Feds unlikely to launch campaign finance probe anytime soon
For weeks, leading Democrats have castigated pro-Republican special interest groups involved in the current election campaign for what they describe as secretive fundraising practices.
In an effort to call further attention to the activities of groups like American Crossroads GPS, a political fundraising committee which GOP guru Karl Rove helped to set up, some prominent Democrats and non-partisan election watchdogs have written law enforcement agencies demanding official investigations.
But there is little indication that any relevant agency is going to launch an in-depth probe anytime soon.
In early October, the liberal activist group MoveOn.org sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that it investigate allegations that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had received election-related funds from unspecified foreign sources — something the Chamber emphatically denies. A similar request for an investigation was sent by Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, to the Federal Election Commission.
Around the same time, two political finance watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service requesting an investigation into whether Crossroads GPS is violating its status as a tax-exempt organization by spending too much of its time and resources on electioneering.
Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, also sent a letter to the IRS requesting that it conduct a broad “survey” of such tax exempt groups to see if they are following the rules or merit further inquiry.
Groups targeted by pro-Democrat and liberal activists for such complaints, including the Chamber of Commerce and Crossroads GPS, insist they are operating entirely within the law and vigorously deny any wrongdoing.
Al Franken’s moment of backsliding…
It was one of those moments Al Franken seems to work hard to suppress.
The comedian-turned-politician has kept a mostly straight face through his first year as a senator — listening seriously to hours of committee testimony and posing pointed questions with only the flicker of a smile crossing his face. Thursday’s Senate debate over Elena Kagan was evidently too much for the clown in him to bear.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell argued that Kagan was too inexperienced and political to be confirmed as a justice of the Supreme Court, Franken couldn’t contain himself.
The liberal Democrat from Minnesota, who was presiding over the Senate at the time, rolled his eyes, let out his breath and finally began to shake his head, a Senate Republican aide said.
He swiveled his head from side to side, threw his head back and showed other signs displeasure during McConnell’s 10-minute speech, the aide said.
McConnell was distracted enough by Franken’s behavior that he approached the Senate dais afterward to complain to him privately.
“This isn’t ‘Saturday Night Live’ Al,” McConnell told him, referring to the NBC television show where Franken worked as a comedy writer for nearly two decades.
Franken has stood up for the truth more than the party line since he entered the senate. Imagine having to sit in a session of the senate and listen to the partisan bull@#%$ that prevents anything meaningful from getting done. I dare say that if you got all the past writers and actors form SNL together for a week they could probably get more done to help this country than the congress has under Obama and Bush together. It takes brains to be a comedian but any idiot can be a politician.
Healthcare critic Lieberman silenced in Senate
Senator Joe Lieberman, who has forced Democrats to jump through hoops on healthcare reform in recent weeks, was effectively told to be quiet and sit down on Thursday.
Comedian turned freshman Senator Al Franken gave the order while presiding over the Senate to a surprised Lieberman.
“I object,” Franken said, denying Lieberman the unanimous consent that he needed for “an additional moment” to complete his floor speech on healthcare.
“Really? Okay,” Lieberman told Franken sheepishly. “I don’t take it personally.”
Unanimous consent is routinely given to senators so that they can have a few more minutes to wrap up their remarks. But many Democrats have apparently wanted to tell Lieberman to hush in recent weeks.
That’s because the former Democrat turned independent has repeatedly forced them to change a healthcare bill to conform with his wishes.
Democrats need Lieberman’s vote to get to the 60 required to clear Republican procedural roadblocks and pass major healthcare legislation designed to bring down costs and provide insurance to millions of Americans.
Lieberman being denied shouldn’t come as a surprise. He said himself that if the bill came to the floor with a public option he would uses his position to keep the bill from being debated.
With such a plan already firmly in place in Lieberman’s mind, what does it matter if he is allowed to speak or not. He had no intention of furthering the discussion in order to come up with a working solution. He just didn’t want the public option because he is representing insurance people. And that’s as far as he thought it through.
He doesn’t want to help so he’s useless. He needs to shut up unless he’s got something of value to contribute.
Funnyman Franken turns serious on Senate stage
The Senate’s newest member, former comedian Al Franken, is making clear that he is taking the new job seriously and it’s no longer funny business for him.
