Politics
This should not have taken so long…
Al Franken (D) has finally been approved as Senator for Minnesota (Times story here) after a battle lasting over 7 months with Norm Coleman (R). Even after a recount and a local court decision in Franken’s favor it still took a Minnesota Supreme Court decision to get Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) to sign the paperwork recognizing Franken as a Senator.
The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously decided to uphold Franken’s election, determining that neither the accusations of voting irregularities nor unconstitutionality held merit.
Some people just aren’t very good losers…
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Tags: Al Franken, Coleman, democrat, Franken, Minnesota, Minnesota Senate, Minnesota Supreme court, Norm Coleman, Pawlenty, recount, republican, senate, senate controversy, supreme court, Tim Pawlenty Discussion
7 comments for “This should not have taken so long…”
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I’m glad Franken was in for the long haul. Now maybe Minnesota can get back to business…
Stuart Smalley goes to Washington !
Proof positive that daily affirmations work.
With 2.4 Million people voting and only 312 votes separating the two candidates,that’s a thousandth of a percent difference, I think contesting the vote was probably prudent.
Remember,
It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.
– Tom Stoppard
@Skeptigator –
So true. Take a look at the reported Iranian election results last month:
Ahmadinejad “gets” 63% of the votes while Mousavi pulls in around 34%.
Clearly, Ahmadinejad won hands down right ???
It was the will of ALLAH !! (and the folks counting, um not counting the votes too I suppose)
Part of the problem people have with this situation is Coleman’s abrupt about face on the issue of recounts the second he went from leading by a small margin to trailing.
I absolutely agree that verifying a proper count is important. However, this should never have required court involvement. When a court reaches a unanimous verdict, chances are the loser didn’t have much of a case to begin with. This whole appeal process was simply a tantrum by the GOP. If they couldn’t win they were going to prevent things from going forward as long as possible.
Skep, getting it recounted with the slim margin of victory was a good thing… however Coleman then contesting the vote in court, being told it was on the level by a local court, then pushing it to the state supreme court is just ridiculous…
Taken in light of the way the republicans have been acting since the election I’m inclined to think this was just a stall tactic.