ST. PAUL — Trustees of the Otto Bremer Trust fired back this week at Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s petition to remove them from their positions. Court documents filed in Ramsey County called the Attorney General’s actions a political ploy.

In a court response filed Wednesday, the trustees asked for an expedited trial in their case.

“The attorney general’s attempt to summarily remove the trustees, on a secret record of his own making, violates any conceivable notion of fairness and justice,” the response said.

Earlier this month, Ellison said he was petitioning a judge to remove trustees Brian Lipschultz, Daniel Reardon and Charlotte Johnson as leaders of the charitable trust. The trust and members of the Bremer Financial Board have been in a legal dispute over the sale of Bremer Financial Corporation shares. The sale of the company would affect the future of Minnesota’s fourth largest bank.

Ellison accused the trustees of acting in their own interest in trying to sell BFC shares.

In their court response, trustees said the governing document created by Otto Bremer gave trustees the right to exercise their discretion to sell shares in Bremer Financial Corporation, and that they did so to increase and preserve the Bremer Trust’s charitable assets.

Ellison’s petition to remove the trustees “assails the good character of the Trustees and seeks the trust law equivalent of the death penalty,” the trustees’ response said. “This transparent political ploy would be unprecedented in the history of Minnesota, and is clearly at odds with the best interest of the public.”

In the court response, trustees said everything Ellison’s petition was criticizing had been previously approved by the Attorney General’s Office. The filings said trustees met with the Attorney General’s Office, including the head of the Attorney General’s charities division, before moving forward with the decision to sell BFC stock. There were no objections to the sale at that time, the filings said.

The trustees’ court filings said they are asking for an expedited trial, “In which they can excavate the truth and present a complete story of their dedication and efforts to grow, preserve and protect Trust assets.”