Franken's case to rest Wednesday

[brooklynite]

Source: Star-Tribune

Lawyers for Democrat Al Franken said they will rest their case provisionally on Wednesday.

Attorney Marc Elias told reporters that the Franken team believes it has called enough witnesses and submitted enough documents to prove the validity of the rejected absentee ballots they hope to count.

...snip...

Republican Norm Coleman, trailing by 225 votes after recount results were certified in early January, is challenging the election in the case being conducted in St. Paul. Coleman's legal team rested its case last week, and is expected to present rebuttal evidence once Franken's case is complete.

Franken has asked the three judge panel hearing the case to dismiss the proceedings, arguing that Coleman has not presented sufficient evidence to undermine Franken's lead. The judges have not said when they will rule.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/41032642.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsl

---

Perhaps by the time the Court hands down its (pro-Franken) ruling, Coleman will realize that American Idol is on, and will call for everyone to revote by phone...

[Beetwasher]

1. So What Happens When Franken Wins But Coleman Keeps Filing Appeals?

And what's to stop Coleman from keeping this tied up in court by filing appeals for 6 years? Anyone know?

[Cleita]

2. Somewhere along the line the SOS has to certify him once the legal

criteria is met, whatever that is. Then the Senate will seat him. Coleman can go on forever filing appeals but Franken will be Senator Franken.

[dmallind]

3. Unfortunately MN law says certification is dependent

on there being no unresolved legal challenges. As long as courts are willing to accept the case and grant Coleman standing the appeals will hold up the certification.

The legislature could perhaps change the law (although retroactively could be tough), but Pawlenty would never sign it obviously.

[aquart]

10. You weren't paying attention to their most recent ruling.

[bluestateguy]

4. This whole ordeal has tuned me into the biggest supporter of tort reform

and ending junk lawsuits.

[No Elephants]

6. What does tort reform have to do with Coleman's lawsuits? Or are you just in agreement with

he Rethug view of lawyers? (Lawyers for those who have been injured, that is. They sure surround themselves with a lot of lawyers.)

[backscatter712]

5. When the court ruled they wouldn't order Franken to be seated last week...

They did drop some hints.

They said that while the legal challenges were unresolved, they wouldn't seat.

I'm trying to remember the exact language used, but people on our side were high-fiving because they hinted that once the court had ruled that Franken won the election, and Coleman's challenge was shot down, the courts would then be open to ordering that Franken be certified and seated.

I'm not sure if that means that Franken would just have to wait for the current court case to be ruled on (in a few weeks), or until it finishes being appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. I'm fairly sure that if Coleman tries to appeal to federal court, that the court ruling on whether Franken would be seated would seat him and tell Coleman to conduct his challenges while Franken is serving as Senator.

It's getting closer.

[No Elephants]

7. If the MInnesota Supreme Court rules against him, Coleman will probably try for the

SCOTUS. Even though all the issues would seem to be state law issues, Coleman's side has been spouting off about "equal protection."

[primavera]

17. That's what worries me

If Coleman can get the case before SCOTUS, they'll show the same impartial judgment they showed in Bush v. Gore and appoint Coleman Senator regardless of the will of the voters.

[struggle4progress]

8. End near? Franken to rest in Minn. Senate case (AP)

By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Tuesday, March 10, 2009

... A lawyer representing individual voters who are trying to get their rejected absentee ballots counted has the right to present evidence. And Republican Norm Coleman, who brought the election challenge, can put on witnesses to rebut Franken's case.

"We're not there yet because there are still those steps left," said Franken lawyer Marc Elias. "But we're ending what has been a very long post-election process."

Coleman lawyer Ben Ginsberg said the Coleman rebuttal case won't be "terribly lengthy." So barring unforeseen delays, the three judges could be deliberating by next week ...

Once the judges determine which candidate got the most legal votes, the loser has the right to appeal to higher courts or the U.S. Senate ...

