Al Franken

Senatorial portrait.

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Al Franken (1951–) is a former US senator and comedian from Minnesota as of sometime in 2008-2009 until 2018 (see below). In his previous careers he was a writer for Saturday Night Live, comedic performer, author, movie actor, and liberal talk radio host.

Scandals unearthed during campaign

In April of 2008, early in his campaign for the US Senate, Franken revealed a complicated issue over state income taxes, interest, and penalties that he owes, as well as a $25,000 fine for not carrying workers' compensation insurance in New York State.

"The campaign said last month it would pay a $25,000 fine to the state of New York for failure to carry workers' compensation insurance there."

"The U.S. Senate candidate himself broke the story that he owed at least 17 states some $70,000 in taxes, interest and penalties. He said he overpaid taxes by a similar amount in Minnesota and New York between 2003 and 2007."

Recount

The 2008 Minnesota campaign for the Senate seat was one of the closest in Minnesota history. On election night it seemed that Norm Coleman would keep his seat, however, the margin of victory was less than one half of one percent of the vote, triggering a mandatory recount. After the state had finished, it declared Franken the winner by 225 votes. Coleman was unhappy with this result and sought redress from the courts, like this guy did, hoping for similar results. He was denied such satisfaction when, on June 30th, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court finally ruled the recount in favor of Franken, and Coleman decided not to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. Thus, Al Franken was Senator Franken (D-MN). Doggone it, people like him. This allowed the Senate to have a critical filibuster proof majority for a time. His reelection was a much clearer affair and he easily won without a recount.

Bibliography

(shamelessly stolen from another wiki).

• I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley
• Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
• Why Not Me?
• Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness
• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (2003, ISBN 9780452285217)
• The Truth (With Jokes)
• Giant of the Senate (2017, ISBN 9781455540419)

As one might imagine, Big Fat Idiot, Lies and Truth are lengthy responses to conservative viewpoints, with humor liberally applied (both definitions).

One of his biggest points of contention, particularly in Lies and Truth, is that books written by other pundits (such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter), as well as their commentaries on various television programs, cite statistics and histories that are either quote-mined, shoehorned or are otherwise blatantly false. Franken, in comparison, asserts that the statistics and histories in his books are not only accurate, but adequately researched and confirmed by unpaid interns; his resources are notated in his books, so anyone who cares to can check their veracity.

Resignation

The infamous image of Franken groping a woman

After charges of sexual misconduct first made by former Playboy model Leeann Tweeden, who performed with him on a USO tour, as well as several other women in the weeks after Tweeden's story came out, Senator Franken announced his resignation on Dec. 7, 2017 after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he had to announce his resignation or he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments. He formally resigned on January 2, 2018. Of particular note is that Franken is one, if not the only, of many others accused of similar misconduct around the same time to take his lumps and apologize for his actions, as opposed to doubling down and denying any misconduct took place.

See also

SNL cast members

• Dennis Miller
• Victoria Jackson
• Julia Sweeney