Koch puts focus on present and future, not past

St. Paul, Minn. — Former state Senate Republican Majority Leader Amy Koch says her previous decision to not seek re-election to her Senate seat in November still stands.

Koch said she wants the focus of the 2012 session to be on the work ahead, not on her. She says that's why she's been been doing a series of media interviews before the start of session on Tuesday. She said she's been trying to bounce back from what she describes as an "unbelievably difficult situation."

"I bear responsibility for this, but it's really hard," she said. "It's something that I would never wish on anybody. So, you make a decision then when something this difficult happens, you have to kind of make a decision to pick yourself. It's actually a conscious choice that you have to make to say all right, I'm going to pick myself up and move forward."

Koch has been out of the public eye since resigning her leadership post in December. She later admitted she had a relationship with a Senate staffer. Koch still won't comment on details of that relationship.

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