On this date, 233 years ago, the Continental Congress formally declared their sovereignty and independence. The 6th indictment of the King of England:
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected...
The greatness of our nation is founded on the principle that by peaceful elections, we the people decide our own representatives. This great proposition has served our country for over 2 centuries.
The week of Independence Day, you can imagine my anger at reading this horribly inaccurate and partisan editorial by the Wall Street Journal: The 'Absentee' Senator, concluding:
Mr. Franken now goes to the Senate having effectively stolen an election. If the GOP hopes to avoid repeats, it should learn from Minnesota that modern elections don't end when voters cast their ballots. They only end after the lawyers count them.
And now, Rush Limbaugh suggests that Minnesota is like Iran?! Oh my...
Thankfully, election law expert Ned Foley wrote a sharp critique of the WSJ editorial, Impressive unanimity: The historical significance of Coleman v. Franken.
As you can read below, in addition to being a Minnesota citizen and a State Representative with only 1 U.S. Senator for 6 months, I had good reason to follow the recount very closely. I cannot begin to tell you how upset I was to read the outright lies in the Wall Street Journal editorial.
Here is the letter I sent them, hoping to set them straight.
To the Editor:
I am a business-oriented Democratic lawmaker and a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal. I often look to the Journal for a straight-forward and honest business perspective. If only Tuesday's editorial on the Franken-Coleman Minnesota Senate race, "The ‘Absentee' Senator," was as accurate as your stock reports.
Just about the only accurate point of the editorial was the central focus on absentee ballots during the administrative recount and subsequent election contest.
For decades, Minnesota law has unfortunately limited absentee voting to four explicit reasons. In my first session in the State House, I chief-authored two bills to reduce the red-tape and other hurdles to absentee voters. One bill, the Military and Overseas Voting Act, was signed into law and increased turnout among overseas absentee votes in 2008 by more than 400%. The other bill, addressing domestic absentee voting, was vetoed by Governor Tim Pawlenty.
During the trial, former Senator Norm Coleman's lawyers argued the policy behind my (vetoed) "no-fault" absentee voting bill. Citizens' fundamental right to vote, whether on Election Day or through an absentee ballot, should not be denied because of a technicality. While Coleman was right on the issue, he was wrong on the law. Because of the 2007 veto, Minnesota's outdated and burdensome law is still in place.
Both former Senator Coleman and Senator-elect Franken's lawyers were indeed aggressive advocates for their client. But while both sides wanted more and more votes counted, no fewer than 12 judges tempered the lawyers' zealousness through sober and strict adherence to the letter of Minnesota's election law. It's been noted repeatedly that these judges were appointed by governors of 3 different parties, including several appointed by Republican Governor Pawlenty.
Rather than jumping to partisan hyperbole, the Journal's editorial writers would have been wise to read the Minnesota Supreme Court's easily understood and unanimous decision. Minnesota's nearly 3 million ballots were counted and recounted in public, and every minute of the trial was open to the public.
Unfortunately, the Wall Street Journal's editorial writers risk being lumped in with partisan zealots like Rush Limbaugh, who suggest Minnesota's civic democracy and Iran's theocratic dictatorship could be lumped in together. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Had Norm Coleman received more votes than Al Franken, Minnesota would have accepted that result as well, because Secretary of State Mark Ritchie ensured the process was fair, legal and transparent. The Journal must recognize this fact.
Absent a correction from the Wall Start Journal, it will be a long time before I can take the Journal's editorial pages seriously again.
Jeremy Kalin
Minnesota State Representative, District 17B
North Branch, MN
I've been involved in the blogoshpere since 2003. The "reality-based community" tag matches well with one of other mantras:
In G-d we trust. Everyone else, bring data.
The votes were counted in the open. The process was fair. Minnesotans, and all Americans, have a right to be proud that we, the voters, still determine our own representatives and leaders.
Four of the last five years, I have marched in a 4th of July parade. This year, I will be up north with my wife and my inlaws on Minnesota's Iron Range, as a parade-watcher instead. As the fire trucks and the Color Guard march by, I'll be giving thanks for our brave forefathers (and all those since) who put their lives on the line so that we may be free.
But as I salute the red, white and blue, my thoughts and prayers will also be with the Iranian public, willing to give their lives so that they may determine their leaders by free election, too.
Happy 4th of July. G-d bless the United States, and with G-d's help, may all citizens of the world soon enjoy the same freedoms we do.
Updated with minor title change