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D96RDQ6O1

[struggle4progress]

9. Legal Expert: Minnesota Court Likely To Rule By End of Month -- For Franken

... Professor David Schultz, a teacher of election law at Hamline University, was previously predicting that a ruling would take until mid-April at the earliest. But that assumed Team Franken would take 2-3 weeks to make its case, as opposed to the week and two days they'll have actually used. "I would say we could anticipate -- we should anticipate at this point -- definitely before the end of the month," said Schultz. "It very well might be in a couple of weeks."

After that, the next step will be the appeals, which are likely to be fast-tracked straight to the state Supreme Court -- and which Schultz expects will come from Coleman, with the court likely to have ruled that Franken is the winner: "It doesn't look like at this point the Coleman campaign has either made the arguments or has the numbers to switch it over to his side for victory. So I presume at this point that the court will find for Franken."

Schultz also affirmed that the Coleman camp's latest gambit -- to declare that the true winner cannot be determined, and the election results should be set aside -- is simply off the table legally. "He has to do more than simply cast doubt," said Schultz. "He has to make the case as to why, on the preponderance of evidence, he won."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kleefeld

[rollingrock]

11. Proof positive

US has the crappiest legal system in the western world

[Fluffdaddy]

12. End near? Franken to rest in Minn. Senate case

Source: The Boston Globe

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesota's drawn-out Senate saga is about take another step toward conclusion.

Lawyers for Democrat Al Franken plan to call their final witnesses Wednesday and then provisionally rest their case. But that doesn't mean the seven-week trial is quite done.

A lawyer representing individual voters who are trying to get their rejected absentee ballots counted has the right to present evidence. And Republican Norm Coleman, who brought the election challenge, can put on witnesses to rebut Franken's case.

"We're not there yet because there are still those steps left," said Franken lawyer Marc Elias. "But we're ending what has been a very long postelection process.


Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/03/11/end_near_franken_to_rest_in_minn_senate_case/

---

We need Al Franken's vote badly

D@mn the GOP

[AlinPA]

13. It sounds like that process could take months.

[bdamomma]

14. I am not from Minnesota but just seat Senator Franken.

[HopeHoops]

15. I can't wait for Al to be seated so I can watch Rush and BillO blow gaskets

[peacetalksforall]

16. Franken is serious about being a Senator, but I can't wait for him to be a guest

on the Daily Show after he's in.

[kpete]

18. Breaking: Coleman’s unsecured donor database revealed on Wikileaks

Source: The Minnesota Independent

Breaking: Coleman’s unsecured donor database revealed on Wikileaks
By Paul Schmelzer 3/11/09 8:12 AM

picture-231In late January, allegations were leveled that former Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign faked the crash of its website, claiming droves of disenfranchised voters brought down the server seeking info on whether their votes were counted. While that charge hasn’t been definitively proven, the scrutiny by web enthusiasts exposed a bigger problem for the campaign: an unprotected database that contained information on campaign donors, including names, email and home addresses, credit card numbers and the three-digit security codes. On Tuesday, donors received an email from the website Wikileaks alerting them that the site has revealed some of the database information.

“We understand that Norm Coleman became aware of the leak in January,” the note reads, in part.

A link to the database was posted in comments at the Minnesota Independent and MNPublius on January 28. I contacted the campaign then about the site crash, but never got a response.

The Wikileaks email also included a link to the Minnesota statute that requires entities using “data that includes personal information” to “disclose any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach in the security of the data to any resident of this state whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person.”

Read more: http://minnesotaindependent.com/28711/breaking-colemans-unsecured-donorbase-to-be-revealed-on-wikileaks

[xxqqqzme]

19. No brainer. normie

leaked the info so he could whine/delay some more. They have all taken lessons from saurove after all.

[marmar]

20. Norm has become quite the Drama Queen.........

n/t

[dflprincess]

21. Note that the security breech occured in January

and he's just making an issue of it now, and implying dirty tricks, the day Franken will rest his case. Can you say "desperation"?

