Coleman camp: Franken at Supreme Court like bank robber asking for receipt

“Franken filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court … that’s a bit like a bank robber stopping on his way out the door to ask the teller for a receipt.” That’s how an e-mail appeal for funds from the campaign of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman described today’s legal move by the Al Franken campaign that asked the state’s high court to order the governor to issue an election certificate. In another response, Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak told reporters that Franken has gone beyond the “epitome of arrogance … [by] asking to go above the laws of our state … [in a] desperate move … to take this out of the hands of the law here and not to have to go to trial against our election contest.”

Read Knaak’s full statement and the entire e-mail after the jump.

Here is the full statement Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak gave to reporters late this afternoon (go to MPR’s Polinaut blog to hear the rest of the nine-minute phone-in press conference):

We thought that we’d seen the epitome of arrogance yesterday, but today Al Franken has topped even himself. In the wake of the immediate denial of yesterday’s publicity stunt, calling on the governor and the Secretary of State to issue Franken a certificate — he didn’t win then and he hasn’t won now — today he’s asking to go above the laws of our state with his latest move. Al Franken knows he can’t win in court abiding by the rules of Minnesota elections. So he’s coming up with every desperate move he can — and his Washington legal team as well — to take this out of the hands of the law here and not to have to go to trial against our election contest. Franken knows the case made in our election contest is strong. Double-counted votes, newly discovered ballots, missing ballots, and inconsistent standards regarding rejected absentee ballots are serious issues that will get their day in court. Al Franken wants his Democratic supporters in the U.S. Senate to seat him in a blatant political power play. The people of Minnesota and the votes cast by 3 million Minnesotans in this election deserve better than that. Minnesotans cast their votes. And when this election contest phase is complete, we have every hope and expectation they can be confident in the result as they send Sen. Norm Coleman back to work for them.

And here is the text of an e-mail that went out early this evening:

From: Team Coleman
Date: Tue, Jan 13, 2009
Subject: Breaking News

Dear Friend,

After weeks of running roughshod over the constitution [sic] and denying the most basic of protections to voters, yesterday Al Franken asked the state of Minnesota to certify him as the winner of the election for U.S. Senate — even though state law expressly prohibits it until the contest is resolved! And when both Governor Pawlenty and the Democrat Secretary of State immediately turned down his request, Franken filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court!

If you ask me, that’s a bit like a bank robber stopping on his way out the door to ask the teller for a receipt.

Nonetheless, the outcome of our contest is far from over, and we won’t rest until every vote has been counted fairly and honestly.  As it stands right now, more than 25 precincts have had more ballots cast than they have voters! And thousands of likely votes for Norm have been challenged and thrown out at the urging of Franken’s legal team!!

Click here now to help us prevent more legal shenanigans by Franken and his army of lawyers. Your immediate contribution of $20, $25, $35, $50, $100 or more will help us stop their mischievous actions and protect the sanctity of your vote.

Thanks for all you’ve done for Norm — and will hopefully continue to do for him — as we wage this battle to prevent Al Franken from ignoring the will of Minnesotans and the laws of the state.

Sincerely,

Cullen Sheehan, Campaign Manager

P.S.    Please don’t set this e-mail aside with the best of intentions. Help us stop Al Franken from denying Minnesotans a fair election!

Paid for by Coleman for Senate ’08
www.ColemanforSenate.com

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