More corruption -- now in Minnesota

[CowboyCO]

Franken-Coleman recount for the Senate seat is almost complete. This op-ed piece paints a picture of corruption by the canvassing boards to get Franken elected. Some of this stuff just can't be made up...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470892,00.html

And yes I realize it is an op-ed piece. But if even just the few examples given are true, then Minnesotans are getting royally screwed... And so is Coleman.

 

[dejr_8]

Franken-Coleman recount for the Senate seat is almost complete. This op-ed piece paints a picture of corruption by the canvassing boards to get Franken elected. Some of this stuff just can't be made up...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470892,00.html

And yes I realize it is an op-ed piece. But if even just the few examples given are true, then Minnesotans are getting royally screwed... And so is Coleman.

I started a thread on this as well. It seems like they will continue counting until Franken "wins".

 

[Gary M]

Is anyone surprised?

 

[corndog]

It's just like Washington 2004 all over again.

 

[LakeAriel]

 

[DancingBear]

Yeah, right, the fix is in.

...during the November 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, [REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA] Pawlenty said, "Those folks were named today. The four judges that were named -- two of them I appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Two others have good reputations in Minnesota, so I think it's gonna be a fair system." Moreover, the Associated Press reported on November 13 that "Fritz Knaak, Coleman's lead lawyer, said he was comfortable with the board's makeup. 'The people of this state should feel good about who's on the panel,' he said."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200811140015

 

[Melissamoo]

Just my 2 cents as I am from Minnesota and papers and channels have updates pretty much every day.
I think that Coleman actually has been the corrupt one for a long time if you have read any of the issues that he has with the Senate Ethics Violations....

I think the people of MN just want it over and a decision made.

 

[travelbug]

Is anyone surprised?

Unfortunately, no.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Coleman's no innocent choir boy in the silliness going on in Minnesota. It was reported that he wanted a legitimate Franken vote tossed because the voter wrote "Thank you for counting my vote" on the bottom of his/her ballot...

 

[DisneyWalker44]

And yes I realize it is an op-ed piece. But if even just the few examples given are true, then Minnesotans are getting royally screwed... And so is Coleman.

By the op-ed writers own admission, "Mistakes were also made against Franken". So, no, even if these few examples are true, that doesn't mean anyone is getting screwed.

He goes on to tell you however, that mistakes in favor of Franken were much less common. He presents no evidence, no numbers, nothing but his word. That's the whole point of his column - that more mistakes are made in favor of Franken than Coleman. But all you've got is his word. Do you believe him?

Go see for yourself. There are many sites out there where you can see the ballots and judge for yourself. You can go to youtube and see the deliberation. Do they look like corrupt people to you?

PS -Given the current FBI investigations of Coleman and his wife, you probably didn't want to use the word "corruption".

 

[alexandmaddie]

I think the people of MN just want it over and a decision made.

Oh yeah. It's getting pretty old...

 

[Robindianne]

It's just like Washington 2004 all over again.

That's open to interpretation. Depends on if you wanted Rossi or Gregoire

 

[Ran]

DisneyWalker44: my sentiments as well.

The Star Tribune has these ballots posted online in PDF for anyone to see.

http://senaterecount.startribune.com/ballots/

Why no links to the ballots he's talking about so readers can see for themselves? Seems to me if he had some evidence of corruption he would want everyone to see instead of just talking about it.

That's pretty suspicious.

At any rate I have been looking at these ballots since last week and I went through about 250 this afternoon. I haven't seen them all but from what I have seen I'd say the canvassing board has been reasonable.

 

[John Smith1]

 

[Oreo Cookie]

By the op-ed writers own admission, "Mistakes were also made against Franken". So, no, even if these few examples are true, that doesn't mean anyone is getting screwed.

He goes on to tell you however, that mistakes in favor of Franken were much less common. He presents no evidence, no numbers, nothing but his word. That's the whole point of his column - that more mistakes are made in favor of Franken than Coleman. But all you've got is his word. Do you believe him?

Go see for yourself. There are many sites out there where you can see the ballots and judge for yourself. You can go to youtube and see the deliberation. Do they look like corrupt people to you?

PS -Given the current FBI investigations of Coleman and his wife, you probably didn't want to use the word "corruption".

MTE!

It's just conservative spin in the OpEd and it lacks any proof, typical.

 

[elgerber]

I think the people of MN just want it over and a decision made.

So true!!!!!!!!!!! Here we thought it would be over after election day, and 6 weeks later we still have to hear about it on a daily basis.

 

[CarlaKay]

Here is some good news. After the ballots with withdrawn challenges are added back in the totals, Al Franken is ahead by 48 votes. http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36589859.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4OW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU

Today, the state Canvassing Board is scheduled to award votes from thousands of challenges that each candidate had filed against his opponent's ballots but later withdrew. A draft list Monday by the secretary of state's staff about how those votes should be allocated showed Franken leading by 48 votes. At the end of last week, he was up by 251, the first time since the Nov. 4 election that he had an advantage....

The list that will be presented to the Canvassing Board today appears to be in line with what the Franken camp had been saying. On Saturday, the campaign said its own tracking of challenges showed him leading by 35 to 50 votes.

"This is sort of in the ballpark of where we thought it was going to fall for a few days now," Franken spokesman Andy Barr said.

According to Nate Silver, Coleman is going to lose unless he cheats or wins a victory in one of his lame lawsuits http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/franken-maintains-48-vote-lead.html

In all likelihood, however, Coleman will need to rely on the addition of rejected absentee ballots or the subtraction of so-called duplicate ballots in order to regain the lead from Franken. The former class of ballots will be resolved by the counties between now and December 31; the latter group may or may not be reviewed, depending on a ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court anticipated tomorrow.

 

[Oreo Cookie]

Here is some good news. After the ballots with withdrawn challenges are added back in the totals, Al Franken is ahead by 48 votes. http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36589859.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4OW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DUAccording to Nate Silver, Coleman is going to lose unless he cheats or wins a victory in one of his lame lawsuits http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/franken-maintains-48-vote-lead.html

Thanks for the update!

 

[DancingBear]

If anyone cares, it turns out that the ballot that's highlighted in the the Fox op-ed was in fact counted for Coleman, not Franken. The newspaper made the error in its unofficial count.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/fox-news-finds-typo-blames-liberal.html

 

[Minnesota!]

I don't like either of those sleaze balls! I voted for Dean Barkley Who apprarently likes to get pulled over by the cops!

I just want it done. My guy didn't win so I will have to live with one of them.