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MDE EXCLUSIVE: AL FRANKEN CLAIMS TO BE FRIEND OF THE WORKING MAN AND WOMAN, YET $25,000 JUDGMENT FILED AGAINST FRANKEN’S COMPANY FOR FAILURE TO CARRY WORKERS’ COMP INSURANCE
By Michael B. Brodkorb | March 4, 2008
Al Franken, who has scored an impressive series of union endorsements in his campaign for the Senate, probably didn't mention a little issue he had going on while he was still living and working and enjoying his life as a New York resident. Of course, mentioning this problem while screening with Minnesota's labor unions probably wasn't a good strategy for Team Franken.
That is, the $25,000 judgment against him for absolutely, positively refusing to pay workers compensation insurance.
According to public court documents, the State of New York Workers' Compensation Board filed a $25,000 judgment in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Alan Franken Inc, for "Failure to Carry Workers' Comp Ins 6/29/2002-03/28/2005."
Public records from the state of New York, list Al Franken as "Chairman or Chief Executive Officer" of Alan Franken Inc.
The $25,000 judgment filed against Alan Franken Inc., was filed on May 29, 2007 – over four months after Franken announced he was running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota.
Franken had time to resolve this matter before the judgement was filed, as on August 8, 2006, Alan Franken Inc was issued a "Final Notice" from the State of New York Workers' Compensation Board for "Failure to Carry Workers' Comp Ins 6/29/2002-03/28/2005." Public records indicate that no payment was made.
Franken's website claims he'll "fight to preserve the integrity of our occupational safety and prevailing wage laws." Not carrying workers' compensation insurance certainly isn't protecting or preserving labor laws.
Personal financial disclosure forms filed with the U.S. Senate on May 15, 2007, show that Franken was paid over $1 million by Alan Franken Inc., yet according to public information, Franken didn't provide workers' comp insurance.
Franken continues to play fast and loose with the truth about the New York Al Franken. The Minnesota Al Franken tries to be everyone's friend and is nice and plays by the rules.
The New York Al Franken is the one that couldn't be bothered with paying his workers' compensation insurance — supports massive state gas tax increases on Minnesotans — who undermines Minnesota's ethanol and agricultural industry — and who verbally attacks Minnesota college students.
Please check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for more information on this developing story.
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This post also appears on Blogs for Norm!, an online community and blog covering the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign in Minnesota. The primary goal of Blogs for Norm! is to organize bloggers who support U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
Tags: 2008 U.S. Senate, Al Franken, Mike Ciresi, Norm Coleman
Topics: 2008 U.S. Senate, Al Franken, Mike Ciresi, Norm Coleman | 40 Comments »
40 Responses to “MDE EXCLUSIVE: AL FRANKEN CLAIMS TO BE FRIEND OF THE WORKING MAN AND WOMAN, YET $25,000 JUDGMENT FILED AGAINST FRANKEN’S COMPANY FOR FAILURE TO CARRY WORKERS’ COMP INSURANCE”
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March 4th, 2008 at 10:25 AM
I wonder if anyone checked Norm Coleman’s old companies for judgements?
March 4th, 2008 at 10:41 AM
This is a huge story.
Some of your best work yet.
Let’s see which member of the MSM will pick this up first (and whether they will credit MDE).
Also, how will Team Franken respond?
Bombshell story on a slow news day.
Keep up the great work, MDE.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Great scoop MDE! I hope local and national media have the guts to write about this and challenge Franken.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Wow, I am going to come out of my self-imposed early retirement to commment on this story.
Great bit of research on this story, MDE. You have laid out a very compelling case of more hypocrisy from Al Franken.
I bet this damages Al with some of the DFL delegates.
MDE, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — this post clearly demonstrates why you are the creme de la creme of Minnesota bloggers.
As always, stay vigilant, MDE.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:48 AM
I wonder how Franken will explain this to his friends in big labor. Great job, Michael. Once again, you beat the MSM on one of the biggest stories of the year!
