DFL Senate candidate Al Franken owes a $25,000 penalty to the New York State Workers' Compensation Board for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for employees of his namesake corporation from 2002 to 2005, state officials said.
New York officials have made numerous attempts to contact Franken about the matter since April 2005 but have gotten no reply.
Campaign spokesman Andy Barr said that neither Franken nor his wife, Franni, were aware of the matter before Tuesday. They have lived in Minneapolis for the past few years and did not know about the state's attempts to reach them in New York City, he said.
Isn't this the liberal equivalent of the evangelist having an affair? Won't he require a higher standard of truth-telling on this lapse, considering he's written books about "Lying Liars"?
Michael Brodkorb at the blog Minnesota Democrats Exposed busted the story loose, and found this slice of delicious hypocrisy:
I will add that during a U.S. Senate debate that I attended back on September 30, 2007, Franken said "I'm a corporation, I employ a bunch of people." Franken also said "I love corporations that play by the rules, and we have to make them play by the rules."
MSNBC’s Dan Abrams weighed in last night:
Our big loser of the day. Al Franken who the state of New York fined $25,000 for not carrying workers' comp insurance for his company for almost three years. If he was still a comedian, it'd probably be funny, but when you're running for Senate in Minnesota, it's called an attack ad.