Sworn in as a senator less than a week ago, there were no jokes when Franken faced a packed house in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room and expounded on the loftiest of government institutions – the U.S. Supreme Court — and President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
It was a life-immitating-art moment. Franken had played a senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee on television comedy show Saturday Night Live during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.
But there were no jokes this time, barely a smile.
“Last Tuesday, I swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and to bear true faith and allegiance to it,” Franken said.
“I take this oath very seriously as we consider your nomination, Judge Sotomayor.”
considering that the supreme court – sotomayor’s putative colleagues – just overturned another of her decisions, the confirmation hearings will demonstrate just how serious former funny man franken really is
Senator Franken draws no laughs but plenty of applause
Al Franken, a big-time comic turned Washington politician, received plenty of applause but no laughs on Tuesday when he finally took his seat as a member of the U.S. Senate.
In fact, one of the few jokes publicly told on Capitol Hill about Franken had the former writer/performer on the popular TV show “Saturday Night Live” as the punchline.
“Senator Franken gave me a few jokes he thought I should share with you, but I didn’t like them, so I’m not going to do it,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told reporters.
Republican and Democratic senators shook Franken’s hand and gave him a standing ovation after he was sworn in as a member of their chamber — eight months after last November’s election.
Franken took office a week after the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld his razor-thin victory over Republican Norm Coleman.
Reid delivered a preemptive strike against any perception that the new senator will be back on stage as a congressional comic.
is franken holding his hand up promising he will not write a book based on biden,s gaffs?
A serious Franken vows to work hard in U.S. Senate
Former comedian Al Franken on Monday made it clear in his first appearance in the U.S. Capitol as senator-elect that he had not come to entertain.
Franken did not crack a single joke, nor did he take a single question as he spoke briefly to reporters outside the Senate chamber. Instead he vowed to work hard and tried to downplay expectations now that his election has clinched a super-majority of 60 for President Obama’s Democrats in the Senate.
“A lot has been made of this number 60. The number I’m focused on is the number two. I — I see myself as the second senator from the state of Minnesota,” Franken said. (The other Minnesota senator is Amy Klobuchar).
Franken said voters expected him to work on the economy, energy, education and health care issues. “I am going to work day and night to make sure that our kids have a great future and that America’s best days lay ahead,” he said.
Majority Leader Harry Reid welcomed Franken to the chamber with a pledge that Democrats would not use their expanded numbers to “ram” legislation through the Senate despite a full plate of proposals on healthcare and climate change.
On the other hand, Reid said he hoped Republicans would stop being “the party of no” — a favorite moniker Democrats use for Republican resistance to dramatic changes that Obama’s party is trying to push through Congress.
Franken was declared the winner of a Senate seat in Minnesota last Tuesday after one of the longest Senate races ever, as the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected former Senator and Republican Norm Coleman’s legal arguments that an earlier recount was unfair.
“I am going to work day and night to make sure that our kids have a great future and that America’s best days lay ahead,” he said
Let us hope that he uses better grammar in the days that LIE ahead.
The First Draft: Is Al Franken “Stuart Smalley”?
Plenty of current and former U.S. senators had memorable professions before they got to Washington: country fiddler (Robert Byrd of West Virginia), astronaut (John Glenn of Ohio), jewelry-maker (Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado). But none were dogged by a satirical persona, as is already happening to newly-confirmed Democratic Senator-elect Al Franken of Minnesota.
Franken, formerly a comedian and writer for “Saturday Night Live,” created the character Stuart Smalley, a cardigan-wearing self-help guru, often pictured gazing lovingly into a mirror and intoning, “I’m going to do a terrific show today! And I’m gonna help people! Because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me!”
Stuart showed up in many Web headlines noting Franken’s victory in the Minnesota senate race over Republican Norm Coleman, especially those with a conservative bent.
“No Joke! Stuart Smalley Headed to Senate” — www.thefoxnation.com
“Stuart Smalley Goes To Washington! Al Franken Gives Dems Super-Majority” — www.werushdaily.com
“Covering Al Franken: Stuart Smalley Saves The Senate! Commentary: Can Journalists Look Past The Goofy Persona Of The Politician?” — www.cbsnews.com
So we ask you: Is there any way Franken can shed the ghost of Smalley? Does he need to?
Stewart Smalley, by the way, was a character who was very important to the recovery community at the time. In AA, we passed his book around and had a good laugh at ourselves. I too have been mistaken for my fictional characters, and the mistake is laughable to anyone who knows anything.