March 4th, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Nice job, MDE.
Another great scoop by you.
Let’s see how the girls at MnPubelius respond to this one.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:52 AM
MDE: you have done it again. Your skillz never cease to amaze me.
You have exposed the fact that Franken is a big, fat hypocrite.
This is a great scoop. Well done.
I tip my hat to you.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Wow! Franken is such a fraud.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Thanks for the comments. Bill O’Reilly’s website has picked up the story.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:47 AM
This would be a story if Al Franken had any employees.
But when it comes out that he was incorporated as an individual (for all the tax breaks you republicans offer such people), the idea of not paying workers comp to himself will become a lot less sexy.
Sorry to rain on the congratulatory circle jerk. I know it has been a bad couple of weeks for y’all.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Michael, when is Billo gonna fly you out, and put you on the show?
Make sure to let us know, with plenty o’ advance warning!
Gonna need some serious popcorn for that one!!!!
March 4th, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Frank Alan: Franken has said publicly that his corporation employed a few people.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:53 AM
This is so typical, and it goes to the heart of Leftist hypocrisy on this and all sorts of other issues.
If this were a Republican, the Union Bosses would be attacking viciously.
Doesn’t Franken have virtually all of the Unions locked up? Will they turn a blind eye to this? (the way leaders in the GLBT community turned a blind eye to his gay “jokes?”)
This is an amazing scoop.
This was during this campaign? And Franken was warned?
March 4th, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Frank Allen – is that what’s going to come out?
March 4th, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Frank Alan, Frank Allen, you guys are creative with names.
I think that one of the most creative names using Frank that I saw was the name of the small place was what most people would call a hot dog & beer stand. It was named “Frank & Stein.”
Frank for frankfurters, and stein for glass of beer.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:24 PM
It seems to me as if it is…
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-05-22-al-franken_N.htm
Why would one need employees to run such a “corporation”?
I see this as more sloppy MDE reporting. No wonder Bill O’Reilly picked it up.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
I was in a committee hearing when this broke. You don’t very often see or hear legislators buzzing like I what seemed to be occurring over here this morning.
I doubt the unions will leave Franken as they are too vested and have a history of caring more about what a candidate says than what he or she does (and of course what letter, R or D, is after their name).
But it sure looks like some of these DFL legislators are not pleased.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
WWWD?
Oh yeah, he didn’t like workers’ comp insurance either.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:38 PM
[...] « MDE EXCLUSIVE: AL FRANKEN CLAIMS TO BE FRIEND OF THE WORKING MAN AND WOMAN, YET $25,000 JUDGMENT FILED AGAINST FRANKEN’S COMPANY FOR FAILURE TO CARRY WORKERS’ COMP INSURANCE | Home [...]
March 4th, 2008 at 12:45 PM
EXACTLY! One would think that a party lead by a guy who almost single-handedly dismantled the Texas Workers Comp program would be downright giddy with the news that a clerical error caused Al Franken to miss a workers comp payment TO HIMSELF.
This story is getting as much buzz at the capitol as Marty Seifert’s choice in ties does on a Saturday in September.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Here come the excuses…
March 4th, 2008 at 1:45 PM
…for publishing BEFORE all the facts are in??!?
Oh, wait – you’ve never apologized for that, have you?
March 4th, 2008 at 1:47 PM
I think the facts are clearly stated in the court documents — FRANKEN WAS FINE $25,000 FOR FAILURE TO PROVIDE WORKER’S COMP INSURANCE!
I’m not sure what the confusion is on behalf of Franken’s campaigns staff that keeps posting here.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Say, gld?
In journalism, there’s the ol’ “who, what, where, when, and WHY.”
Sure, we know FRANKEN was HAD A JUDEMENT FILED in NEW YORK last YEAR.
That’s four, pal. See ‘em up there, in CAPITAL??!?
