Subscribe to our RSS feed
Follow us on Twitter
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine sent a letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty yesterday urging him to call on Norm Coleman to concede the U.S. Senate contest. “I urge you to use your influence to bring this process to an end by asking Norm Coleman to allow his neighbors and yours their full representation in Congress,” the note, first reported by Politico, reads. “The voters of Minnesota elected Al Franken, and during every step in the legal process that judgment has been confirmed.”
The letter is part of a concerted effort by Democrats and their allies to put pressure on Pawlenty in anticipation of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling on the contest. A three-judge panel determined that the Democrat won the election by 312 votes and the state’s top court is widely expected to ratify that decision. Pawlenty has been cagey about whether he will sign an election certificate at that point, which would clear the way for Franken to be seated.
The Republican leadership in Washington has made it obvious that they’ll do whatever it takes to keep Franken from taking office, and therefore giving President Obama a veto-proof 60-seat majority. The latest evidence: the National Republican Senatorial Committee recently committed $750,000 to cover Coleman’s spiraling legal bills, reports the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza.
Leave a comment
Become a fan on Facebook
8 Comments »
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 11:59 am
is anyone else in this state (or country for that matter) sick of the way politicians claim to be for the people but the reality is they are for whatever party they are affiliated with and nothing more? both republicans and democrats are guilty of this. its time for a change.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
How can Gov. Pawlenty be serious candidate for the U.S. President in 2012 when he can’t even settle a disputed U.S. Senate race? If he wasn’t so partisan, this would be a simple task.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
Gov. Pawlenty is just following the Constitution which entitles all of us to exhaust our legal recourse. If he signs over for Franken he would be violating Norm Coleman’s and all of those who voted for him rights. It is not a matter of partisanship, it is a matter of law.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
I just want to remind everyone about Al Gore and George Bush in Florida 2000. Al Gore just gave up to save the Union. Everyone knew Al Gore won but he did not want to prolong it. I just do not understand these Republicans clinging to power
Note: I belong to Ross Perot’s Party
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 6:08 pm
Carol should really try to understand the Constitution before claiming that it asserts rights that are not it. Coleman has served his duly elected term, which was a privilege he enjoyed due to the majority vote of the people of Minnesota. He has no RIGHT to be the Senator. Now, the majority vote of the people of Minnesota, which has been affirmed by the Minn. election commission and confirmed by a Minn. lower court (but not yet the Supreme Ct. of Minn), is to have Mr. Franken serve the people as Senator. After considering that Mr. Franken has been determined to have won the election, and that Election Commission determination has been affirmed by the Minn. Courts, it is within the Governor’s powers to confirm that determination. Yes, Coleman has a right to appeal to the Supreme Court the lower Court’s affirmation of the Election Commission’s action. Coleman’s right to due process would remain unviolated even if Pawlenty confirmed Mr. Franken because the Supreme Court could act on Coleman’s appeal by reversing the lower court decision, and could overrule Gov. Pawlenty’s affirmation of Mr. Franken and instate Coleman(not that there appears to be any grounds or reason for the Supreme Court to do any of this). But to affirm that it is truly and only the working of legal rights that has kept the people of Minnesota deprived of representation in the US Senate MONTHS after the election results were certified as clear,as if partisanship would have nothing to do with it, is just silly.
Comment posted May 20, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
Minn/its residents,officials join the ranks
of the weak spined pseudo spirited…
ACT AS IF YOU ARE PATRIOTS!!! WHATEVER YOUR POSITION!
QUE LASTIMA!
Comment posted May 21, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
Dr. Obed,
You better review your history…The Florida recount showed that Bush actually won…Gore didn’t quit he lost by 537 votes…
David,
If Franken were seated before all legal processes were complete, and it was later found he has actually lost, then the only way to remove him from the Senate would be by Expulsion. That would require a 2/3 vote of the senate. DO you think Franken’s affiliated party, which is in the majority right now, would ever do that? even if its right?
Comment posted May 21, 2009 @ 3:14 pm
Let the law and the law only take this contest wherever it takes it. Neither of these two statesmen (hac, cough, wheeze, sob!) or their adherents want the process subverted and his incumbency tainted. Do they?
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment