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COLEMAN FOR U.S. SENATE PRESS RELEASE: “FRANKEN BENEFITS PERSONALLY & POLITICALLY FROM WALL STREET CONNECTIONS; TURNS ECONOMIC CRISIS INTO ANOTHER HYPOCRITICAL & FALSE PARTISAN ATTACK AGAINST COLEMAN”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | October 1, 2008
ST. PAUL – With over $6 million coming from the Wall Street infused coffers of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and after lining his own pockets with an estimated $1.5 to $2.25 million from speeches to Wall Street interests and other financial services industries, Angry Al Franken unleashed a brazenly hypocritical and false attack in an effort to exploit the nation’s current economic crisis.
“Angry Al Franken has now morphed into Angry Hypocrite Al Franken — and his new TV ad conclusively demonstrates he will exploit the misery of others for his own political gain,†said Cullen Sheehan, campaign manager for the Coleman for Senate campaign. “While thousands of Minnesotans are suffering hits to their pensions and retirements, loss of their homes, and are anxious about their economic future, Angry Hypocrite Al Franken’s staggering level of deception is all the more outrageous because he has personally profited from his deep Wall Street connections.â€
As Democrats and Republicans work across party lines to address the growing fiscal crisis that threatens middle class American pensions, jobs, retirements and economic security, Franken’s new attack underscores his inability to put partisanship aside for the greater good of the nation. While Franken’s ad falsely claims that Coleman is the leading Senate recipient of “Wall Street and Financial interests†money, he pointedly ignores that according to OpenSecrets.org, among all Senate candidates, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd have actually received the most money from these organizations for a combined total of nearly $27 million.
According to OpenSecrets.org, Franken himself received over $530,000 from the same “Wall Street and Financial interests†that Coleman has received donations from and Franken now hypocritically attacks.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has received $15 million in the 2008 cycle from the same “Wall Street and Financial interests,†according to OpenSecrets.org. The DSCC is pouring over $6 million into its efforts in Minnesota to beat Senator Norm Coleman.
“Angry Hypocrite Al Franken and his DSCC sponsors – awash in Wall Street cash — know his flailing, flawed candidacy cannot stay afloat on its own merit,†Sheehan continued. “With over $6 million from the DSCC, and having lined his own pocket with an estimated $2 million in speaking fees from Wall Street groups like Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs, Franken has elevated the art of hypocrisy to a level unseen before in Minnesota politics.â€
New Franken Attack Ad Attacks Coleman Over Wall Street Contributions
“I’m Al Franken and I approve this message. Wall Street in turmoil. The economy devastated. Taxpayers left to pay the bill. Who was looking out for us? Not Norm Coleman. He’s taken two million dollars from Wall Street and financial interests. More than any other senate candidate in the country.†(Al Franken For Senate Ad, http://www.alfranken.com/content/video_detail/?id=72)
By Giving 30 Speeches At $50,000-$75,000 A Speech, Franken Would Have Pocketed Between $1.5 To $2.25 Million.
Franken Commanded $50,000-$75,000 Per Speech. (Speakers Platform Speakers Bureau Website, http://www.speaking.com/speakerpages/speakerpages,f/alfrankenclients.html,Accessed September 30, 2008)
Groups Franken Spoke To:
Financial Services:
American Express One, twice
Bank of America
Banc of America Securities
Bear Stearns & Co., twice
Capital Z Financial Service
Credit Suisse First Boston (New York and Hong Kong)
Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette, twice
GE Capital Merchant Banking
Goldman Sachs
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Merrill Lynch and Co., twice
Putnam Investments
Robertson Stephens/Investment Banking Firm
Salomon Smith Barney
Sanford Bernstein, Investment Management and Research Firm
Wachovia Bank
Warburg Pincus
Corporate:
Deloitte and Touche
First America Corporation
ING Realty
Price Waterhouse Coopers
Trade Association:
Commercial Finance Association
Financial Service Centers of America
Florida State Bankers Association
Security Traders Association/ National Check Cashers Association
(Speakers Platform Speakers Bureau Website, http://www.speaking.com/speakerpages/speakerpages,f/alfrankenclients.html,Accessed September 30, 2008)
June 1997: Franken Performs At Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Conference In Palm Beach. “Al Franken knows REITs. At least, the best-selling author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot and former Saturday Night Live star knows enough about real estate investment trusts to make fun of them at a posh banquet in Palm Beach during a REIT road show. The comedian loves REITs, he tells the crowd, regurgitating a couple of phrases about the industry he’s obviously quickly gleaned from his hosts. In fact, Franken apologizes tongue-in-cheek to the several hundred REIT executives and their spouses at the NatWest Securities event that he won’t be able to make the next day’s sessions. He’ll be in Hollywood having lunch with actress Sharon Stone. But maybe a teleconference can be arranged. The steamy star of Basic Instinct, Franken swears in his best deadpan delivery, is just in love with the industry. The fancy Palm Beach dinner, the presence of high-priced talent like Al Franken, an ice sculpture with the NatWest logo gently melting in the lobby — all are signs of good times for this booming niche of the commercial mortgage business. More than 75 public REITs made presentations at the NatWest meeting, trying to tempt high-profile institutional money into their stocks. It must be working. The year before, an even 100 companies presented at the road show.†(Mark Fogarty, ‘The REITs are All Right’ US Banker, June 1997 National Edition)
Al Franken
Sector Total
Finance/Insur/RealEst                       $ 531,345
(Source: OpenSecrets.Org)
Hillary Clinton
Sector Total
Finance/Insur/RealEst                       $21,571,625
(Source: OpenSecrets.Org)
Chris Dodd
Sector Total
Finance/Insur/RealEst                       $5,999,668
(Source: OpenSecrets.Org)
DSCC Raises $15 Million From Wall Street & Financial Interests:
Industry Total
Securities & Investment         $12,093,861
Commercial Banks                 $1,149,054
Misc Finance                          $2,271,999
Grand Total                           $15,514,914
(Source: OpenSecrets.Org)
DSCC To Spend Over $6 Million On MN Senate Race.
