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Lord Faris challenging Franken
Published 12:00pm Thursday, August 21, 2008If anyone has politics in her blood, it’s Priscilla Lord Faris.
The daughter of former Minnesota Attorney General and Federal District Court Judge Miles Lord, Lord Faris worked for Sen. Hubert Humphrey in the 1960s before embarking on careers in teaching, real estate, law and advocacy.
Her next venture? A run for U.S. Senate.
“I feel like I’ve been preparing for this my whole life,” said Lord Faris, a Democrat. “It’s just been part of my culture.”
Lord Faris announced her candidacy in mid-July and will face former comedian Al Franken in the Democratic primary Sept. 9. The winner of that race will go on to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) for a seat in Congress in November.
To Lord Faris, Franken does not represent Minnesota values and is out of touch with Minnesota issues. Afterall, she says, Franken moved to Minnesota from New York just to run for office.
“I just thought Minnesota needs a Minnesotan that knows what’s going on in Minnesota — and he just got here,” she said during a visit to Fergus Falls this week.
By contrast, Lord Faris calls herself a life-long Minnesotan who’s spent much of her life working on behalf of others. She’s taught third grade and special education, served on the Sunfish Lake city council and helped write and pass legislation with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving after her teenage son was killed by a drunk driver in 1989. She’s run a personal injury law firm since 1993 and serves on the University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Board and President’s Club.
When it comes to the issues, Lord Faris says withdrawing troops from Iraq is a top priority. The war is also an economic issue, she says, as the country’s staggering national debt continues to rise.
“I’ve lived a long time and I’ve never seen the country in such dire straits,” she said.
Health care reform and a revised energy policy are also especially important, she says.
Lord Faris has asked to debate Franken on the issues several times but to no avail. In early August, Lord Faris was at the annual Farmfest in Redwood Falls, where Franken was scheduled to debate Coleman and two Independence Party candidates. She says she asked Franken, “Are you aware I’ve asked you to debate me three times?” She was referred to a staffer.
Lord Faris’ criticisms of Franken have come back to haunt her. In a television commercial she ran for four days, Lord Faris listed faults she saw in Franken, saying she was afraid Republicans would use those same arguments against him in November.
A clip of Lord Faris’ commercial — excluding the comment about future Republican criticisms — is now included in a Coleman commercial.
“I was so shocked that he would do something like that,” she said of Coleman. “It is so misleading and so wrong that it is a violation of campaign ethics.”
Lord Faris said she brought a letter to Coleman’s Twin Cities campaign office this week asking him to pull the ad.
Lord Faris’ campaign, meanwhile, is run primarily by family and good friends. Her husband, Wayne Faris, serves as campaign manager, while her daughters fundraise and manage her Web site.
“We’re very low-tech but it feels good to not be using the people’s (donors’) money in extravagant ways,” she said.
For more information on Priscilla Lord Faris, visit www.uniteminnesota.com.
