The St. Paul police chief, who asked the state agency to investigate the allegations concerning Council Member Dai Thao, also left open the possibility of a FBI investigation in a Monday letter to the BCA.

A Saturday report on KMSP-TV indicated that Thao, who is running for St. Paul mayor, pressured a lobbyist for “resources” before a council vote and that his campaign manager later texted the lobbyist to say a campaign donation might get him to “rethink this issue.”

Minneapolis lobbyist Sarah Clarke rejected the offer, citing state bribery statutes, the KMSP report said.

Thao denied wrongdoing, but he fired campaign manager Angela Marlow. In a statement Monday, he said: "I have always put my constituents first. I look forward to cooperating with any criminal investigation. Until that time, I have nothing further to say on the matter."

Thao told DFL delegates at the Ward 7 convention Sunday that he had met with a "tobacco lobbyist" but allegations of impropriety in their exchange were a “bait and switch.” He said the facts, as they emerge, would exonerated him.

The KMSP report did not identify Clarke's client. But she told Minnesota Public Radio on Monday that she had met with Thao to discuss the city's food-packaging regulations.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan-based Dart Container Corp. said they had met with Thao in February to discuss the city's draft plan to ban restaurant nonrecyclable take-out containers.

Dart has objected to being included in the "Green To-Go" initiative because they maintain their plastic containers can be recycled.

Dart did not make a donation to Thao.

Todd Axtell, St. Paul's police chief, said in a Monday letter to the BCA superintendent that the report "raised concerns about a request for an improper, and potentially unlawful, campaign contribution from the lobbyist."

"After reviewing the information presented in the story, I believe that the matter is worthy of further review to determine if any Minnesota statutes have been violated," Axtell wrote. "If you deem an additional or parallel review by the FBI to be appropriate, I will leave that to your discretion. Because this case involves a sitting St. Paul Council member, I believe it would be a conflict of interest for our agency to move forward with a review of the facts."

A BCA spokeswoman said in a Monday statement that the agency would "conduct an investigation to gather the facts, and will then present its findings to the St. Paul City Attorney’s Office or the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for review."

A spokesman for the county attorney's office said Monday that, "to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, this office will not be involved in any prosecutorial consideration of this matter. Instead, we will ask the agency investigating the case to send it to a different prosecutorial office for any possible review." Marlow, Thao's former campaign manager, has worked for the Ramsey County attorney's office for five years.

A spokesman for the FBI said the agency does not confirm or deny whether it has initiated an investigation.

Lobbyists frequently are asked for money, said Daryn McBeth, president of the Minnesota Governmental Relations Council Board of Directors, which maintains a code of ethics for the lobbying industry. But it's not often that they're asked for an exchange of favors from an elected official or his surrogates.

"It is absolutely not common witnessing, or seeing, or being exposed to extortion or bribe," McBeth said.

He noted, however, that a request for assistance of any kind can be misinterpreted.

"It is often the case where lobbyists are in this gray area, interacting with campaign staff, campaign managers or the candidates themselves, wearing a campaign hat, and that can be blurry situation," McBeth said. "I'm not going to give an opinion on that, but all levels of communication could be received differently, from text to email or verbal," said McBeth, underscoring that he had no firsthand knowledge of the Thao case.

McBeth said lobbyists are not under legal obligation to report bribery solicitations or inappropriate offers.

But, in the case of dealing with an elected official, they could approach the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board or even local law enforcement.

"Our code of ethics aren't so specific as to whether they have a duty to come forward," McBeth said.

The accusations hit a nerve at St. Paul City Hall, where Thao had advocated for diversity in city hiring, the removal of two police officers from a police-civilian internal affairs review commission, and a new anti-poverty initiative.

He is the first Hmong-American and sole person of color currently serving on the seven-member council.

St. Paul City Council President Russ Stark said Monday that he was withholding judgment without more facts.

"The information that has come to light raises serious concerns, but I look forward to seeing a more detailed report or investigation into what actually occurred," Stark said.

One St. Paul resident said it "seems like a witch hunt."

Corydon Nilsson, who is active with Black Lives Matter St. Paul but was speaking on his own behalf Monday, said he's concerned that Thao has publicly voiced the importance of police accountability, and is now the target of what "seems like a setup ... an elementary smear campaign to eliminate Dai Thao from the mayoral race."

Others seemed less taken aback.

John Regal, a lobbyist for the Securian Financial Group, sits on the board of the St. Paul Port Authority, where Thao is also a board member. The two have worked together on Minnesota United's efforts to build a 20,000-seat soccer stadium in St. Paul's Midway, among other matters.

"The council member's style is unorthodox," said Regal, who declined to elaborate.

St. Paul Republican Party officials called on Monday for Thao to "immediately resign or ... suspend himself from his office during the Minnesota BCA investigation," according to a statement from John Krenik, the group's chairman. Krenik said Thao "has brought dishonor and disrespect to the office he holds" and "violated the trust of the citizens of his ward and the city."

The St. Paul Police Federation, the union representing officers, announced Monday that it unanimously decided at an April meeting to endorse Pat Harris for mayor.

Dave Titus, the federation's president, said Monday: "Most elected officials, certainly Dai Thao, are not supporters of an officer's due process when there are allegations of wrongdoing, but we’re going to take a wait-and-see approach in regards to the investigation."

The Pioneer Press is a Forum News Service media partner.