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Home Front: Politix
Pittsburgh Jewish Federation Bans Free Beacon After Publication of Dem Candidate’s Comments on Israel
2018-02-24
[FREEBEACON] The Washington Free Beacon has been banned from covering and reporting on all events related to the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, a Jewish communal organization, following its publication of remarks made by Pennsylvania Democratic congressional candidate Conor Lamb at an event that the Federation says was off the record and closed to the press.

The Free Beacon first unearthed the comments by Lamb, who is currently running for Congress in a special election next month, in a Feb. 12 report that quoted the candidate accusing Israel of "terrorism" and the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians in the Gazoo Strip.

Lamb said at the time it was "disheartening to see" support for Israel being expressed in the pages of his college newspaper.

"It was disheartening to see the add [sic] in the DP the other day which read, ’Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel,'" Lamb wrote. "There is no doubt that both sides of this conflict have committed wrongs, but if this latest attack is not terrorism, I don't know what is."

When asked about those comments last week by an attendee at an event sponsored by the Pittsburgh Jewish Federation at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, Lamb claimed to have "absolutely no memory" of the remarks and seemed to suggest the comments may have been planted or forged, though he offered no evidence.

After the Free Beacon published Lamb’s response, Joshua Sayles, a top official with the Pittsburgh Jewish Federation, phoned the Free Beacon to say that the publication's reporting on Lamb’s comments was "unacceptable" and informed the outlet it is now banned from covering all Federation-related events in Pittsburgh.

Sayles, who serves as the director of Pittsburgh's Community Relations Center, or CRC, said Lamb’s remarks were made off the record and that the event was closed to the press.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 the event was presented as open to all community members and an invitation made no reference to it being off the record. Regardless, the Free Beacon legally obtained the video of the remarks and was neither party to, nor bound by any agreement between the Federation and Lamb.

Sayles told the Free Beacon on Tuesday that he would be contacting all area synagogues to alert them of the ban.

Lamb has come under fire following the Free Beacon’s report on his comments accusing Israel of state sanctioned terrorism.

In defending his remarks, Lamb claimed to have no recollection of writing the 2002 comment.

"I've looked at that several times in the last 24 hours and as a prosecutor I'll give you the most honest and accurate thing that I can say, which is, I have absolutely no memory of ever using those words at all. In the climate we're in, I think you all can fill in the rest, but all I can tell you is I don't recognize it," Lamb said, according to the tape obtained by the Free Beacon.

National pro-Israel organizations such as the Republican Jewish Coalition condemned Lamb’s initial comments, describing them as "ignorant and extreme."

"Conor Lamb's refusal to address his own ignorant and extreme attack against Israel is very troubling," Former Sen. Norm Coleman, RJC’s national chairman, said in a statement. "Given that refusal and the fact that he's running as a supporter of the anti-Israel organization J Street, it appears his views have not changed at all."

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Home Front: Politix
Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota, Study Finds
2010-07-13
The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.

That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.

The final recount vote in the race, determined six months after Election Day, showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes -- fewer votes than the number of felons whose illegal ballots were counted, according to Minnesota Majority's newly released study, which matched publicly available conviction lists with voting records.

Furthermore, the report charges that efforts to get state and federal authorities to act on its findings have been "stonewalled."

"We aren't trying to change the result of the last election. That legally can't be done," said Dan McGrath, Minnesota Majority's executive director. "We are just trying to make sure the integrity of the next election isn't compromised."
Won't happen until the Dems lose because of something like this.
He said his group was largely ignored when it turned over a list of hundreds of names to prosecutors in two of the state's largest counties, Ramsey and Hennepin, where fraud seemed to be the greatest.

A spokesman for both county attorneys' offices belittled the information, saying it was "just plain wrong" and full of errors, which prompted the group to go back and start an in-depth look at the records.

"What we did this time is irrefutable," McGrath said. "We took the voting lists and matched them with conviction lists and then went back to the records and found the roster lists, where voters sign in before walking to the voting booth, and matched them by hand.

"The only way we can be wrong is if someone with the same first, middle and last names, same year of birth as the felon, and living in the same community, has voted. And that isn't very likely."

