Coleman Attorney: "I don't care about your procedures."

As the court battles for the Minnesota Senate Race continue, my annoyance at Norm Coleman, or at least his political team, grows.

[Coleman Attorney Joe] Friedberg: In point of fact, even though I did something I wasn't supposed to do with the application, my ballot should still count because my signature is genuine.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann: Not according to the procedures we use to determine whether the signature is genuine.

Friedberg: I don't care about your procedures.

(Franken lawyer calls an objection, is sustained.)

Friedberg: Okay, I do care...

This is just ridiculous. Have a good day.

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The 28th Amendment to the Constitution

In my post about Roland Burris, I wrote:

"Hopefully this will lead to more states changing their laws and making it so governors cannot appoint replacement U.S. Senators. It is inherently undemocratic. There should be special elections, just like in the U.S. House. At least some progress can be made. Maybe appointments have to have been elected to statewide office before (sorry Caroline). Another possible step is to make it so that there is a special election, but until then there is a temporary appointed placeholder. Either way, this current system blows."

Not much more than a week later and *BAM* here comes Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin:

“The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators. They should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people. I plan to introduce a constitutional amendment this week to require special elections when a Senate seat is vacant, as the Constitution mandates for the House, and as my own state of Wisconsin already requires by statute. As the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, I will hold a hearing on this important topic soon.”

His proposed constitutional amendment would require special elections in the event of Senate vacancies.

Not only do I support this amendment, but I think it is one of the few times an amendment actually has a possibility of passing. Usually they are just symbolic gestures.

Have a nice day!

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Norm Coleman is a Dick

Norm Coleman is a total dick. Go figure. It has been obvious for weeks that Al Franken won the November 4th election. He was certified as a winner, but Coleman contested the election, which prevents Franken from being sworn in. For those who aren’t familiar with this entire recount process, it has been really, really aggravating.

On Nov. 4th, Coleman was up by a few hundred votes. He told Franken that he should concede, even though there were thousands of votes yet to tally. He also said that there should not be a recount because it costs the state money. If the difference between candidates is less than 0.5% in Minnesota, there is an automatic recount unless the losing candidate concedes.

The final votes came in with Franken up by a small amount. Coleman doesn’t concede, instead letting the recount go forth. I welcomed the recount, although Coleman is definitely a hypocrite.

During the recount, there were tons of really crazy ballots viewable online. The Franken and Coleman camps argued the ruling on thousands of ballots, even ones that weren’t worth arguing about.

Both sides dropped some arguments, with Franken dropping most. After the recount, Franken came out ahead by even more.

Then there were absentee ballots that Franken argued were wrongly revoked. When he was ahead, Coleman said not to review them. As soon as he was slightly behind, he said to look at some, but only ones in conservative districts. Now that he is far behind and is going to lose, he wants all of them to be viewed. If he gets his way he is totally screwed because they will most likely increase Franken’s lead instead of shrinking it. He wants them to not be viewed, however, so as to decrease the “legitimacy” of the election, even though it has been pretty fair in my view.

Today, however, is when Coleman reached the status of being a total dick, before he was just a prick. He has taken a day job as a consultant. He knows he has lost. Everyone knows he has lost. He isn’t continuing on his legal challenges in hopes that he will win. My best guess is that he is trying to bloody up Franken as much as he can. Franken is a fairly controversial figure. Any other Democrat would have crushed Coleman, but Franken isn’t any normal Democrat. Coleman is probably working with John Cornyn (head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee) to make this draw out as long as possible to make the election seem illegitimate, which they hope will hurt Franken and make him easier to beat in six years. In addition, they hope that it will affect peoples’ views of the Democratic Party as a whole.

Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota. He already won the election, and Coleman’s challenge is unlikely to be successful, and if it is it would only help Franken.

In addition to being a dick, Coleman is likely a criminal as well. He is currently under investigation. The investigation revolves around lodging he accepted in violation of the Senate gifts rule. Coleman used some fundraising money to pay for his lawyers, although, for some reason, I don’t think that is illegal, just pretty unethical.

I’m not sure if Franken will be a good senator or not. I have trouble believing he won’t be better than Coleman, however. I look forward to watching him.

Have a nice day.

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Roland Burris

Roland Burris, Blagojevich’s appointment to replace Obama in the United States Senate, was sworn into office today. Thus, Burris is now my new Senator. How do I feel about this?

1) Burris is a terrible candidate. He has lost many, many races, including a failed run for U.S. Senate (he never made it out of the primary). He won’t last more than two years. He’ll have a serious primary and general election opponent.

2) He is pretty egotistical. I don’t know his policy views too well, but I know that he thinks he is the big tuna. He freaking named his son and daughter Roland and Rolanda.

3) Blagojevich will be removed from office, but he and Burris got the last laugh. I found it fitting that Burris was sworn in with a huge grin on his face. Seriously, who would have dreamed that anyone would not only accept Blagojevich’s appointment, but would actively pursue it after Blagojevich was arrested? Not I, and definitely not Harry Reid.

4) Harry Reid has egg on his face. Seriously, while I don’t like Reid, I feel bad for the man because he took a leap and finally took a firm stance on something, only to have the unthinkable happen.

5) Reid and Durbin had no legs to stand on when they originally denied him his seat.

6) I am glad Burris was seated because I strongly believe in justice and the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.” Burris hasn’t done anything wrong, so there is no reason not to seat him. Actually, Blagojevich hasn’t even been indicted yet.

7) Hopefully this will lead to more states changing their laws and making it so governors cannot appoint replacement U.S. Senators. It is inherently undemocratic. There should be special elections, just like in the U.S. House. At least some progress can be made. Maybe appointments have to have been elected to statewide office before (sorry Caroline). Another possible step is to make it so that there is a special election, but until then there is a temporary appointed placeholder. Either way, this current system blows.

8) I am actually looking forward to seeing what kind of a Senator Burris is. I am kind of a geek.

9) Have a good day.

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Obama's Stimulus Plan

Obama is a smart man.

Many people have heard about Obama’s stimulus recovery plan. There are two basic tenets to the plan: (1) the liberal approach – government spends, spends, spends, and (2) the conservative approach – tax cuts. While this is an extremely condensed version, it is fairly accurate.

Obama’s stimulus plan included 300 billion dollars in tax cuts, even though his economic team came out with a report showing that tax cuts are only two-thirds as effective in creating growth as increased spending is. While he had more money going towards spending, it isn’t as much more as one would expect. Why is this?

Over the last couple weeks there has been some public outbursts about his plan. Where did these come from? Republicans? No, but instead they came from Democrats. Mitch McConnell (the Republican Senate Minority Leader) didn’t make a peep. Instead, John Kerry and other Democrats demanded increased spending, especially on “green industry.”

Obama then met with Senate Democrats and agreed to their wishes, giving the appearance of working with the Senate, while improving his plan and still keeping Republicans content with the 300 billion dollars in tax cuts.

This is smart for four reasons:

1) Obama isn't going it alone. People love checks and balances.

2) It will pass through the Senate, I think, fairly easily.

3) If it doesn't pass for some reason, people will blame the Senate.

4) If it passes and then fails when it is implemented, Obama isn't solely responsable.

Have a good day.

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