Franken Wins Senate Trail

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 13, 2009
By Marty Owings

The three Judge Panel in the Coleman V. Franken trial ruled today that Al Franken is entitled to receive the election certificate based on its findings. The Coleman case has been "dismissed with prejudice" according the documents released by the Court in a unanimous 56-page opinion, with an additional 12 pages of supporting exhibits.

The Court said that Coleman failed to prove his case in all areas including absentee ballots, ballots counted twice or their "equal protection" issue in which the his lawyers contended that Minnesotans rights were violated.

Coleman's lawyers had attempted to prove the thousands of voters were "disenfranchised" by the actions of elections officials, that those same election officials counted ballots that should not have been counted, that some ballots were counted twice. All of these assertions were refuted by the Court in their findings of fact.

Perhaps the most critical claim for Coleman's case was that of "equal protection" in which his lawyers claimed that because of the inconsistency of vote counting that not all ballots were treated the same. The Court answered this by stating "Errors or irregularities identified by [Coleman] in the general election do not violate the mandates of equal protection.”

Coleman's lead attorney Ben Ginsberg responded to the Court decision in a statement, saying "More than 4,400 Minnesotans remain wrongly disenfranchised by this court's order. The court's ruling tonight is consistent with how they've ruled throughout this case but inconsistent with the Minnesota tradition of enfranchising voters. This order ignores the reality of what happened in the counties and cities on Election Day in terms of counting the votes. By its own terms, the court has included votes it has found to be 'illegal' in the contest to remain included in the final counts from Election Day, and equal protection and due process concerns have been ignored. For these reasons, we must appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court so that no voter is left behind." Ginsberg said he will appeal the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

For his part, Al Franken appeared outside his town home and spoke briefly to members of the media. “It’s long past time we got to work.” said Franken. He added “We didn’t fight hard simply because we wanted to win, “We fought hard because every Minnesotan knows someone who’s losing a job or a home, someone who’s struggling to pay for tuition or prescription drugs.”

The Court also ordered that Coleman pay for Franken's legal fees and that they pay $7500 fine for withholding evidence from the Franken attorneys. And finally the Court document states the following: "Accordingly, Coleman received a total of 1,212,317 votes and Franken received a total of 1,212,629 votes in the race for United States Senator in the November 4, 2008 general election … Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast … Franken is entitled to receive the certificate of election.”

Senator John Marty Announces Run For Governor

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 13, 2009
By Martin Owings

Today at the Minnesota State Capitol, Senator John Marty held a press conference to formally announce that he was entering the race for Minnesota Governor. Marty joins a crowded field of Democrats who have already announced their candidacies, among them Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, Matt Entenza, Ole Savior, Paul Thissen and former US Senator Mark Dayton to name just a few.

Marty isn't short on campaign experience, having run for Governor twice previously in 1994 and 98. In 1994 he was beaten by a nearly two to one margin when he ran against Arne Carlson, largely due to Marty's own campaign finance limits and to some extent Carlson's popularity. In 1998, he withdrew from the DFL primary after losing early to Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman, the year that Jesse Ventura won.

Today Marty said he was running in part because his exploratory campaign had been so encouraging. Marty added that Minnesotans are hurting in the economic crisis and that "quick fixes and political gimmicks have been eating away at Minnesota's greatness." Marty says even though he isn't a wealthy or self-financed candidate, he still believes he can win with "people power."

Marty who has championed Gay rights issues and Universal Health care is unapologetic about his positions calling those who would criticize him on Gay rights as "on the wrong side of history." He says that seeing the pain in the faces of everyday Minnesotans is what motivated him to finally decide to run. "This is the first time in American history that the next generation is doing worse than their predecessors and I don't find that acceptable." said Marty.

With the election almost two years away and a growing field of Democratic competitors, Marty knows it'll be a long, hard fight but says he's ready for it. Marty spoke about the work ahead to a crowd of gathered supporters, saying "Every one of us is going to have a lot of work ahead, I know that, I'm excited about that, I hope you're excited about that because we're gonna get em, we're gonna win this race and we'll be representing Minnesota in the Governor's office two years from now."

For the KFAI Radio News Story Click Here:

Coleman V Franken Results on Recount

Saint Paul, Minnesota

April 7, 2009

By Marty Owings

Just about 1 hour ago the totals of the Court ordered recount of 351 votes cast in the 2008 Senate race was completed. Here are the results:

Franken 198

Coleman 111

Other 42

Shortly after the three judge panel agreed with the count, a press conference was held. Secretary of State Mark Richie thanked the three Judges who presided over the case for their hard work and extra efforts during the trial. He also thanks his staff and the Reporters present for their coverage. He added that he expected an appeal, which was later confirmed by Coleman Attorney Ben Ginsberg, and added that a ruling by the State Supreme Court would put closure on the case and the election.

