What a difference a year makes. Last November, former “Saturday Night Live” satirist and U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) brought his trademark smirk and fundraising prowess to Vermont to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter. Just days before she lost to Republican Phil Scott, Burlington crowds welcomed Franken with laughs and loud applause.
Now he’s being pilloried as yet another groper — the latest outing triggered by the New York Times exposé on Miramax cofounder Harvey Weinstein.
What do Vermont Dems make of Franken now? Minter, for one, was chastened by the news that he allegedly forced a kiss on a woman and was photographed reaching for her breasts as she slept during a USO tour in 2006. A photo that caught him in the act started circulating last week.
“Obviously, this is incredibly disrespectful, unacceptable behavior,” Minter told Seven Days Monday. “It’s incredibly disappointing.” But she qualified her criticism, noting that, “unlike many others,” Franken is acknowledging his actions. “He has apologized.”
Franken said he’s sorry for the incident involving California broadcast journalist Leeann Tweeden in 2006. He has not commented publicly on another allegation, that he grabbed a different woman’s behind while posing for a photo in 2010.
The allegations about various men are troubling, Minter said, but it’s encouraging that women are feeling safe coming forward with their experiences. Hopefully, this movement means “that what is considered acceptable behavior is going to change from here going forward,” said Minter, now president and CEO of Special Olympics Vermont.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accompanied Franken on his 2016 rounds in Vermont. Like Minter, Leahy offered a sobering response to the allegations.
“I don’t condone this action, nor does he,” Leahy said, referring to the Tweeden photo allegation. “He’s apologized rather profusely, and, in fact, he asked for an Ethics Committee investigation before anybody else did. He’s been a very effective senator.”
Should Franken resign?
“Then is Donald Trump going to resign, when he’s admitted to doing a lot more? I say that rhetorically,” Leahy told Seven Days. “Let’s see what the Ethics Committee comes up with.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Frankly Speaking”
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This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2017.
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Let’s see what the Ethics Committee comes up with? Areas the ethics committee investigates: Gifts, Travel, Campaign Activity, Conflicts of Interest, Prohibition on Unofficial Office Accounts, Constituent Service, and Franking. Either political party has an effective veto over the actions of the committee. Men are in the majority, 8-2 House Ethics Committee, 5-1 Senate Ethics Committee. Rarely have the committees taken action to expel or even censure or admonish a member. “Let’s see what the ethics committee comes up with” is a way of sidestepping calls for resignation and squelching public discussion.
So far Franken has no problems with me ( Who knows what comes next) 2 weeks playing around with a comedian & a showgirl and they think the picture of a comedian acting for the camera is forced sex is nuts. In my lifetime 78 years, I have seen this innocent scene played out plenty of times. This is not my definition of sexual harassment. this is an overreaction ( all publicity is good) when you are an entertainer. Some could consider it bad taste but we all know female abuse when we see it .This is not it.
I worked very closely with Al on SNL for five seasons. He is a wonderfully smart and creative comic force. He was always great to work with in the wee hours as we created show openings like his Stuart Smalley segment. I have to assume from what I have witnessed recently that he brings the same tireless work ethic that he had at SNL to his exciting work as a Senator. This recent attempt to take him down is careless and stinks of self promotion. Perhaps Al should call up Stuart Smalleys famous quote: Im good enough. Im smart enough. And doggone it, people like me! Stay strong Al!
If a photo surfaced of President Trump reaching for a sleeping woman’s breasts, Democrats and CNN would be calling for the death penalty.
Show me one government agency that this has not happened in the past, it has happened in the congress and even the guy who thinks he is a president has done it, state government and federal government. It has happened everywhere..
Look, I am a guy and I like females, BUT, really, how is touching someones breasts, or butt, exciting if it is not mutual. This is 8th grade stuff, do these idiots grow up ?. I will say it again, even though married many years, I still look (duh), but I do not get my rocks off by touching anyone,. Trump is just as bad as is Wiener and the rest of these kids
So typical of the Democrat Double Standard . . . Leahy, Minter and the rest of the uglies will excuse or at best lightly chastise the offensive and often corruption of one of their own while screaming to hang any Republican who is even a used of anything remotely similar. The whole lot of you make me sick.
Yup these liberal democrats perverts are all the same… Protect their own kinds… Look what they did for Billy Boy Clinton, he lied to the American public, “I did not have sex with that woman”, he had sex/raped women when he was Governor of Arkansas, but they didn’t do a thing to him.This Al Franken is a sex pervert period. If you ever watch Joe Biden caress young girls, whisper in their ear you would see how perverted he is. Just because these bast–ds are politicians does not give them a free pass to get away with this. They should be impeached, their pension taken away from them and they should do prison time… this goes for democrats and republicans. They were voted into office to work not have sex. Leahy should have said, Franken needs to go
Lets keep track of the politicians that have the courage to demand that someone from their own party step down! You won’t need a calculator! All that we will hear is excuses for those offenders and then comments like “they apologized so that makes it OK”. Where is the outrage from Women’s groups? Where is the outrage from Bernie who is outraged about everything? The democrats and republicans will go into full attack mode if the offender is from the other party, but will always protect their own. Do any of them have the integrity to stand up and say “this disrespect of women is WRONG and you have to go!” No excuses! Just resign! Enough is enough. I look forward to our elected officials from Vermont doing the right thing!