Exposing Stuart Smalley

Pity poor Al Franken. When he was simply a satirist/author, he only had to worry about Dave Pierre debunking the "facts" in his many books. Now the author of "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Liar", "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" and "The Truth With Jokes" has to deal with a different kind of truth.....one that put's Franken in the same light as fellow DFLer Lori Swanson. It appears that not only did Franken not pay Workers Comp Insurance premiums on his employees (as first reported by Michael Brodkorb at Minnesota Democrats Exposed) he also has not paid corporate income taxes in California for the last 4 years (again as first reported by MDE). Michael has laid out the trail of spin, excuses and changing stories from the Franken camp as both stories gained traction in the local traditional media.

What voters should find worrisome is that, like Swanson, candidate Franken has engaged in activities that would render most Republican candidates unelectable and would have your average Tom and Teri Taxpayer fighting for their home, their belongings and their very freedom. If Conrad Corporate CFO had used the same accounting "methods" that AFI CFO Alan Franken had used in filing his state income taxes (which was to basically quit filing taxes) Conrad CFO would not only be fighting to stay out of jail, but he would be campaign fodder for every candidate from Hillary Clinton on down the ticket. If Bob Business owner had retaliated against a whistleblower in the same way that AG Swanson retaliated against Amy Lawler, he would be the poster child of every business wrong for every DFL candidate running for state house this year. The double standard here is, quite simply, stunning.

And that, in a nutshell, is why when you run for office you have to be sure that you have a squeeky clean past - that all of your personal and business dealings ARE on the up and up. For if you don't, you can be guaranteed to find that those failings will become part of the campaign at some point in time.