If passed, bill would let Franken take seat provisionally

[sabra]

Source: CNN

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) — A Minnesota state representative has
introduced a bill that — if passed — would result in the seating of Democrat
Al Franken as Minnesota’s junior senator, at least temporarily.

State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, a Democrat, introduced a bill in the Minnesota
legislature Monday that would provisionally seat the winner of the statewide
recount in instances where a post-election lawsuit is imminent.

If passed, it would take effect immediately, allowing Franken would be
seated in the interim period while the legal battle brought by former
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman plays out in court.

Franken came out of the recount 225 votes ahead of Coleman.

Minnesota law presently states that in the case of a post-election court
proceeding, “an election certificate shall not be issued until a court of
proper jurisdiction has finally determined the contest.”

Read more: http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/04/if-passed-bill-would-let-franken-take-seat-provisionally/

[truthisfreedom]

1. Ooh, let it pass. limpbutt will tear out the last few remaining hairs on that sweaty scalp.

*rubs hands together*

[geardaddy]

2. Good ol' Phyllis!

K and R

Here she is with Paul

[Pirate Smile]

3. The Republican governor isn't going to sign this so don't get your hopes up.

[mac56]

5. There's a chance he will.

If the stimulus bill continues to be held up. Infrastructure $ is a hot topic here in MN these days, for obvious reasons.

[ooglymoogly]

14. Colman is a puke politition...saying something he has no intention

of carrying out is pug politics 101. If he sees this argument as a threat he will immediately begin a duplicitous campaign for passing the bailout.

[Stellabella]

13. We have enough votes in the MN House and Senate to override a veto.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/15942557.html

[ooglymoogly]

15. Now you'r talking....nt

[Pirate Smile]

16. Awesome. That is what I was wondering.

[jwirr]

4. That is only fair. We the people of Minnesota deserve 2 senators

regardless of the fight between candidates. The one in front should always take the seat with the understanding that if the loser finds a legitimate reason for his win it will be reversed. I also wish that somehow we could keep outside money out. I understand that the pug big wigs are forking out for little boy coleman.

[snot]

19. What happens if the provisionally seated Senator

votes on something but is ultimately replaced? Does his replacement get a re-do vote, and if that vote happened to be deciding, does the whole nation have to un-do whatever it did based on the provisionally-seated Senator's deciding vote?

I want to see Al seated, but this strikes me as a serious practical problem.

(It's been three months since the election, and they still can't figure out who won??? Can't their courts hurry the f. up??? They could have had several more elections by now.)

Talk about "justice delayed is justice denied."

[UTUSN]

6. Isn't the latest that the court allowed 5,000 ballots counted, endangering Al's 200+ lead? n/t

[Hope And Change]

7. Read more here...

It`s all getting confusing:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-election-court-denies-coleman-motion-to-count-4500-ballots.php#more

[pdefalla]

8. Not Endangered

Every additional group of ballots that has been counted has increased Franken's lead even further. An additional 5,000 ballots will most probably increase his lead. Coleman knows this, but he has made it clear that he will use the court system to delay the resolution of this election as long as he can, (even though the outcome is obvious), and in the meantime the people of the state deserve representation from the Senator that they elected.

[Winterblues]

12. I heard those 4800 ballets were cherry picked by Coleman from his

strongest areas. We may see Coleman pull it out because of this..

[Stevepol]

18. Franken's lawyers also have a somewhat smaller # of ballots they are contesting.

The ballots that Franken's lawyers are contesting are probably more likely to be allowed for Franken. Coleman's lawyer's batch is just a wide sweep, hoping that some of them will be allowed after all.

I don't think there's much danger of Franken losing, tho I could be wrong I suppose.

[w4rma]

9. Franken is in no danger of ever losing this seat. Coleman is just delaying him from being seated. nt

[jeff47]

10. That's Coleman's spin

The spin from Coleman's camp is that the court is allowing these ballots to be counted. They claim this because Frankin's camp lost a motion to just exclude all the ballots that election officials already excluded.