The report said that in Hennepin County, which in includes Minneapolis, 899 suspected felons had been matched on the county's voting records, and the review showed 289 voters were conclusively matched to felon records. The report says only three people in the county have been charged with voter fraud so far.

A representative of the Hennepin County attorney's office, who declined to give her name, said "there was no one in the office today to talk about the charges."
Are there cars in the parking lot? Check under their desks.
But the report got a far different review in Ramsey County, which contains St. Paul. Phil Carruthers of the Ramsey County attorney's office said his agency had taken the charges "very seriously" and found that the Minnesota Majority "had done a good job in their review."

The report says that in Ramsey, 460 names on voting records were matched with felon lists, and a further review found 52 were conclusive matches.

Carruthers attributed differences in the numbers to Minnesota Majority's lack of access to nonpublic information, such as exact birth dates and other court records. For example, he said, "public records might show a felon was given 10 years probation, but internal records the county attorney has might show that the probation period was cut to five and the felon was eligible to vote."

Carruthers said Ramsey County is still investigating all the names and has asked that 15 investigators be hired to complete the process. "So far we have charged 28 people with felonies, have 17 more under review and have 182 cases still open," he said. "And there is a good chance we may match or even exceed their numbers."

McGrath says the report shows that more still has to be done.

"Prosecutors have to act more swiftly in prosecuting cases from the 2008 election to deter fraud in the future," he said, "and the state has to make sure that existing system, that flags convicted felons so voting officials can challenge them at the ballot, is effective. In 90 percent of the cases we looked at, the felons weren't flagged."

"If the state had done that," he said, "things might be very different today."
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Home Front: Politix
Specter forgets his party affiliation
2010-04-08
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) seems to have momentarily forgotten which party he belongs to.
Evidence, if any was needed, that you're always the last to notice when your mind goes. He's, what? 88 years old? It's probably time, since we can't get term limits, for a mandatory retirement age for pols.
In this video, the party-switching senator notes that he has been endorsed by the college Republicans, except that the more applicable endorsement for him right now would be the college Democrats. Whoops.

It's not the first time Specter has slipped up on his new party affiliation. Shortly after the switch, he suggested he was rooting for GOP Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) in his recount effort.
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Home Front: Politix
Obama's Specter coup has quickly morphed into a gigantic political headache
2009-05-07
A series of odd incidents that have proceeded from Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch last week have raised questions about whether the newest Democrat has permanently damaged himself in the eyes of the state's voters.

The White House is concerned enough about the developments that deputy chief of staff Jim Messina and Ron Klain, a senior adviser to Vice President Biden, traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and huddled with Specter to try to iron out the problems, according to informed Democratic officials.

Those problems -- in brief:

  • Specter pronounced that he would be keeping his seniority when he announced his party switch last week -- maintaining that his ability to deliver for the state would not be diminished in any way shape or form by his move across the aisle. Except, that wasn't exactly right. The Senate's approval of Specter's junior status on a series of committees led to a "he said, he said" between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and the newest member of his caucus. Asked about the back and forth by CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, Reid stood his ground saying simply: "He is a person who's been in the Senate since 1980. I think he should be able to handle himself."

  • In a sitdown with the New York Times' Deborah Solomon, Specter said he was hoping that the Minnesota courts would do "justice" and declare former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman the winner in the contested 2008 election. Whoops! Specter tried to walk the comment back told Reid that he briefly "forgot what team I was on."

  • Specter has done little to back off his initial assertion that his decision to switch parties was based almost entirely on political calculations and had little to do with ideology. While most party switchers are almost certainly guided by personal political concerns (what politician isn't?), most don't come right out and say it because it is a turnoff for voters who want to believe that their politicians believe in, well, something.

    For Pennsylvania voters -- especially Democratic primary voters -- this triptych of recent events is likely to be deeply troubling.

    "His actions over this past week have done nothing to curry favors with either party," said Penny Lee, a former senior adviser to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and now a Democratic consultant. "He needs to show some willingness to be a Democrat."

    Another Democratic strategist who follows Senate races closely was more blunt about the damage Specter has done to himself over the last week. "Do you think that any right-minded local Democratic elected official is going to stick his neck out for Arlen?" the source asked rhetorically. "Or any member of the Democratic Senate caucus?"

