By: Editorial Staff A FEDERAL JUDGE has ruled that the Minneapolis Star Tribune does not have to surrender information it collected on a gubernatorial candidate who dropped out of the race, following a report on a sex scandal.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler last month also granted the paper's request for a protective order to stop Jon Grunseth from seeking notes, documents and testimony from newspaper officials and reporters Paul McEnroe and Allen Short.
Grunseth, who dropped out as the GOP candidate in 1990, had served subpoenas on the Star Tribune; its attorney, Randy Lebedoff; executive editor Joel Kramer, who now is publisher; and McEnroe and Short. Previously, he had failed to have the paper added as a defendant in the lawsuit, which he filed in Washington, D.C., against the Marriott hotel chain.
He is pursuing a parallel suit in District of Columbia Superior Court against the Star Tribune and McEnroe.
Grunseth said he was driven out of the race and also lost his job with Ecolab Inc. of St. Paul because of an article that said he had had an extramarital rendezvous at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington. He denies that charge and says he wants to know how McEnroe got Marriott's records, which the paper used to corroborate its story.
In her order, Kessler said Grunseth did not have a compelling reason to impinge on the paper's First Amendment rights. She also said he was using the federal suit to gather evidence to sue against the Star Tribune in the D.C. court suit.
Grunseth's attorney, Jerome Rice, said he was considering an appeal or a request to have Kessler reconsider.
? AP
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