for how the Senate, the Minnesota Senate, is handling state Senator Dan Schoen. Republicans and Democrats in that body have called for Schoen to resign after reports about his alleged harassment toward women. Schoen denied the allegations and said he will not resign.

TOM CRANN: Tom Scheck reporting for us this evening. Thank you, Tom.

TOM SCHECK: Thanks, Tom.