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LIVE-BLOGGING MN GOP PRESS CONFERENCE ON AL FRANKEN’S FUNDRAISING
By Michael Brodkorb | September 18, 2007
9:20 a.m.: The press event is over…I'll have more throughout the day on Minnesota Democrats Exposed.
9:14 a.m.: Franken's event section of his website doesn't list today's fundraising event at the home of tobacco heir Smith Bagley.
9:05 a.m.: The sub-headline of release reads "Populist Franken Bashes 'Big Tobacco', While Jet Setter Franken Sneaks Off To DC For Swank Fundraiser At Manison Of Reynolds Tobacco Heir Smith Bagley"
9:03 a.m.: J.D. from Franken's campaign is at this press conference recording the event.
9:00 a.m.: The press conference is about Franken's "big hypocrisy". Franken has railed against "big tobacco", but today he is raising money at the home of Smith Bagley, an tobacco heir to R.J. Reynolds.
8:58 a.m.: I'm in room 125 of the state capitol to live-blog the Republican Party of Minnesota's press conference on Al Franken's fundraising.
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20 Responses to “LIVE-BLOGGING MN GOP PRESS CONFERENCE ON AL FRANKEN’S FUNDRAISING”
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September 18th, 2007 at 9:23 AM
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…
Wasn’t Ciresi Minnesota’s lawyer in the Tobacco Lawsuit?
Franken is headed up shit-creek without a paddle…
I can’t decided if I want him to fail in his bid for the nomination, or if I actually want to see a Franken v Coleman race…
September 18th, 2007 at 9:30 AM
This really takes the cake. The MN GOP is getting pretty loose with linear time here.
Let me get this straight:
Smith Bagley’s grandfather, RJ Reynolds starts his tobacco company in 1888.
More than a century later, that makes Franken a hypocrite?
Bagley is also known as President of the Arca Foundation – they dole out money to environmental and economic progressive groups.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:32 AM
Mike-
Did you ask any of the following questions:
Has Smith Bagley ever worked for the RJ Reynolds company?
What are his current holdings in RJ Reynolds?
Did Smith Bagley ever go on the record re: MN’s lawsuit against Reynolds and other tobacco companies?
September 18th, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Noah, did you illegally hack into someone’s computer to get that information about Smith Bagley or did you come up with that yourself?
Also, it’s good to see you back in the blogging world after your whirlwind media schedule and shameless self promotion following the bridge collapse.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:45 AM
Noah,
Grandfather or not, Smith Bagleys big $$ came from big tobacco. That or I missed the press release of him returning his inheritance. Besides Noah, aren’t you supposed to be busy illegally breaking into opposition websites and computers…again? Or does that not start till after the 1st of the year?
Peace Out,
D-Gaith
PS Me for congress.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:46 AM
Noah:
Bottom line: Al Franken has railed against “Big Tobacco” yet today he is having a fundraiser at the home of a tobacco heir. That’s “big tobacco”.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:52 AM
BTW Noah, what really takes the cake is Al Franken railing against “big tobacco”, but then deciding to have a fundraiser at the home of a tobacco heir. That’s “big tobaccoâ€.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:58 AM
@gld, DGaith
It’s called Google. It does all sorts of things! It even lets you view public websites! Which is why I’m not in jail or fined. Cause that’s all that went down.
In terms of “whirlwind media schedule and shameless self promotion” – I guess it’s pretty comfortable from that chair, posting comments like that anonymously. Have the guts to self-identify if you’re going have a go at somebody like that.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Noah:
Smith Bagley did work for R.J. Reynolds and according to press reports, owned a large amount of R.J. Reynolds stock.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Wait, what? All that went down was that you went to Google and didn’t hack into the website — Google did that for you? That doesn’t make sense, but I’m not surprised.
Hey, I just heard an ambulance go by my house. You should quick head over there so you can update your Flickr page and book some media interviews.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Noah-
If Coleman took money from a family member who was heir to early American slave traders, would that be okay?
If Coleman took money from the heir of anti-union employers, would that be okay?
Let’s keep the standard consistent….
September 18th, 2007 at 11:08 AM
Noah, I will say you are a smameless self promting whore looking for folks to exploit.
Yes, easy to say from my chair, but just as easy to say right to your face point blank tough guy.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:56 AM
I posted the press release from the Republican Party of Minnesota.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:30 PM
[...] A panicked-sounding Noah Kunin left a series of comments on my blog about the Republican Party of Minnesota's press conference which exposed that Al Franken is raising money at the home of a tobacco heir today, while campaign against "big tobacco". [...]
September 18th, 2007 at 1:49 PM
[...] A panicked-sounding Noah Kunin left a series of comments on my blog about the Republican Party of Minnesota's press conference which exposed that Al Franken is raising money at the home of a tobacco heir today, while campaign against "big tobacco". [...]
September 18th, 2007 at 8:07 PM
I think the main issue is not the hypocrisy of the big tobacco stuff, which certainly is warranted but I think is easily waved off by most.
I think it is the fact that he is going to DC to raise money. The fact that he claims to be running a grassroots campaign when it is no better than Coleman’s when it comes to actually being about people instead of money. Franken is really just pissing on Wellstone’s grave.
I dont think this is really a post for why people shouldnt vote for Franken, this is really a great update on why DFL’ers could in good conscious support this phony.
September 19th, 2007 at 1:07 AM
Don’t you people know how FRANKEN got all those “local” donations ? He passed out 5 Dollar bills and asked those people to give him 1 dollar
back ! The hypocritical fraud then goes to Smith Bagley’s house to collect more tainted TOBACCO INVESTED CASH ! NOAH ! “Liberal LIES and the LYING
Liberals that tell THEM !” … NOAH !
September 20th, 2007 at 1:25 AM
Sounds like people are making up stories again. The reality of campaigns is that millions needs to be raised. Who has the money? Lawyers, CEOs and wealthy business owners. Until we get rid of the ridiculous notion that money is speech, we’ll be stuck in this system. Kline had a cakewalk in Minnesota CD2 in 2006 because Rowley tried to run a clean campaign. That type of campaign won’t work until we change our system.
By the way, the line about getting money from the descendants of slave owners was right on. If you are going to attack Franken for getting money from big tobacco, than how about Coleman from any southern heir of slave owners? That is totally on par and a legitimate argument. Take that one to the bank.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:16 AM
No one thinks “money is speech.”
Likewise, however, no one expects television stations to give away the use of the equipment they purchased for their own use. No one expects newspapers to print extra pages for other people merely because those other people want to tell lots and lots of even more other people why the other people should like the first “other people.” (Whew.)
Proving once again that a liberal’s definition of “property rights” is “I want it, therefore . . .”
October 24th, 2007 at 3:37 PM
[...] Political parties and campaigns often employ "trackers" or people specifically hired to attend and record the opposition's press events. I've seen people from Team Franken (J.D.) and the DFL attend press conferences held by the Republican Party of Minnesota about Al Franken. [...]