According to public filings viewed by Coleman for Senate, the DSCC has reserved over $6 million television advertisements for the Minnesota Senate race.
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17 Responses to “COLEMAN FOR U.S. SENATE PRESS RELEASE: “FRANKEN BENEFITS PERSONALLY & POLITICALLY FROM WALL STREET CONNECTIONS; TURNS ECONOMIC CRISIS INTO ANOTHER HYPOCRITICAL & FALSE PARTISAN ATTACK AGAINST COLEMAN””
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October 1st, 2008 at 12:10 PM
It’s good to know Coleman is working across party lines to fix the sh*tstorm Bush, with Coleman’s approval, created.
Whew.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Plymouth Dem,
I think you need to do your homework, the storm that you reference is not the handy work of Bush and Coleman. Go back to Clinton and the dems in congress encouraging Fannie and Freddie to make risky loans, inflate the price of homes, and now have people walking away from mortgages that they should not have been in the first place. A lack of accountability from dems on the Hill, Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie, and consumer greed got us here. Funny how the Bush White House warned congress of this mess and the dems ignored his message. Funny how Obama has execs from Freddie and Fannie advising him. And it is not funny that a horrible comedian thinks he could represent Minnesotans in Washington and try to fix this broken card house. Plymouth dem, you and Angry Al can stay home and watch old episodes of SNL together – while Minnesota sends Norm back to DC to help fix this mess that dems got us into years ago….
October 1st, 2008 at 1:10 PM
“Go back to Clinton and the dems in congress encouraging Fannie and Freddie to make risky loans, inflate the price of homes, and now have people walking away from mortgages that they should not have been in the first place”
Yeah, blame the president that actually increased jobs, eliminated the deficit, and was in control during economic prosperity. At least if you’re going to try this, get your facts straight. Freddie and Fanny weren’t out giving loans. Nor did Freddie and Fannie inflate the prices of homes or force people to walk away from their mortgage. That would be the thing you Republicans love, the free market, that managed that one.
“A lack of accountability from dems on the Hill, Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie”
What party (and presidential candidate) again championed deregulation? Oh, yeah, that’d be Republicans. Is your memory so bad that you can’t even remember the head of your party chatting up deregulation just a few months ago?
“Funny how Obama has execs from Freddie and Fannie advising him.”
As opposed to being their campaign manager?
October 1st, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Someone should ask the makers of Captain Morgan Run where they got the idea to hire Angry Al?
October 1st, 2008 at 2:22 PM
http://archive.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/02/25/npmon/index.html
Polite chuckles turned into all-out guffaws when Al Franken took the mike.
Declaring himself “Captain Morgan’s spokesman,” Franken pulled out his notes. “Captain Morgan is not an alcoholic,” he said. “He has spent some time at Betty Ford, but that was for Percocet, which he became addicted to after a back injury — twice.” And while Captain Morgan does have a few DWIs, Franken assured, “he has a driver on the campaign.”
Funny stuff, but the Captain Morgan people were apparently not amused. In the middle of Franken’s hilarious — but decidedly non-PC — riff on campus binge-drinking, the band abruptly struck up “Hail to the Chief,” halting the routine and driving a confused Franken from the stage.
Franken tells me he was “a little” surprised when the band cut him off because he hadn’t gone over his 15-minute time limit and “was almost done.”
“I think they were a little nervous about the content,” Franken says. “They told me after I got off that they’re very serious about responsible drinking and they felt that my bringing up irresponsible drinking maybe could be misinterpreted by people.”
Which is why, no doubt, they sent a guy in a pirate outfit up onstage to declare, “What America needs is a good party.”
Drink up!
October 1st, 2008 at 2:57 PM
Plymouth Dem,
Don’t you know that the proper response to posts like Danny Boy’s is to call him a racist?
Really, I wish you’d get with the program.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:22 PM
“Yeah, blame the president that actually increased jobs, eliminated the deficit, and was in control during economic prosperity.”
