Almanac: At the Capitol

Al Franken expanded his lead over Norm Coleman as more ballots were counted and the Senate passed its education bill that cuts K-12.

View the Capitol Update for April 7, 2009.

Today we're going to delve more into a bill that would provisionally seat Al Franken in the Senate.  Rep. Kahn is the chief author.  Some key changes to law are below:

In case of a contest, an election certificate shall not be
1.11issued until a court of proper jurisdiction has finally determined the contest. a provisional
1.12certificate of election must be prepared and delivered as provided in subdivision 1 for
1.13the candidate declared elected by the county or state canvassing board. A provisional
1.14certificate of election is valid from the first day of the term of office for which the election
1.15was held until the date on which a court of proper jurisdiction has finally determined the
1.16contest. For purposes of Minnesota law, a candidate who has received a provisional
1.17certificate of election is considered duly elected and qualified to the office and must be
1.18granted all resulting rights and privileges provided by law until the date on which a court
1.19of proper jurisdiction has finally determined the contest.

3.12    Sec. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
3.13Sections 1 to 4 are effective the day following final enactment, and apply to any
3.14election contests pending on or after that date.

DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich says calling this a bill that just seats Franken does it a "disservice" because it pertains to future elections as well.  Speaker Anderson Kelliher said she'd sure like to have two senators but, "the legislature is hesitant to insert themselves into this."  Republican Tom Emmer says "it's improper and inappropriate" and clearly applies to any contests pending like the Coleman/Franken race.

We talked with Norm Coleman today about this and he said "it's not serious legislation."  Coleman and Franken did a round of media today.  Coleman has been sitting in the courtroom the past two weeks for the election contest and he thinks it's going great because they are finding ballots that have not yet been counted.  More tonight on Almanac.

Minnesota's Supreme Court justices had tough questions for Al Franken's legal team as they heard arguments in Franken's appeal to assume the state's open Senate seat pending the outcome of the election recount trial.

View the Capitol Update for February 5, 2009.

Reporters had good entertainment watching the Minnesota Supreme Court today hearing Al Franken request for an election certificate.  Judges peppered Franken's attorney with tough questions.  Marc Elias reminded reporters not to read too much into the exchanges between the judges and attorneys, but Franken's team was given a tougher time.  The press crushed in a side hallway laughed out loud when the dramatic Elias said "the fate of the federal stimulus package hinges on one vote."  Coleman's legal team said afterwards "the justices were fully engaged, it went really well."

Pawlenty ready with his budget, Coleman on move to seat Franken, Republicans propose a tax holiday, and a bipartisan coalition calls on the state to divest in Iran.

View the Capitol Update for January 22, 2009.

Cameras will be allowed for today's hearing before a 3-judge panel in the Coleman-Franken election contest.  Other surrounding states I've worked in like Wisconsin and North Dakota allow cameras in court without any prior approval.  Media have long been seeking the same access in our state.  Perhaps this could start to move Minnesota towards seeing what happens in the courts that are begging for more money in the budget cutting deficit world in which we live.  When I asked Chief Justice Eric Magnuson about getting cameras in the courtroom last week he said "we're working on it." 

Here's the statement from the high courts on cameras:

Camera access to hearings

The court has told us that cameras and audio recording will be allowed in the Coleman/Franken election case hearings starting today. For today, WCCO TV will be the video feed...AP will be the still photographer....  We expect an order from the court later today detailing this, which we will let you know about as soon as we get it.

The hearing is at 2:30 pm today in the Minnesota Justice Center, Courtroom 300, which is normally the Supreme Court courtroom.  Seating will be on a first come, first served basis. We will have overflow seating in the auditorium.

John Kostouros
Court Information Office