[flattorney]

(1) 01.16.09 ST: TRIAL ON COLEMAN CHALLENGE TO BEGIN ON JAN 26

Republican Norm Coleman's trial challenging DFLer Al Franken's lead in the U.S. Senate recount will begin Jan. 26, according to an order issued this afternoon by the three-judge panel that will hear the case. The order did not map out when specific issues would be argued, nor did it touch on other details surrounding the rare proceeding, including whether cameras will be permitted. However, it set the time for the hearing on Franken's motion to dismiss Coleman's challenge for Wednesday. If that motion fails, another hearing would be held next Friday on any motions made for summary judgment followed by a pre-trial conference. The case will be tried in a courtroom at the Minnesota Judicial Center, which is across the street from the State Capitol. The order followed an hour-long meeting held this morning behind closed doors with attorneys for the campaigns and the panel. The district court judges on the panel are Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly.

Franken and Coleman lawyers have dueled in recent days over how broad Coleman's legal challenge should be and how long it should take. Also today, the Supreme Court ordered that the petitions of 64 voters who claim their absentee ballots were wrongly rejected be settled at the recount trial. The order by Justice Alan Page noted that the three-judge panel is equipped to determine whether the ballots complied with legal requirements and should be counted.

Joining the Coleman team today for the first time was prominent Twin Cities litigator Joe Friedberg, who will take the lead in trying the case for Coleman. Friedberg said it will be "a team effort" that will include recount attorneys Fritz Knaak and Tony Trimble. "It's going to be like a trial, although it's a unique type of proceeding," said Friedberg after the meeting. "There'll be witnesses, there'll be physical evidence, and I think it'll be a pretty orderly proceeding. You're looking at three judges there who all know what they're doing, and they're going to try not only to make it understandable themselves but with the tremendous public interest, they're going to make it understandable to the public."

The Coleman camp is proposing a five-stage trial that would start early next month, while the Franken team has suggested a narrower schedule that would begin Jan. 26 and last 15 days. Franken attorney Marc Elias has said that the trial, by state law, must begin no later than Jan. 26. Documents filed by the campaign had asked the three-judge panel to announce a schedule as soon as today. Friedberg said that Coleman was an old friend who called and asked him to work on the trial. "He's obviously in a very important place in his life ... What am I going to say? Of course I'd do it." Asked how long he's been involved in the legal effort, Friedberg said: "You can look at your watch." The trial schedule is important, he said, because there are multiple issues in the case. "You can't put an opening statement together that really should chronicle what's going to go on in the trial, until you know the order of trial and what issues come before what other issues," Friedberg said.

# # # # #

01.14.09 ST: GOP ACTIVISTS TO SUE OVER ALLEGED DOUBLE-COUNTING IN SENATE RACE

A group of Republican activists announced today that they will file a lawsuit to eliminate alleged double-counting of votes in the U.S. Senate recount, and they invited Democrats and independents to join them in the interest of fairness. Though the group acknowledged that it had few concrete examples of actual double-counting, its attorney said he believes there "could be hundreds" of double-counted votes. At a news conference, the group said it would launch a website in hopes of getting other Minnesotans to join them. "My vote was disenfranchised" because of the double-counting, said Scott Walker, a Republican activist from St. Paul. "I am furious about that." The attorney representing the plaintiffs, Doug Seaton, said the group would try to join a lawsuit filed by Republican Norm Coleman.

Democrat Al Franken was certified last week as the highest vote getter by the state Canvassing Board, leading to Coleman's legal challenge and leaving Minnesota for now with just one U.S. senator. "It's a Minnesota issue," said Michael Brodkorb, a prominent Republican Internet blogger (Owner of "Minnesota Democrats Exposed". Mike is doing an outstanding job - FlA) "I can't change the fact that I'm a partisan Republican. . .this really has nothing to do with partisan politics. It's about preserving the concept of one person, one vote."

