Contractor Sues Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate for Legal Malpractice

McLeod County, MNA Minnesota contractor is suing Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer for legal malpractice, alleging that he was inadequately represented in a case involving one of his suppliers.

Steven Hackbarth sued Emmer in Wright County, according to the Pioneer Press.

Emmer's camp claims that Hackbarth filed the legal malpractice lawsuit only after being rebuffed when he demanded $200,000 to not pursue litigation.

"While Mr. Hackbarth denies political motivation, he made outrageous financial demands prior to filing his suit in the hope of leveraging Tom Emmer's candidacy to advantage himself," Emmer spokesman Carl Kuhl told the news provider. "Tom Emmer does not negotiate with extortionists. He is absolutely confident that his high professional reputation will be affirmed in this case."

Hackbarth said that there are no political motivations behind the lawsuit and that he was at one time an ardent Emmer supporter.

"I pulled floats for him in parades for years. I have a John Deere tractor. My daughter has a goat, and we'd put a sandwich board on the goat with Emmer signs," Hackbarth told the blog, Ripple in Stillwater. "And now all I got was kicked in the head."