Yeah, he sure did. Clinton did a good job of enacting Republican policies.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Too much PIT BULL and not enough LIPSTICK?
October 1st, 2008 at 3:37 PM
Former Democratic Congresswoman Now Green Party Canidate Cynthia McKinney is at it again. Spreading the vilest of lies and conspiracy rumors. She is claiming 5000 people were executed by the government following Huricaine Katrina.
Lefty Blogger Alex Jones is promoting her on his site. Read the comments. Wow.
http://www.infowars.com/?p=4972&cp=all#comments
Sorry about threadjacking Michael.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:47 PM
P Dem, the deregulation here was the lowering of the bar to get people into homes. Not necessarilly a bad thing but it is clear that the bar was set to low.
Lower credit rankings, no income verification, and people with recent bankruptcies, could qualify for mortgages with little or nothing down. Some people even walked out of the closing with more cash in hand than they had before.
Is it any wonder that when you lower requirements to qualify that you have more failures?
October 1st, 2008 at 4:03 PM
“Freddie and Fanny weren’t out giving loans.”
Very true. They weren’t. But they were borrowing money from government at below market rates and using the money to securitize the extremely risky mortgages Democrats were forcing banks to make, then then were selling those securities into the free market.
Democrats are entirely behind the corruption at Fannie and Freddie. And Democrats are behind the poison pill Fannie and Freddie shoved down throats of the financial sector.
Democrats and Democrat policies are ENTIRELY to blame for this mess. Nobody else. Just Democrats. Dumb fucking Democrats and their dumb fucking socialism.
“Nor did Freddie and Fannie inflate the prices of homes or force people to walk away from their mortgage.”
By eliminating risk, Fannie and Freddie flooded the market with unqualified buyers. There wasn’t enough supply, so prices sky-rocketed.
These unqualified buyers that Democrats created cut higher loans than they could afford to pay for, then took 5 year ARMs out. When interest rates rose, these unqualified buyers who had taken out irresponsible loans that were given to them by the banks who had Democrats guns to their heads, walked away.
That’s what Democrats do. They shit on the nest, then walk away.
The free market had nothing to do with this mess. It is entirely the fault of Democrat policies. Period.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:05 PM
According to public filings viewed by Coleman for Senate, the DSCC has reserved over $6 million television advertisements for the Minnesota Senate race
Amazing, isn’t it? 6 years ago, GOPers were talking about being in Permanent Majority Status; now they’re heading for Permanent Minority Status.
Can anyone really believe that republiCons have (cheney)ed it up so bad, that Al Franken is very likely to win?
republiCons should be ashamed and genuflecting what went wrong; instead, they’re more obnoxious than ever – and are hell-bent to drive all the non-believers from the Small Tent Party.
October 1st, 2008 at 6:49 PM
Chestnut wrote:
“Democrats and Democrat policies are ENTIRELY to blame for this mess. Nobody else. Just Democrats. Dumb fucking Democrats and their dumb fucking socialism. …. “The free market had nothing to do with this mess. It is entirely the fault of Democrat policies. Period.”
Really, it was ALL the fault of Democrats?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2004-01-20-fha_x.htm
From USATODAY 1/20/2004
In a bid to boost minority homeownership, President Bush will ask Congress for authority to eliminate the down-payment requirement for Federal Housing Administration loans.
“the plan would eliminate the single largest impediment to homeownership for millions of households — lack of money for a down payment.”
“The most recent government figures show a national home ownership rate of 68.4%, the highest ever. But less than half of black and Latino householders own the home in which they live. Bush has a goal of 5.5 million new minority homeowners this decade.
FHA loans carry higher risks of delinquency and foreclosure than do private mortgages, and the proposed change presumably will lead to greater losses to the government than the current program does.”
“Mortgage analyst Keith Gumbinger of financial publishers HSH Associates says the Bush plan “would fill at least a small niche in the mortgage market” — first-time buyers with somewhat impaired credit.”
I guess you are right, It was just Democrats that were responsible for the high rate of home ownership, and it was just Democrats that wanted to see more new minority homeowners.
I’m not claiming the Democrats are blameless here, they are not. But the party that has controlled the Whitehouse for the last 8 years, and Congress for 6 of the 8 years isn’t blame-free either.
Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership
October 1st, 2008 at 6:57 PM
Surly, while I was out tyring to make an honest living and pay the bills, I see that you retreated to the race card…..classy
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 AM
Yes BarbaraK, George Bush has been a solid Democrat as president.
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:52 AM
Coleman votes with the Democrats once again, he is who he is.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:28 PM
Mike, that’s what really pisses the republiCons off; knowing that ol’ Smokescreen really isn’t one of them – Norm’s a RINO.
And they know, deep down, that it doesn’t matter if Norm wins, or Al wins – a democrat is going to be elected.
If it turns out that the democratic party has 59 seats in the senate, and Bushy McSame actually does the impossible and wins, does anyone seriously doubt ol’ Smokescreen would change parties to give the democrats 60 seats in return for a committee chair?
Does anyone really put it past him?