The group, like the Coleman campaign, says that some duplicate ballots made to replace ballots that couldn't be fed through tabulating machines weren't properly marked, making it impossible to link the originals and duplicates. In some cases they say both were counted. Recount tallies in some precincts exceeded the number of votes picked up by the machines on Nov. 4. But not all election officials have released the polling place sign-in rosters that are a more accurate measure of the number of voters. It could be impossible to trace original ballots that weren't marked to align with a duplicate, as state law requires. Seaton said it's too soon to say what a possible remedy would be.

~ Minnesota U.S. Senate Election Fiasco ~
FR Keywords: Norm Coleman(R) | Al Franken(D) | Franken: SorosBoy | Porn-O-Rama! | Endorsed by Al “Globull Fraud” Gore
Coleman-GOP Election Recount Legal Action(s) | MN Sec. of State Mark "Commie Soros Puppet" Ritchie
"The Dirt": Arianna Huffington was Franken's Secret Video Sex 'Ho - Post 2

TAB

[Uncle Hal]

I wish I had the authors confidence. Coleman’s chances are a long shot at best in my opinion.

[Lakeshark]

I'd love to see this happen, for Franken to lose. Unfortunately however many reasons you have that might be logical, the democrats always gain votes in re-counts.

I wonder if anyone who is a liberal actually considers how this is possible.

[Tzimisce]

I don’t think you understand: these are libs. Minnesota is a blue state with a “progressive” court system.

It doesn’t matter what the law says, it only matters what the powers that be think.

I fully agree though - you can’t look at this circus and NOT think that there is something funny going on. But in the end, none of that is going to matter.

I will be stunned if this turns out in Coleman’s favor...

[lilylangtree]

al franken is suffering what obamanation is suffering from: overexposure

[Michael.SF.]

Norm Coleman will, in due time, be seated as Minnesota's United States Senator.

And if Coleman is indeed seated, he will be weakened as a Senator, accused of stealing the election, be the target of the Lefts anger (Coleman Derangement Syndrome?) and the electoral process will be further damaged because of the willingness of Democrats to lie, steal, cheat, double count and falsify the electoral process.

We need to demand that the guilty parties in this and other fiascos be brought to justice.

[mockingbyrd]

I like Dino Rossi’s recount mantra. For every vote, a voter.

[Cowboy Bob]

Third, in one Minneapolis precinct, 133 allegedly “missing ballots supposedly tallied on election night but which were never found during the recount process were counted, which again inflated Franken’s totals by over 40 votes.

How does the vote tally compare to the number of people who actually signed in to vote? Is the 133 "missing ballots" over and above the number of people given ballots? In all the reports about these "missing ballots", I've never seen any comments about this.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Sure hope so.
All politics aside,
Franken is a detestable human being.

[Cicero]

I presume the three judges are probably all liberals, and probably ideologues. I hope I’m wrong.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Just a guess but I suspect what the democrats expected to happen after attempting their steal was that the Coleman campaign would graciously concede Nixon-style and the GOP would encourage him to do that. I seriously doubt they anticipated a fight.

[WashingtonSource]

Good to hear.

[SuziQ]

What’s really sad is that there was ever any need for a re-count. Franken is a buffoon, and too many MN voters didn’t seem to think that.

[GreatOne]

The first reason, that the rejected absentee ballots were inconsistently reviewed, is bullshit. What happened there is that the Franken campaign outmanuevered Coleman and defied the dictates of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In the Supreme Court's Order concerning how to review the rejected absentee ballots, the Court ordered reps from both parties to review all of the ballots, and to agree upon which ones were improperly rejected. Those ballots would then be opened and counted. The Court admonished both sides to put politics aside and do it right, reminding them of Rule 11 of the Rules of Civil Procedures (which provides for sanctions against attorneys) if they don't. Coleman's team played fair, but Franken's didn't in refusing to allow obvious errors to be corrected in Republican counties. This is the Supreme Court's fault, as there is no basis in state law for this action.

As Carey correctly points out in his column, Minnesota law leaves these types of issues to election contests, which allows for an open process and court supervision. That is why I have long railed against the cries that this election has been stolen. Let the Court process play itself out, first. Aside from Franken's manuevering with the rejected absentee ballots, there hasn't been evidence of partisan interference in this recount process.