    Even those Democrats who believe that Specter has done himself no real long-term electoral harm with his actions over the past week don't exactly give him rave reviews. "The pride swallowing can't be easy but he had no choice if he wants to get reelected, and he was honest about that," said one senior Democratic strategist.

    Despite all of that criticism, Specter still has a number of things going for him heading into next year -- most importantly the support of an exceedingly popular president who commands massive loyalty particularly among the Democratic base and a campaign war chest bulging with nearly $7 million.

    And, average voters are not likely to be following every jot and tittle of the Specter saga -- especially so far from an election. Still, insiders are paying very close attention and, if Specter's stumbles over the past week encourage Rep. Joe Sestak to run in the primary, then the damage will have been done.

    What once looked like a huge coup for the White House -- and from a governing standpoint remains one assuming Al Franken eventually wins in Minnesota -- has quickly morphed into a gigantic political headache that almost no one saw coming.

    Politics is great, ain't it?
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    Home Front: Politix
    Specter Will Be Junior Democrat on all Committees except Aging - HaHaHaHa
    2009-05-06
    Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.

    Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one -- the chamber's Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.

    As a result, Specter -- who as a Republican was ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as ranking member of the panel's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education -- will now rank behind all the other Democrats, at least until the end of this Congress.

    According to a senior Democratic aide, it remains unclear whether Specter -- who will still retain his seniority in the Senate outside of the committees -- will see a boost in his committee seniority should he be re-elected for the next session. The status of his seniority for the next Congress will be determined once the 112th Congress convenes in 2011, the aide said.

    Democrats said that while unrelated, Specter's comments to the New York Times Magazine this weekend indicating he would support former Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-Minn.) disputed re-election bid against Al Franken have angered many Democrats.

    "Sen. Specter better watch comments like these. They won't help him in the caucus," a Democratic leadership aide said, adding that the comments have "caused a lot of heartburn in the caucus."
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    Home Front: Politix
    Franken: Call me 'Senator-elect'
    2009-02-17
    Democrat Al Franken has started using the title "senator-elect," despite the fact that his contest with Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) has not yet been decided. A Minnesota court is currently hearing Coleman's challenge to the recount.

    A press release sent out by his staff Monday announcing a series of town halls with local mayors reads: "Sen.-elect Franken held the first in a series of roundtable discussions with Minnesota Mayors today in St. Paul. Franken and metro-area mayors discussed the economic realities facing their cities, budget cuts, President Obama's measures for economic stimulus, and how to grow Minnesota's economy."

    The Democratic mayor of St. Paul is also quoted in the release referring to Franken as the victor. "Right now, Washington is debating matters of enormous consequence to Minnesota's economy," Mayor Chris Coleman says in the release. "Senator-elect Franken understands what our cities need to prosper, and we're ready for him to go to Washington to be a voice for us."

    Since taking the lead in the recount, Franken has insisted that he is the rightful winner of the Minnesota Senate race but did not use the phrase in a press release until Monday. Franken staffers and attorneys have used the phrase but often drawn flack from Republicans for doing so.
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    Home Front: Politix
    Franken makes his case in D.C.
    2009-01-21
    As the outcome of the Minnesota Senate race heads to trial, Democrat Al Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman have embraced the public spotlight after avoiding attention during the weeks-long recount.

    Franken arrived in Washington on Friday to celebrate President-elect Barack Obama's Inauguration -- and to raise money for the campaign's post-election legal challenges.

    He has been a regular at inaugural festivities and hosted an inaugural brunch fundraiser Sunday at the Willard Hotel, which cost the 350 attendees $1,000 per plate. The brunch featured several senators, including Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

    Franken toured Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Saturday and met with wounded soldiers for several hours.

    Coleman, meanwhile, has taken to the airwaves to personally make the case that he can overcome his 225-vote deficit in court after keeping a low profile during the recount process.

    He made two appearances on conservative talk shows last week to publicize his argument.

    "When all the votes are counted, I feel pretty confident," Coleman told Minneapolis conservative talk show host Jason Lewis on Friday. "The other side is saying, 'OK, now we've got enough votes. We're temporarily ahead in this recount. Let's call it quits.' Democracy doesn't work that way."
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    Home Front: Politix
    Norm in exile
    2009-01-09
    Sarah Abruzzese reports on the pathos of Norm's senatorial exile:
    The lights are on in Sen. Norm Coleman's office but no one's home.

