Comments on: Franken adds a lawyer

By: tedb

tedb — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:20:59 +0000

Rick,
There were about 3,000,000 votes cast on election day. I hope you do not really want a runoff election because one candidate wins by only 29,900 votes. I don’t like the runoff idea in any case, but 1% is way too large a difference to even be considered.
There are a couple of problems with such a law. How do you keep a candidate who lost by 30,100 votes from suing to prove that he or she only lost by 29,900 votes? The chief problem with runoff elections, however, is the steep falloff in participation. Even with all the media attention and agitation surrounding this Senate contest I’d be surprised if we got 2,500,000 votes in a runoff. So there you would have half a million people whose initial votes didn’t matter.
I think the best solution is to learn from this experience and tighten up our election laws to clarify and improve procedures and qualifications for voting. In addition, we should consider filling positions temporarily in the case of prolonged litigation like this one. Recount and appeal procedures should be streamlined, if possible. There should still be lots of discussions on these topics because the best solutions are not self-evident.
I am not a lawyer, but I suspect that election law is a rather arcane specialty that doesn’t support many lawyers in the whole country. In any case Coleman’s local lawyers generally looked like amateurs compared to Franken’s imported talent.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:40:27 +0000

I’m just wondering if there are any “qualified” Minnesota lawyers to deal with this rather than haul in lawyers from out of state who may not be totally familiar with our election laws, but I guess that’s up to the candidate.
Honestly, what I’d like to see is a law that states this: If two candidates come within 1% of total votes cast on election day, then a runoff election shall be held. I guess we’d probably still end up in court over “total” votes cast though.

By: tedb

tedb — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:37:34 +0000

Rick,
IANAL, but I often find it interesting to know the participation rates of women and minorities in different fields, particularly ones that long have been dominated by white males. It’s one way of noting changes in our society. I attended the Election Contest a couple of times. I found it interesting that two of the judges were women and all three judges’ clerks were women, but none of the attorneys who spoke for Coleman and Franken in court, as far as I observed, were women.

I agree that it is interesting that some of the lawyers are out from out of state, but that is not a secret. What do you want investigated? Elias and Hamilton have a well-documented record of success in election cases, and their stellar performance for Franken shows why. Personally, I am all in favor of investigating Ginsberg, Coleman’s PR flack and not-really-a-lawyer-in-this-case-because-then-the-court-might-be-able-to-curtail-his-hallway-distortions spinner. Ginsberg also has a track record in election-related matters: a Bush attorney in 2000, attorney for the Swiftboat Liars in 2004, and now the Coleman hoax. The MN Independent has already reported how he told an audience a couple of years ago at Duke Law School how Republicans don’t like equal protection arguments, but now we see how honest that statement was. The more sunshine shed on Ginsberg and his backers, the better. He is an enemy of democracy and fair elections IMHO. As a Minnesotan, I would like to think that he was brought in by Coleman because my state does not have anyone who can sink to Ginsberg’s level of slime and duplicity.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:41:41 +0000

I’m curious as to why the article even feels the need to identify one of the lawyers as a woman. There are a plethora of qualified female lawyers out there. What’s the big deal? A bigger issue for me is why lawyers that are out of state and do not possess a Minnesota licese to practice law are being retained. Why not investigate that?

By: Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. » Franken adds a lawyer | newgeorgiamesotheliomalawyer

Wed, 06 May 2009 20:42:25 +0000

[...] the first attorney for either Franken or Norm Coleman who also .. Read the rest here: Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. » Franken adds a lawyer Share and [...]

By: Chris Steller

Chris Steller — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:18:35 +0000

Thanks for the correction Mike S. I changed the sentence you quoted. I was working from visual memory from following the recount and trial and don’t remember her making an appearance for Coleman. Do you?

By: mike_s

mike_s — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:14:18 +0000

“[T]he first attorney for either Franken or Norm Coleman who also happens to be a woman”???

Maybe you should review the cover of Norm’s appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. One of his attorneys at Dorsey is a woman.

By: Noah Kunin

Noah Kunin — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:05:32 +0000

Note that Lisa was heavily assisting Team Franken during pretty much the entirety of the Election Contest Court. I think those 9 weeks gives anyone ample experience with election law. Heck, I’ve thought about starting my own drive up election law consultation stand after sitting through that.