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MDE EXCLUSIVE: AL FRANKEN’S ATTORNEY & DELAWARE LAWSUIT – SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION?

By Michael B. Brodkorb | November 2, 2008

After more than a week of unmitigated, malicious attacks against U.S. Senator Norm Coleman and his wife, is it possible that there’s more than meets the eye about the ongoing attacks by Team Franken and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee?

Al Franken has repeatedly denied ANY connection to those involved with the last minute, lawsuits that some say were filed as a way to destroy Coleman’s re-election campaign and the reputation of his wife.

“At a hastily arranged news conference, Franken said his campaign didn’t know about the lawsuit and the underlying allegations until Star Tribune reporters publicly tried to question Coleman about it on Wednesday. ‘We had nothing to do with this,’ Franken said. ‘I’m being blamed for crossing the line. I didn’t do a thing and our campaign didn’t do a thing.’”   Source:  Associated Press, November 2, 2008

On Saturday afternoon, Franken went so far as to call Norm Coleman a liar for suggesting the failed comedian had a role in these vile attacks.

“Franken immediately called a press conference to denounce and deny the allegation. ‘In this ad Sen. Norm Coleman looks the people of Minnesota in the eye and lies by blaming me for something that I had absolutely nothing to do with,’ he said at DFL headquarters this afternoon. ‘For Norm Coleman to try and deflect attention from this incredibly serious matter by attacking me with false claims is simply insulting to voters who have a right to know the facts before the election.’”    Source: Minnesota Independent, November 1, 2008

I did some research over the last 48 hours and have learned that Al Franken’s one-time attorney, Floyd Abrams, has a mentor/protégé relationship to the attorney involved in a lawsuit that was filed late Friday in Delaware.

“Floyd Abrams, who represented [Al] Franken and Penguin in the case, said the withdrawal of the suit was ‘welcome, if overdue.’ ‘Fox’s lack of grace in ending its suit is of the same nature as its name-calling and silly efforts to deal with criticism of it in the first place,’ Abrams said. The lawsuit itself, filed earlier this month, described Franken as a ‘C-level political commentator’ who ‘appears to be shrill and unstable.’”    Source: Associated Press, August 26, 2003

“Anthony Paduano, a New York lawyer involved in the new lawsuit, said the suit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court by business partners who own more than 5 percent of stock in Deep Marine. The lawsuit is very similar to one filed earlier in the week in Houston by McKim. Both actions allege that Kazeminy told executives at Deep Marine that he wanted to provide financial assistance to the Colemans through an insurance consulting arrangement between Deep Marine and Hays Companies. But the second suit cites a ‘confidential source.’ The lawsuit alleges ‘gross misuse’ of corporate funds at Deep Marine by Kazeminy, who controls a majority share of stock.” Source: CBS/Politico, November 1, 2008

For more than five years, Abrams and Paduano were not just coworkers at Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, they have a deep history of working together on legal matters.

Abrams Joined Cahill, Gordon & Reindel In 1963. “A New York native and Yale Law grad, [Floyd] Abrams joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel in 1963, making partner seven years later.”   (“Floyd Abrams,” CityFile New York, http://cityfile.com/profiles/floyd-abrams

2008: Abrams On Cahill’s Executive Committee. “Floyd Abrams is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and its litigation practice group.”    (“Floyd Abrams,” http://www.cahill.com/attorneys/data/201)

Paduano Joined Cahill, Gordon & Reindel In 1983. “Ruth Porat and Anthony Paduano were married yesterday at the Hotel Pierre by Rabbi Bruce Goldman and the Rev. Louis Gioia, a Roman Catholic priest.  … Mr. Paduano, son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Paduano of Neptune, N.J., graduated cum laude from Georgetown University. He expects to graduate next month from the Rutgers University Law School and to join the Manhattan law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel. His father is Chief of Police in Neptune.”  Source: NY Times, December 18, 1983

And Still At Cahill In 1988. “Johnson’s case got to the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, which usually handles civil cases, through the informal networking system of death penalty lawyers seeking volunteer attorneys for inmates who have no representation. … In the Johnson case, Clive Stafford Smith of the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee in Atlanta was told about him by a local defense lawyer in Mississippi who knew he needed an attorney. Smith then contacted Anthony Paduano, an associate at the Cahill firm, whom he knew through friends. ‘He kept after me to take a case and one night he called me at 4 in the morning and I finally agreed,’ said Paduano. He said Smith described two cases and he chose Johnson’s because he was from New York. The firm is also handling another death penalty case, as well as offering volunteer legal services in New York City. ‘I think it is very important that law firms get involved and represent people who otherwise wouldn’t be represented,’ said Floyd Abrams, a senior partner at Cahill Gordon who presented Johnson’s case to the Supreme Court.”    Source: Newsday, May 5, 1988

In a span of just two years, these two attorneys worked as a team on at least two cases tried before the Supreme Court of the United States on critical issues that would have undoubtedly would have forged a strong and personal relationship.

Given that the cases were death penalty cases—it’s hardly the kind of situation where the two attorneys would have just casually bumped into one another on the street.

“Floyd Abrams argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Laurence T. Sorkin, Marshall Cox, Anthony Paduano, and Clive A. Stafford Smith.” Source: U.S. Supreme Court JOHNSON v. MISSISSIPPI, 486 U.S. 578 (1988) 486 U.S. 578

“Floyd Abrams argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Anthony Paduano and Clive A. Stafford Smith.” Source: U.S. Supreme Court, MINNICK v. MISSISSIPPI, 498 U.S. 146 (1990), 498 U.S. 146

Additionally, Abrams and Paduano filed an Amicus Curie brief in the 1991 case of James Wilson, Jr. v. State of Mississippi.

“FOR AMICUS CURIAE – William L. Denton, DENTON & TYLER, Biloxi, Mississippi; Lewis H. Burke, Vicksburg, Mississippi; Floyd Abrams, CAHILL GORDON & REINDEL, New York, NY; Laurence T. Sorkin, CAHILL GORDON FIRM, New York, NY; Anthony Paduano, CAHILL GORDON FIRM, New York, NY; John Holdridge, CAHILL GORDON FIRM, New York, NY; Luther T. Munford, PHELPS DUNBAR MARKS CLAVERIE & SIMS, Jackson, Mississippi.”    (James Wilson, Jr. v. State of Mississippi, Docket No. 89-KA-0301, Supreme Court of Mississippi, February 6, 1991

For the record, I am not alleging that Mr. Franken convinced Mr. Abrams to have Mr. Paduano to file the Delaware suit.

Rather, I am pointing out what seems to be a very, very curious connection between two attorneys and Al Franken.

Another interesting link: Floyd Abrams represented New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the controversial Valarie Plame leak investigation in 2007.  Miller’s co-defendant in the case was Newsweek’s Matthew Cooper, the husband of Franken’s media consultant and advertising guru Mandy Grundwald.

Please check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for more information on this developing story.

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