The article is also here:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/41084707.html

The comments are running against Normie.

[Tempest]

22. Coleman waited a month before telling his donors?

That's not going to make them happy.

[Wickerman]

23. Hey look

we're famous!

:eyes:

It's already been outed

As usual, Stib is lazy in its reporting. Wasnt the Franken campaign, but the usual bunch of tin foil hat wearers over at the DemocraticUnderground
posted by mnrob32 on Mar. 11, 09 at 10:36 AM |
6 of 42 people liked this comment.

[MinneapolisMatt]

24. Yet another

last minute attempt to deflect the blame on someone else. Coleman's camp is "demanding" an investigation.

Those asshats knew about this for weeks and did nothing.

[htuttle]

25. "...including three-digit security codes..."

Whoever was keeping those around really screwed up. NOBODY is allowed to store those for longer than it takes to run a specific transaction.

I'd expect that somebody is going to be fined for it.

[OKNancy]

26. kick

[williesgirl]

27. GOP candidate for Minn. Senate seat warns of leak

Source: Wash Post

As Minnesota's drawn-out Senate saga took another step toward conclusion in a courtroom Wednesday, thousands of donors to Republican Norm Coleman's legal fund learned that their identities and some of their credit card information had been posted on the Internet.

snip

A group called Wikileaks e-mailed some Coleman supporters Tuesday night to suggest that their credit card information was floating around the Internet. Wikileaks casts itself as an outlet for "untraceable mass document leaking and analysis," with a focus on exposing oppressive regimes worldwide and unethical behavior in corporations and government.

snip

Wikileaks accused the Coleman campaign of keeping the January breach secret and cited a Minnesota law that requires prompt disclosure of any breach involving personal information. Knaak said he's confident the campaign complied with the law.

snip

Jay Lim, a spokesman for Wikileaks, said in an e-mail to the AP that "Coleman should not have kept this information" and that "his team should not have released the information out onto the open Internet for anyone to download."





Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/11/AR2009031100574.html?hpid=sec-politics

---

Looks as if old Norman's team isn't very good at security of private donor information! What idiots they must be. Now every donor's credit card info etc has been out on the Web since January. They are now being asked to cancel their credit cards! They said they checked it out in January and found no unauthorized hacking in their site so it must be pure negligence.

Wonder how many folks will be willing to continue to donate to his losing attempt to keep Franklin out of the Senate now.

[mucifer]

28. Looooooooooooooser!

:rofl:

[MineralMan]

29. Well, since that information was exposed in a public index

on the web site, and could be accessed by anyone who knows how to find indices on web sites, the fault lies cleary with Coleman's campaign. Their webmaster was a moron.

He's trying to cast suspicion on Franken. It won't wash, and the court's not going to pay any attention to this obvious attention-getting crap.

All anger on the part of those compromised should be directed at Coleman for his poor oversight of his staff.

[AlexDeLarge]

31. The webmaster is a

MORAN. I believe that's now the correct term to use for a Republican moron.

[GinaMaria]

48. Is he liable for a breach in this info?

Similar to healthcare and HIPAA?

Got my answer from kpete below:
On the legal side, experts say there's a valid question about whether the campaign violated a state law that requires any person or business that conducts business in the state to notify consumers immediately that their personal information has been breached. As early as Jan. 28, Minnesota bloggers reported that personal security information could be downloaded by anyone after a brief crash of the Coleman for Senate website.

"Assuming that the hack occurred in January and not just a couple days ago, and he didn't notify donors, then he probably violated state laws," said David Schultz, a professor at the Hamline University School of Business in St. Paul, Minn.

[AlbertCat]

30. What a soap opera!

I prefer real opera...some of them anyway....and let me say, the irrational and absolute FEAR the GOP has of Frankin is monumentally operatic. He must be amused and flattered....and annoyed like the rest of us.... at the same time. I mean, you'd think Frankin was the most powerful, connected mover and shaker in the Liberal Movement. I know, I know, 60 votes.... But c'mon! this is just more theatre of the absurd brought to you by Republicans.

