Citing Koch, Dayton calls marriage amendment hypocrisy

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday he hopes the Republican controlled-Legislature will remove a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage from next year's ballot.

Dayton told MPR News that former GOP Senate Majority leader Amy Koch's "inappropriate relationship" with an unidentified Senate staffer makes it harder for Republicans to claim the moral high ground on the issue.

"The bible says, 'Before you take out the speck in your neighbor's eye, take the log out of your own eye.' My mother used to say, 'It the shoe fits, wear it," Dayton said. "If it's befitting for somebody whose own conduct doesn't measure up to what they're professing to believe in, or prescribing for others, then they should be called on that."

Dayton said he respects Koch as a lawmaker, and that it's up to the state Senate to decide whether an ethics investigation is required.

(MPR reporter Curtis Gilbert contributed to this report.)

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