My relationship with Judge Roland Amundson was distant in the years after high school, yet close because we shared a common bond and trust.

Rollie and I were classmates at Roosevelt High School. We graduated together in 1967. We were good friends. We doubled to the Senior Prom. We laughed and schemed a lot together- all in good fun.

Our neighborhood was very middle class. We worked hard and we played hard. Rollie and I had a little of the mischief about us. Our school newspaper was the “Standard”. Not content with that dry stuff, we became the co-editors or the “Sub-Standard”, a weekly periodical whose mission was bent on exposing and embarrassing the powerful students, institutions and myths of high school life.

In high school, Rollie and I shared one of the greatest classes I have ever taken- Speech. The teacher was Robert Wolk, an irreverent, but brilliant teacher that I believe taught Rollie, myself and the other students about what it means to own your own story when you are speaking.

I also was exposed to this in a Dale Carnegie class I took in the 1970’s as a baby lawyer. I was ridiculed for wasting my time on this endeavor. I will never forget the thrill I got when I saw people who literally were frightened of their own shadow get up and tell the class about themselves, or an experience and move us all. It is and was all about owning the story and that is what Robert Wolk taught Rollie and I and the other students.

With all false modesty, Rollie and I were perhaps the greatest and most gifted students Wolk ever had. It was clear from the get go that he was moved to a level off the norm by our irreverence and willingness to explore the insane but meaningful. We took risks. We took on the conventional wisdom. We were willing to accept the condemnation of the powerful and popular because we knew in our hearts that we would prevail. That is a gift that Rollie has always had and I had to a lesser degree. Perhaps that is why we connected on this level.

After high school, Rollie and I went our own ways. Rollie went to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and I went to the University of Minnesota. We did not see each other very often. Rollie started law school at William Mitchell and finished at Notre Dame. I was U of M for seven years all the way.

Rollie was a successful private practice lawyer. He is brilliant and one of the most gifted conversationalists I have ever known. As a result, his law practice grew and thrived. But there was obviously something else that called Rollie as he sought out and was appointed a district court judge and then was elevated to the Court of Appeals of the State of Minnesota.

Rollie was very involved and I believe was the primary author of a history of the Minnesota courts. I have not read it- I have not had the time. The point I want to make, however, is that this man was and is a true scholar, a brilliant man with much to offer all of us with his intellect, wit, wisdom and knowledge. He is also a man with a loving and expansive heart as he spent a half day sheparding a group of East German students through the Court of Appeals and American system of justice process several years ago at my request.

Well, what happened to Rollie? He stole money from a client and he went to prison. He was weak. He was caught. He was a judge. You know, this man made a huge mistake. He will never practice his calling and all the phony people in the world will condemn him and distance themselves from him. That is cocktail conversation and the way of the world we live in today.

I am disappointed that the rules we have set up today are condemning and judgmental and without forgiveness. I am not advocating not doing the time for the crime. We have recently seen the political jockeying when Rollie was up for a process to achieve early release.

The politicians must always look at their backside. This is why I will never ever be a judge or a politician.

You know what? I can never distance myself from him. I can and will distance myself from his conduct. He must pay the price for the wrong he did. Is there anyone among us who has not ever made a mistake, save and except our George W.?

The problem with politics is that it is not about the truth. It is about appearance and perception. Politicians and Judges are human. They make mistakes. Some of them, like Rollie’s are horrible. They shock the conscience. How can a lawyer turned judge screw his client? You know what? It isn’t that different from how our politicians, bankers, credit card companies, insurance companies and others screw us every day.

Just what then is acceptable screwing? Sometimes the laws allow the screwing because the powerful pass laws that allow it. There is a degree of acceptable screwing and Rollie totally crossed the line. He left a legacy of pain for the family he took advantage of.

Where do we go from here? It is my hope that when Rollie completes his sentence that he will restore himself to the God-given gifts he possesses.

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