[annabanana]

32. epic fail. . rec'd to increase embarrassment factor!. . . . n/t

[Belial]

33. This is insignificant compared to the millions of personal

records that have been lost by our wonderful Gov't..

[kpete]

34. Coleman's legal woes mount

Source: Politico


Coleman's legal woes mount
By MANU RAJU | 3/12/09 1:32 PM EDT


Former Sen. Norm Coleman's political and legal problems over the security breach at his campaign website may get worse, with new questions about whether his team violated state law by not reporting the problems earlier.

The campaign's disclosure Wednesday night that a hacker may have gained access to more than 50,000 donors' financial information will almost certainly deter new online contributions, further hindering Coleman's ability to raise money for the ongoing recount lawsuit against Democrat Al Franken.

On the legal side, experts say there's a valid question about whether the campaign violated a state law that requires any person or business that conducts business in the state to notify consumers immediately that their personal information has been breached. As early as Jan. 28, Minnesota bloggers reported that personal security information could be downloaded by anyone after a brief crash of the Coleman for Senate website.

"Assuming that the hack occurred in January and not just a couple days ago, and he didn't notify donors, then he probably violated state laws," said David Schultz, a professor at the Hamline University School of Business in St. Paul, Minn.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19946.html

[dflprincess]

35. A Republican politician breaking laws?

Imagine that! :sarcasm:

[Downwinder]

39. And a Senator, correction FORMER Senator.

[jobycom]

40. When a Republican does it, it's not illegal.

[annabanana]

36. Normie?. . Pack your bags, show's over.. . . .n/t

[MineralMan]

37. Coleman is too stupid to understand what happened.

His website designer is too stupid to be coding html. Put 'em together, and what've you got? Skipitty, skopitty, screwed!

[Robbien]

38. There was no mention of a hack or breach in the original story

As reported in this story
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/131272/norm_coleman_pays_back_funders_by_posting_credit_info/

As recently as late January, databases of thousands of Coleman's donors and assorted contacts sat on a public portion of the campaign's Web site. They were not password-protected, so a Minneapolis consultant was able to find them by essentially surfing the Web. And the credit card numbers weren't encrypted -- a violation of credit card industry standards, according to several experts.

Kelly McShane, whose job is to secure information in the banking industry, said he learned that the last four digits of his American Express card — and the four-digit security code used to verify the card — were posted online when a reporter e-mailed him.

"I'm in IT security for a bank, and I can tell you that this is so ... irresponsible that I can't believe it," said McShane, who had donated $100 to the campaign online.

The article this was taken from is no longer available online
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_11891772?nclick_check=1

So now Coleman is saying a hacker caused the breach and the Twin Cities paper has taken down its original article.

Interesting.

[reptrader]

41. Proof that sometimes there is justice in this World

This is excellent news.

Anybody who contributed to Coleman's agenda in any way whatsoever deserves to get the big dick and be royally screwed by it.

That makes my day

[Javaman]

42. The guy is a daily trainwreck. nt

[wroberts189]

43. He was also obviously not PCI compliant = major fines from cc companies

Credit card companies claim they will fine you hundreds of thousands if you are not and your cc data is stolen.


http://pcistuff.blogspot.com/2006/12/pci-fines-teeth-of-pci-dss-compliance.html

[marshall]

44. Has anyone admitted yet to the break in?

I wonder if it was just some nutty student, like the Palin email fiasco culprit, or somebody with an actual grudge against Coleman.

[williesgirl]

46. My guess is they were so lax in how they kept the info, that it really doesn't matter.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[burning rain]

49. "[O]ppressive regimes worldwide."

I'd say the GOP certainly qualifies!

[Bold Sea Captain]

47. This is going to be a great day... a new LOST and a new Senator