Franken criticism suspect

By The Daily Journal (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008

To the many DFL leaders who criticized Senate candidate Al Franken last week for writing an inappropriate article eight years ago: your timing seemed inappropriate.

Franken was endorsed on Saturday by DFL delegates at the state convention in Rochester in favor of Jack Nelson Pallmeyer and others.

It’s understandable that DFL leaders felt Franken needed to apologize and explain himself during his convention speech, and he did so. But for those who felt he should not be endorsed due to offensive jokes he wrote should have spoken up long ago.

While Franken’s tax issues may not have been revealed until after he announced his candidacy – and most DFL leaders have said Franken has properly handled it – clearly, his body of writing – at least one article was published in a national magazine -- was public knowledge long before he decided to run for Senate, and before other prominent candidates such as Mike Ciresi dropped out, or decided not to run.

Calling for Franken to drop out at the DFL convention, when delegates essentially had no choice at that point but to endorse Franken, was ridiculous.

It sounded like those DFL leaders who criticized Franken were doing so to protect their own skin. Now that he’s endorsed, those DFL leaders gave Republicans plenty of campaign fodder for the coming months.