Al Franken (D)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Legal Newsline)-Even though the Minnesota Supreme Court is still considering a request by Al Franken to force state election officials to provide him an election certificate, the Democrat's staff has begun publicly calling him the state's senator-elect.
In a press release Monday, the Franken camp said the "Sen-elect Franken" would be holding a roundtable discussion with local officials on the recently-passed $787 billion economic stimulus package.
In the same statement, the Democratic mayor of St. Paul also refers to Franken as the state's soon-to-be new senator.
"Right now, Washington is debating matters of enormous consequence to Minnesota's economy," Mayor Chris Coleman said. "Senator-elect Franken understands what our cities need to prosper and we're ready for him to go to Washington to be a voice for us."
In the last recount, Franken had a 225 vote lead over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.
If Franken is seated in the Senate, it would increase the number of seats controlled by Democrats in the chamber to 59, just one shy of the 60 required to force a vote on legislation amid objections by Republicans.
Franken wrote for and starred on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" comedy program from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1995. More recently, he hosted a radio show on liberal Air America Radio.
On Jan. 5, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the comedian-turned-politician in a separate matter, rejecting a Coleman request to include an additional 650 absentee ballots in the now-completed recount.
From Legal Newsline: Reach staff reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.