WHY is still out.
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
But, when yer throwin’ slime, slime is SUPPOSED to be sloppy….
March 4th, 2008 at 2:23 PM
WHY? Because he failed to provide worker’s comp insurance. I cannot understand why you keep over looking this rather important detail. Oh nevermind, it’s because Franken is signing your paychecks!
March 4th, 2008 at 2:32 PM
I’m not surprised you can’t wonder why the “WHY” is missing, gld.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:03 PM
[...] In an update to my earlier post, I spoke with representatives of the State of New York Workers' Compensation Board regarding the judgment filed against Alan Franken Inc. As I reported, the judgment is still open and no payment has been made. Staffers at the board told me that according to public records, Alan Franken Inc., had at one time up to 17 employees and that a workers' compensation policy had "run out." [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
[...] In an update to my earlier post, I spoke with representatives of the State of New York Workers' Compensation Board regarding the judgment filed against Alan Franken Inc. As I reported, the judgment is still open and no payment has been made. Staffers at the board told me that according to public records, Alan Franken Inc., had at one time up to 17 employees and that an existing workers' compensation policy had "run out." [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
[...] And, on this point, I can only guess that the dedicated reader of MinnesotaDemocratsExposed didn’t inform Mike that last night he posted a comment about Al Franken’s legal troubles, twice. The exact same comment on two separate threads. Had I noticed this last night or this morning I would have deleted one of the comments at least; as we do not allow posting the same comment on more that one page– because that’s spam too. Had I looked a little closer, I would have probably deleted both comments as both quote Michael’s first post about this situation, without a link, without attribution. According to my source, the comments were quickly erased by the bloggers behind MN Publius. [...]
March 7th, 2008 at 10:06 AM
[...] UPDATE: I should have included this link to Minnesota Democrats Exposed, my NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb’s site. He does yeoman work here in Minnesota and first reported on the story. Be sure to check out the entire post. [...]
March 8th, 2008 at 12:17 AM
[...] I'll be on the radio today for a two-hour program from 3-5 p.m. with King Banaian of SCSU Scholars on AM 1280 The Patriot. King and I will be discussing Al Franken's legal troubles and we'll be getting live-reports from the Republican conventions being held across Minnesota. If you're attending a convention tomorrow, please call in and give us an update. [...]
March 8th, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Michael:
Have you visited the New York Workers Comp website yet?
Wolf Wolf
That’ll do Sheeple, that’ll do
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 PM
[...] when I said that thanks to Minnesota Democrats Exposed, the state of New York has an additional $25,832.67 in the state treasury. I added that depending on how Franken’s business troubles in California turn out, he could [...]
May 9th, 2008 at 6:28 PM
[...] the story broke that on Minnesota Democrats Exposed that Al Franken hadn’t paid his workers compensation premiums for three years, Team Franken [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 3:46 PM
[...] after the story broke about Al Franken’s failure to provide workers’ compensation insurance in the state of [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 12:25 AM
[...] I wrote earlier today, two-months after the story broke about Al Franken’s failure to provide workers’ compensation insurance in the state of New York, [...]
May 27th, 2008 at 9:29 AM
[...] than a month after the story broke on Minnesota Democrats Exposed that Al Franken not only failed to provide worker’s compensation [...]
June 14th, 2008 at 9:08 AM
[...] 3-5 p.m. with King Banaian of SCSU Scholars on AM 1280 The Patriot. King and I will be discussing Al Franken’s legal troubles and we’ll be getting live-reports from the Republican conventions being held across [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 1:36 AM
[...] I’m receiving this award in large part because of the stories I broke about Al Franken’s failure to pay for workers’ compensation insurance for his corporation employees and his failure to pay taxes in 18 states (specifically, his business [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 11:04 PM
[...] after the story broke on Minnesota Democrats Exposed that Al Franken not only failed to provide worker’s compensation [...]