Franken attorney slams book’s ’142 tedious pages’

In a review in the Seattle Times, one of Al Franken’s attorneys slams a book — “The Democracy Index” by Heather K. Gerken — for excessive verbosity about gauging how well states and localities run elections. “It’s difficult to imagine how she could drag out the discussion for 142 tedious pages (not counting footnotes),” writes Kevin Hamilton — who two weeks ago submitted a 53-page brief to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Franken’s most recent contribution to what the document itself says are “nearly 20,000 pages of pleadings, motions, and briefs“ filed in Norm Coleman’s election contest trial.

Hamilton’s gripe about “The Democracy Index” — that its thin thesis is worthy of an op-ed but not a bound book — may be legit (I haven’t read it). And certainly Hamilton, one of the country’s top election lawyers, is a busy guy.

But at a moment when Minnesota Supreme Court justices are dealing with a volume of Franken-Coleman documents best measured in linear feet, it seems unseemly for an election lawyer-cum-book reviewer to complain about having to plow through a mere 142 pages (plus footnotes!).