    Coleman has been locked out of his offices in the Hart Senate Office Building and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who heads the Rules Committee, said she believes the doors will stay barred for the foreseeable future.

    Because Coleman's first term officially ended Saturday at noon and he has not been certified the winner of the hotly contested Minnesota Senate race, he has lost his desk on the Senate floor and been denied official office space.

    While staff answered the phones on Monday, by Tuesday no one picked up. All of Coleman's vanity photos and a framed hockey jersey are still on display but his name has been removed from the plaque outside.

    Coleman can visit the Senate . Like all former members not registered as lobbyists, Coleman can visit the floor -- but he'll have no place to sit.
    We encountered a disconsolate-looking Coleman near a Senate elevator bank accepting back-slaps and handshakes from fellow Republicans John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
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    Home Front: Politix
    Franken Certified as Minnesota Senate Race Winner, But Lawsuit Looms
    2009-01-06
    A Minnesota board has certified election results showing Democrat Al Franken has won the U.S. Senate recount -- by 225 votes. But that doesn't mean the former Saturday Night Live comedian's race against his Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, is over. Fox News has learned that Senate Democratic leaders will try to seat Franken on Tuesday, but a legal challenge probably will keep the race in limbo. Franken aides say the Democrat has no plans to travel to Washington yet.
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    Home Front: Politix
    Senate GOP prepared to fight if Dems try to seat Franken
    2009-01-04
    (CNN) -- Sen. John Cornyn weighed in on Minnesota's close and still unresolved U.S. Senate race, saying Friday that no one should be seated until a winner is made official by both Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Sen. John Cornyn says Republican senators will filibuster if the Democrats try to seat Al Franken.

    Democratic challenger Al Franken holds a lead of about 50 votes over Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, but this number does not reflect what could be more than a thousand improperly rejected absentee ballots still to be tallied. No matter the results, officials have said there will almost certainly be court challenges.

    Minnesota's other senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune this week that if the state Canvassing Board -- which is tasked with tallying votes -- certifies a winner, the Senate should "consider seating that person pending litigation."

    Klobuchar's statement prompted Cornyn, a Republican from Texas and the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to threaten a filibuster to block Democrats from seating Franken before an official certificate is signed by Ritchie and Pawlenty.

    The governor and secretary of state are barred by Minnesota law from making the election official until all legal proceedings have been completed.
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    Home Front: Politix
    Franken leads by 50
    2008-12-31
    With only mistakenly rejected absentee ballots left to tally in Minnesota's U.S. Senate recount, Democrat Al Franken has a 50-vote lead over Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

    The lead, Franken's largest since Election Day, buoyed the Franken campaign. "We are absolutely thrilled with where we stand," said Marc Elias, Franken recount attorney.

    The Coleman campaign was less than thrilled. "We're faced with an artificial Franken lead," said Coleman recount attorney Tony Trimble. The Coleman campaign has all but promised it will contest the election results in court because it believes more than 100 votes from Franken-friendly areas were double counted.

    The 50-vote lead is provisional because there are still rejected absentee ballots to count. Those absentee ballots, which local election judges mistakenly didn't count, are the latest focus of recount controversy.

    In deciding a suit brought by the Coleman campaign over the absentee ballots the state Supreme Court ordered that mistakenly rejected absentee ballots could be included in the recount -- but only if the two campaigns agree they should on a ballot-by-ballot basis.

    While local officials believe there are about 1,350 wrongly rejected ballots, it's not clear how many ballots the campaigns will actually send to the state for counting. Over the weekend, the Franken campaign had said it would be willing to have all those sent to the state.
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    Home Front: Politix
    Coleman: Lawsuit a 'virtual certainty'
    2008-12-26
    Top lawyers for Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-Minn.) campaign said Wednesday that a lawsuit challenging the results of one of the closest Senate races in history is all but assured. The statement comes after the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously rejected a suit filed by Coleman's campaign. The lawsuit that sought to prevent a state board from certifying election results that Coleman had alleged includes errors.
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