Keith Ellison and Brett Kavanaugh

Keith Ellison is the Deputy Chair of the Democratic Party and also a Representative for the state of Minnesota. Mr. Ellison is leaving the House of Representatives because his responsibilities as a Representative will not allow the time needed to perform his duties in the Democratic Party. He is currently running for the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, the chief law enforcement official in the state of Minnesota.

One sticking point in his campaign is an allegation of mental and physical abuse alleged by a former girlfriend, Karen Monahan. Ms. Monahan allegedly has a video of Ellison during one of the episodes of mental and physical abuse but refuses to release it stating it would be too traumatic for her. A House Ethics Committee investigation has been called for but this is a useless investigation since Ellison will be out of Congress before the investigation would be finished.

Let's draw some comparisons between the allegations against Keith Ellison and those against Brett Kavanaugh:

Keith Ellison	Brett Kavanaugh
The allegations date back to 2016, 2 years ago.	The allegations date back to the early 1980's with the most likely year being 1982, 36 years ago.
No charges have been filed with local law enforcement.	No charges have been filed with local law enforcement.
The location of the alleged abuse is known by the accuser.	The location of the alleged abuse is unknown by the accuser.
The allegations have been investigated by a lawyer, Susan Ellingstad, a lawyer hired by Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL).	To avoid politics, it has been insisted the charges be investigated by the FBI.
After the investigation, Susan Ellingstad, concluded the allegations had no merit because they were unsubstantiated.	The FBI will draw no conclusions. Conclusions will be left to the partisan environment of the Senate, where so far it seems substantiation of the allegations is not important.

In general, Judge Kavanaugh's accuser has received a great deal of credibility with a story that would probably never stand up in court and Ellison's accuser has received no credibility. Undoubtedly that is because Ellison's investigation occurred completely among Democrats while Kavanaugh's has been a bi-partisan effort. In her report on Ellison's misconduct, Ms. Ellingstad wrote "An allegation standing alone is not necessarily sufficient to conclude that conduct occurred".

The hypocrisy continues with Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota. Senator Smith has called for an immediate and quick investigation into Kavanaugh. At the same time she is supporting and openly campaigning with Keith Ellison. Seems it's OK to have misconduct charges alleged if your a Democrat.

Currently I believe Judge Kavanaugh, but that doesn't mean I will stick to that support if the FBI does uncover some real evidence the incident took place as Dr. Ford has alleged. What we all have to remember is that some time in our lives someone we trusted and believed in has let us down. The presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" should be afforded to both Senator Ellison and Judge Kavanaugh until claims are substantiated, but that presumption should be applied to both equally which so far hasn't been the case.

Inevitably people will let us down so we can't but all our faith in individuals. Our faith should be placed in our individual values. Holding to our values allows us to review these stories as new facts come to light and change our support if our values are being violated. If everyone stands up and says I am being true to my values then it's apparent that to many domestic abuse as an adult two years is acceptable but adolescent groping that could be considered attempted rape 36 years ago is way over the line.

Sources:
Democratic National Committee – 2017-18
Keith Ellison abuse claim unsubstantiated, attorney concludes
Keith Ellison seems like a good guy. That has no bearing on the accusations against him
The double standard on Brett Kavanaugh and Keith Ellison is glaringly absurd
Top Democrat calls abuse allegations against Rep. Keith Ellison "serious"
Minnesota Senate candidate calls on state to investigate Keith Ellison domestic abuse allegations
The latest developments in the abuse allegations against Rep. Keith Ellison, explained