Senator Norm Coleman Sues Democratic Opponent Al Franken For Defamation

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Thu Oct-30-08 03:09 PM
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Senator Norm Coleman Sues Democratic Opponent Al Franken For Defamation

Sen. Norm Coleman announced on Thursday that he was filing a lawsuit against his Democratic opponent Al Franken and the Franken campaign over what he deemed defamation of character.

If the move seems dramatic, it shouldn't. This is now the fourth time that the Minnesota Republican has filed a suit late in the course of his runs for office.

During the gubernatorial race in 1998, Coleman filed and later dropped a complaint against his Democratic rival Hubert Humphrey III over an issue of unfair campaign practices. In 2002, the state's Republican party (operating, ostensibly, on Coleman's behalf), filed a complaint against then Senator Paul Wellstone, accusing him of inciting "union thugs" to rough up a GOP cameraman. And, again in 2002, the Coleman campaign filed a separate suit against Wellstone for distorting his stance on social security.

Aides to Coleman, speaking Thursday morning at a hastily organized press conference, seemed far more interested in generating political theatrics than they did in explaining a serious legal quibble.

For starters, their complaint was directed at an advertisement that the Franken campaign aired that claimed Coleman was a stooge of oil interests. The spot was standard fare for politics. Indeed, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has done far worse, accusing Franken of writing pornography, laughing at the disabled, humiliating minorities and demeaning women. And even Coleman's Communications Director Mark Drake acknowledged that the Franken spot was based on "half-truths" (so some of it was accurate?). Only later did he say of the suit:

"It is not a tactic. Sen. Coleman is being falsely attacked. These are flat out falsehoods, this goes beyond the typical tit-for-tat that you see in a campaign... We just want Minnesotans to know, take a look at it. There is one campaign waging a positive campaign...and you have one candidate who will clearly say anything to get elected."

Moreover, the Coleman campaign spent much of the press conference spouting off criticisms of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The non-partisan organization has labeled the Minnesota Senator one of the most corrupt members of the Senate for, among other things, receiving a highly discounted apartment from a major GOP donor and allegedly receiving free suits from another Republican hand.

"CREW is a liberal front group," said Drake. "They do have a few Republicans but overwhelmingly, look at the record, since this was created this is a liberal front group... it is overwhelmingly biased against Republican candidates. The complaints they do against Democrats are window dressing."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/30/norm-coleman-sues-al-fran_n_139287.html