The First Draft: Recess!
There’s a real school’s-out feeling around Washington today. Congress left town last week after the House voted for bill to curb climate change, and most lawmakers won’t be back until after the July 4 holiday weekend. The Supreme Court issues its last rulings of the term, with a full sheaf of decisions expected — but then the justices will be gone for the summer.
President Barack Obama’s hosting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the White House, with a joint appearance in the afternoon. In addition to a full plate of U.S.-Colombian issues, the two leaders could address last weekend’s military coup in Honduras. Obama has already called for peaceful resolution of “tensions and disputes” but he may have more to say.
Later in the day, Obama celebrates the accomplishments of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans at a White House reception. This community has criticized the president for what they see as foot-dragging on repealing the Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and says states need not recognize gay marriages performed in another state — and the U.S. military’s Don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy.
On Capitol Hill, even though most members of Congress are back home, there’s one decision most will be interested in — a possible ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court on just who has won a hotly contested Senate seat: Republican Norm Coleman or Democrat Al Franken. If Franken is declared the winner, it would give Democrats a 60-vote majority, which means Republicans can’t delay legislation with a jaw-fest called a filibuster.
Outside Washington, questions still swirl around the death of Michael Jackson, with lawyers, doctors, relatives and others opining on morning television about the circumstances of the pop star’s demise, and the fate of his three children.
There was plenty of attention focused on an expected day of reckoning set for a New York City courtroom, too: the sentencing of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. Legal experts suggest he’ll get a virtual life term.
Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young. A cyclist rides past magnolias in bloom on Capitol Hill, March 3, 2009
Actually, while it is possible that the Minnesota Supreme Court can rule that Franken won, they CANNOT rule that Norm Coleman won. The best that Coleman can hope for is that the Supreme Court will send it back to have additional votes counted. Even then, he probably would only have a 50-50 chance of prevailing.
Minnesota Democrat Franken calls on Biden
Democrat Al Franken went to Washington on Wednesday — but not to to claim the Minnesota Senate seat Republican incumbent Norm Coleman lost in the November election. Franken, a comic turned politician, called on Vice President Joe Biden at the White House to talk about policy issues and the still-unresolved Minnesota contest he hopes will end with a win for the Democrats.
“Minnesotans are eager to see Congress make progress on the administration’s agenda and I’m eager to do my part in that effort,” Franken said after his meeting with Biden.
He’s going to have to wait a while. A state court ruled last month that Franken should be certified the winner of the Minnesota Senate race. But it’s far from over. The widely anticipated ruling merely signaled the end of another round in a long-running battle. Coleman’s legal challenge continues — and he has said he may take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
File photograph of Franken, Eric Miller/Reuters
This one is easy. Just recount every single vote, even the contested ones which are driving the court battle right now.
That will solve any legitimate and ongoing legal concerns.
Otherwise, the correct course of action is taking place right now.
Whoever runs in Minnesota stays in Minnesota?
Nearly five months after the 2008 election, there’s no sign that either Norm Coleman or Al Franken will definitively be declared the winner in the race for one of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seats, allowing him to spend the next six years in Washington.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told Reuters in an interview that it could be many months before all legal challenges are exhausted. “I don’t think we’re going to see the end to this matter any time soon,” McConnell said.
For those who have forgotten about this cliff-hanger: Coleman, the Democrat-turned-Republican first-term senator running for reelection, lagged behind Democratic comedian-author-Franken by only 225 votes after a recount of nearly 2.4 million ballots cast for the two.
Legal challenges followed and the two candidates are awaiting a ruling any day now by a three-judge panel in Minnesota.
But McConnell said that won’t be the end of it. He said Coleman is likely to employ a Bush v. Gore argument and try to convince the courts that there needs to be a uniform standard of counting ballots throughout the state.
It “will be litigated out not only in state court but potentially in federal court as well,” McConnell predicted.
Asked whether he was concerned that Minnesota is going so long without a full team in the U.S. Senate, McConnell replied, “Yeah, it’s a shame.”
The reason no one says anything about Coleman being a “sore loser” is because he hasn’t lost this election.
Just recount all the votes again, as they did multiple times in Washington state in the 2004 governors race. Both Franken and Coleman should be equally open to this, so this race can come to a democratic end. After all, it is the right thing to do.
Eric. In your post you were trying to divert this issue. Stay on task.
Let the full recount begin.
