Posted on 01/12/2009 12:14:10 PM PST by Bubba_Leroy
Democrat Al Franken was quickly turned down Monday when he asked Minnesota's governor and secretary of state to issue an election certificate that would let him take office in the Senate.
In letters the campaign sent to Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, Franken's lawyers argued that a seven-day waiting period for issuing the certificate after an election has passed and he should get the signed certificate. But the state officials said their hands were tied by state law and they could not act.
Franken led Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes after a statewide recount that was completed Jan. 5.
Coleman is suing over the result, claiming there were irregularities on Election Day and during the recount.
Minnesota law prevents officials from issuing an election certificate until legal matters are resolved. But Franken's legal team argues that federal election law entitles Franken to receive the certificate before the lawsuit is settled.
"The people of Minnesota are down a senator in the U.S. Senate. This is an opportunity for Governor Pawlenty and Secretary Ritchie to ensure the interests of all Minnesotans are represented in Washington," Franken lawyer Marc Elias told reporters in a conference call. He didn't rule out a lawsuit.
In a statement, Ritchie said state law requires him and the governor to turn down Franken's request.
"Minnesota law is very clear on when a certificate of election can be issued. Neither the governor nor I may sign a certificate of election in the U.S. Senate race until all election contests have reached a final determination," Ritchie's statement read.
The statement didn't specifically address Franken's argument that federal law supecede the state law.
Pawlenty echoed Ritchie, saying it is clear the law won't allow him to issue a certificate while the race is being contested in court.
A spokesmen for Coleman had no comment.
Franken's campaign was due to file a response to Coleman's lawsuit later Monday. Elias characterized the Coleman action as "riddled with errors that are fatal to much if not all of the claims made in the petition."
By law, a trial on the lawsuit must start within three weeks of its filing, which occurred last Tuesday. It will be heard by a three-judge panel that has not yet been named.
I want to thank Tim Pawlenty for his steadfast defense of the democratic process and his vociferous voice against Al Franken stealing this election.
Tim Pawlenty has spine of steel. I mean, all the times he called out Al Franken for stealing this election. All the times he spoke out against the fraud and abuse that was going on.
Wow Tim Pawlenty you are the John McCain of GOP Governors. Thanks big guy! Gooooo Sam’s Club!
Every day Franken is not there to vote is a good day. The lease Coleman can do is string this along as long as possible.
Here are the facts. Coleman won the election by approximately 700 votes. Then a bunch of mysterious BS “corrections” reduced his lead to about 200 votes before the recount even started. Then, during the recount, boxes of mysterious extra votes kept turning up for Franken, coming from the strangest places.
Al Franken will never be a legitimate U.S. Senator, even if he is officially certified and takes the seat. There won’t be any justice until Coleman takes his rightful Senate position and Franken takes a position in federal prison for stealing the election.
Doesn’t anyone see it as odd that virtually all of the “found” ballots are for Franken? Given that the election seemed to be quite evenly divided wouldn’t you expect to see that these “found” ballots would be more or less equally divided between Coleman and Franken? Has anyone investigated who exactly “found” these ballots and did they have connections with ACORN?
The story falls apart here. There was no 'state wide' recount. They only recounted the votes Franken wanted them to count. Sometimes they counted the votes twice. Sometimes they found more vote for Franken in trunks of cars. They kept playing games until they could figure out a way to fudge enough votes for Franken.
The governor and sec'y of state of MN are crazy if they certify this election. Of course, this is MN, so. . .
Recount= count the votes you have again.
Liberal recount= Add as many votes as you need to win.
L
That’s not true. The found ballots were never always for Franken, but the NET was almost always towards Franken. It would be like, oh, Franken picks up 80 here and Coleman 60 for a net of Franken 20. It’s not Franken getting 20 ballots and Coleman getting none...
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