However, this leaves out another ruling. Coleman's camp was trying to get all of these ballots counted, using a 'substantial compliance' standard. The court rejected that. Now, Coleman's attorneys will have to provide specific evidence on every single ballot they want counted. So far, the evidence they've provided is folks admitting to making errors and breaking MN law, so that's not good for Coleman's side.

What that means is yes, 5k more ballots _could_ be counted, but Coleman will have to prove it 5k times.

[Hope And Change]

11. The question is also if the voters themselves wants to participate in this circus.The Coleman...

camp can`t force people to testify, right?

[AndyTiedye]

17. Proving it 5000 times, at a rate of 2 per day, Would Take 20 YEARS!

:grr:

[defendandprotect]

20. Sounds like something GOP would do --- !!! Great news!

[progressoid]

21. I can't believe this is still going on.

I just want it to be over so Billo's head will explode.

[struggle4progress]

22. State Supreme Court weighs a temporary Sen. Franken

The Minnesota Supreme Court joins the Senate drama to decide whether Al Franken should be seated -- at least for now -- while Norm Coleman's court challenge continues to wade through ballots.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Last update: February 4, 2009 - 11:26 PM

As both sides hurled taunts and accusations Wednesday, lawyers for DFLer Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman braced for a showdown today in the state's highest court on whether Franken should be seated in the Senate while their courtroom election fight continues.

Franken attorney Marc Elias called the recount trial -- Coleman's legal challenge of Franken's 225-vote lead in the certified recount results -- "a shrinking case" and said the law demands that the Democrat be seated in the meantime to give Minnesota the two senators it deserves ...

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/39064407.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUzyaUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

[struggle4progress]

23. Unless Franken gets temporary certificate, Senate seat could stay empty 5 months

By Chris Steller 2/4/09 5:31 PM

Without a new state law requiring a provisional election certificate in cases like Al Franken’s, Minnesota could be without its second U.S. senator for four to five months. That’s the opinion of Hamline University School of Law professor David Schultz, who advised state Rep. Phyllis Kahn on her bill that would seat Franken temporarily until former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s current election contest trial is resolved.

In Schultz’s estimation, including time for appeals, the trial in Coleman’s lawsuit might last through June. “Do we want Minnesota to only have one U.S. senator ?” Schultz said in an interview. That is a compelling reason for Gov. Tim Pawlenty to sign the bill, he said.

Kahn says she expects Schultz to testify in hearings on her bill, which she said will take a minimum of two weeks to pass the state Legislature ...

http://minnesotaindependent.com/25492/david-schultz-unless-franken-gets-temporary-certificate-senate-seat-could-stay-empty-5-months

[struggle4progress]

24. Franken Lawyer: Coleman Team Not Doing Homework

By Eric Kleefeld - February 4, 2009, 4:35PM

As the testimony continues today in Minnesota, Franken lawyer David Lillehaug has made a very tough criticism of Norm Coleman's legal team: They haven't done their homework.

Lillehaug has now begun cross-examining Washington County elections official Kevin Corbid, who was called by the Coleman team to explore their case that there remain unfairly excluded ballots. Earlier today, Corbid mentioned that he'd gone back to his office yesterday and done further research on four rejected ballots that the Coleman team had brought up.

Lillehaug decided to explore this, having Corbid go over his review of those four cases mentioned above. It turned out one of the voters went to the precinct on Election Day; another had obtained a second absentee ballot, after the first one had problems, and has been properly counted; another one was actually counted on Election Night, but the empty ballot envelope was accidentally placed in the rejected pile; and one remains rejected, with Corbid standing by the decision.

It appears the Coleman campaign was not aware of any of this, as indicated by their questioning of Corbid about these cases yesterday -- or they had the evidence, and were questioning him anyway ...

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-lawyer-coleman-team-not-doing-homework.php