Mark Elias, Attorney for Al Franken said that the outcome today was simply reinforcement of what he and his client had always believed. He added that the trail was not about US election laws, but about who won the race fro Senate in Minnesota. Elias said he was very pleased with the outcome, but stopped short of saying the Governor should certify Al Franken.

Coleman lawyer Ben Ginsberg said that he was disapointed in the results, but happy that Minnesota's Voters had their votes counted, quickly adding thought that not enough of the votes had been counted. He said that he planned to appeal the case after the expected ruling against his client.

Radio Legend Passes

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 7, 2009
By Marty Owings

Media outlets are reporting the death of radio legend Steve Cannon. Cannon passed away just after 10 p.m. last night at his home in Minneapolis. Anyone who lived within the broadcast range of CCO, will recall Cannon's drive time radio program the "Cannon Mess" which dominated the airwaves for more than two decades.

Cannon entertained generations of listeners with his characters Morgan Mundane, Ma Linger and Backlash LaRue, which were all creations of Cannon and all voiced by him. Cannon was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame with two plaques, one for him and one for the three characters he brought to life.

Cannon was known as private person who would often go out of his way to avoid attention. But on the air he dominated the coveted afternoon drive time slot. Cannon, who grew up on the Iron Range had always attributed his work ethic to his roots in Evelth. Cannon began his radio career in the 1940's and worked all over Minnesota before landing at KSTP in the 1960's where he stayed for 13 years.

After being let go at KSTP he was immediately picked up by WCCO where he remained until his retirement. Cannon also did play-by-play for University of Minnesota Gopher Hockey and color for the North Stars. Cannon never really officially retired and kept busy doing spots for WCCO and some voiceover work.

Steve Cannon was 81 years old.

Here is a link to more on Steve Cannon and some great sound clips:
http://www.museumofbroadcasting.com/Cannon.htm

Rep. Phyllis Kahn Says Fellow Law Maker Doesn't Care About Oklahoma City Bombing Victims

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 7, 2009
By Marty Owings

Representative Phyllis Kahn (DFL), today accused fellow Legislator Joyce Peppin (R) of not caring about the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing when Peppin proposed a measure to cap art projects at State buildings. Kahn's comments drew gasps and some boo's from the House floor. Almost immediately the Speaker, Margaret Anderson-Kelliher, took the uncommon step of reminding Kahn of the rules which outline decorum on the House floor.

Peppin said she didn't appreciate the comments and felt Kahn had stepped over the line, an opinion shared by her Colleagues in the GOP. Representative Tom Emmer called Kahn's comments outrageous. Laura Brod a Republican Law Maker from New Prague said it might have been the most outrageous thing she'd ever heard on the House floor. Brod called for Kahn to apologize.

For her part, Representative Kahn seemed more interested in focusing on the technicalities of the measure rather than an apology. When questioned about the issue she indicated it wasn't a big deal and that her and Peppin had no history of hostility.

Here is the audio and the follow up comments.

Straight Talk With Rep. Jim Abeler

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 5, 2009
By Marty Owings

I caught up with Rep. Jim Abeler (R) from Anoka recently to talk about the budget and what it's like being a Moderate in a partisan age. Abeler explains the budget situation and talks about why he walks a different path.

Here is the full audio of our conversation:

No Crumbs For Seifert

Saint Paul, Minnesota
April 6, 2009
By Marty Owings

Last week on the House floor, the GOP put forth several Amendments they say deal with accountability for the budget. Once such Amendment offered by Rep. Steve Drazkowski would have removed the leaders in both the House and Senate if a budget wasn't completed by the end of the session.

The Amendment drew sharp response from Rep. Tom Rukavina, who called it "Boneheaded" and questioned Drazkowski on why another state leader, Governor Pawlenty, wasn't included in the Amendment. Rukavina said that the Democratic majority was still working on the bill. At one point Rukavina said "If you want to become a eunuch for the Governor go ahead, I got some farmers I know that can help you."

Rep. Dan Severson suggested that Members may want support the Amendment to remove Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, who he said wasn't as good a leader as Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher. In the end, Drazkowski withdrew the Amendment.

Here is audio of the debate:


After seeing several GOP Amendments fail on the floor, Minority Leader Marty Seifert implored his deomocratic colleagues to throw him a "Crumb" or a "Crouton". After the floor session Seifert said the GOP had three measures on the floor that he thought were good. The first would require at least one Republican on a committee, the second would have changed the Session start date to March 1st and the last measure was Drazkowski's which he withdrew as mentioned.

Seifert says that it might take the public to rise up and let Democrats know they've become a little too comfortable and need to work more closely with House Republicans. Seifert suggested that too many deals were being cut without the light of day and without Republican input.

All of the measures purposed on the floor by the GOP minority failed.

Here are Minority Leader Seifert's comments: