Senator feels heat over kissing claims Chance for Dems to act
Democrat apologises for photo but disputes anchor’s other allegation
Minnesota Senator Al Franken faces a certain ethics complaint in Congress but uncertainty among party leaders and voters in his home state — most stopping short of calling for his resignation — after a Los Angeles radio anchor accused him of forcibly kissing her during a 2006 United Service Organisation (USO) tour.
Leeann Tweeden said yesterday that Franken kissed her over her protests while rehearsing a sketch, and later on the tour was photographed with his hands over her breasts, grinning at the camera, as she slept on board a military aircraft.
The USO is a nonprofit organisation that provides live entertainment to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families.
Franken was a well-known American comedian before he was elected to the Senate in 2008 as a Democrat from Minnesota.
Franken apologised yesterday, saying he feels “disgusted with myself” for the photo, though he disputed Tweeden’s recollection of the skit rehearsal.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell soon called for an ethics investigation of Franken — a request the Minnesota senator repeated.
Franken’s fellow Democrats quickly condemned his actions. One congressional candidate said she was forwarding US$15,000 ($21,980) in Franken donations to a charitable organisation, and both the Minnesota party chairman and Franken’s colleague, Senator Amy Klobuchar, repeated the call for an ethics investigation.
“This should not have happened to Leeann Tweeden. I strongly condemn this behaviour and the Senate Ethics Committee must open an investigation,” Klobuchar said.
But there was no widespread call for Franken’s resignation, in contrast to sexual harassment allegations that roiled the state Capitol over the past week. More than a dozen state Democratic leaders pressed Democratic state Senator Dan Schoen to quit after he was accused of unwanted advances on a candidate, including groping her buttocks. Schoen has refused.
Franken won’t face voters again until 2020.
Governor Mark Dayton, who this week said any legislator who committed sexual harassment or assault should resign, yesterday said the looming ethics investigation was the proper recourse for Franken. Nearly every other top Democrat said the same, with Representative Erin Murphy — a Democrat running for governor — a notable exception in calling for him to resign.
Republicans, still forced to answer for the multiple allegations facing Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, joined in pressing for an investigation.
A cross-section of voters interviewed were more measured.
Terry Stokes, who called herself a Republican but had voted for Franken in the past, said she couldn’t believe the reports even after hearing of Franken’s apology.
“I’m surprised that he’s involved in any type of scandal like this,” Stokes, 61, said. “I don’t think he should resign. I just think it’s bad behaviour. He’s apologised.”
Sarah Jane Stowell, 42, of St Paul, said she had never voted for Franken but said she’s been pleasantly surprised by his performance in office. She said she was disappointed by Tweeden’s allegation. “Anyone that’s sort of in the public eye seems to have their own demons in the past but you can kind of hope someone would be above it. And this just shows that no one seems to be,” she said.
Moore, the Republican Senate candidate, has been accused of having sexual contact with teenage girls decades ago. Moore, 70, has denied the accusations and said he was the victim of a political witch hunt.
Trump yesterday said Moore should step aside if sexual misconduct allegations against him are true, a stance that puts him at odds with other Republican leaders in Washington who have said they believe the women making the accusations against the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice and have demanded that Moore withdraw from the race ahead of the December 12 vote. comment
All eyes have been on the Republican Party following the growing sexual misconduct allegations against their Senate candidate in Alabama.
Most Democratic lawmakers who have spoken publicly about the allegations have called for an end to former judge Roy Moore’s political career. Capitol Hill has no place for politicians accused of multiple sexual misconduct allegations, they say.
But the scandal has forced Democrats to re-examine their history of responding to accusations of sexual assault, especially when claims surface against one of their own, Senator Al Franken.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said he hopes there soon will be an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has the authority to recommend expelling a senator. “Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated,” Schumer said.
But this is not the same approach Democrats took decades ago when President Bill Clinton was facing allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
More than two decades ago, Democrats did not immediately believe the accusers. James Carville, Clinton’s then-strategist, once infamously said: “If you drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.” In a 1998 op-ed, feminist Gloria Steinem went as far as to blame the women in a manner that most would consider victim-blaming in 2017.
Some have said, if they could turn back time, they’d approach the allegations against Clinton differently.
With Franken, Democrats now have a chance.
20 injured in fire
A massive fire at a senior living community in Pennsylvania injured at least 20 people and forced dozens more, many of whom were unable to walk, into the cold night air. The blaze at Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester, about
56km west of Philadelphia, quickly spread to multiple buildings and flames could be seen shooting from the roofs and windows. Residents were forced to evacuate outside into the cold. News helicopter video showed dozens of residents on the lawn or along the street, wrapped in blankets. Many of them had been pushed in wheelchairs or rolled on beds to safety.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pledged to bolster his country’s defences, calling the threat from North Korea the gravest security concern Japan has faced since World War II. Outlining his priorities in a policy speech to Parliament, Abe described North Korea’s sixth nuclear test earlier this year and two missile launches that flew over Japan as a national crisis. He promised concrete action to respond to what he called “escalating provocations” by North Korea. “We will strengthen Japanese defence power, including missile defence capabilities, in order to protect the people’s lives and peace,” he said. Abe called on the international community to put more pressure on North Korea to persuade it to change its policies. Abe’s ruling coalition won in a landslide in last month’s snap election, securing a twothirds supermajority in both houses of Parliament, which makes it easy for Abe’s policies to be approved.
Cambodia has been accused of “killing off democracy” after the country’s Supreme Court dissolved the opposition party and outlawed more than 100 politicians ahead of a general election. The ruling this week to disband the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was expected amid the most severe crackdown on freedom and human rights in two decades. The Government of Hun Sen, the Prime Minister and a firebrand former Khmer Rouge fighter who has held office for 32 years, had already accused the CNRP of plotting a US-backed revolution. The party’s leader, Kem Sokha, was jailed in September. After a horrific genocide in the seventies, when the Khmer Rouge under dictator Pol Pot killed as many as 3 million people, Cambodia has functioned nominally as a democracy since 1993. Analysts say the dissolution of the opposition reveals Sen’s desire to cling to power after a surge in the CNRP’s popularity. “This is the end of democracy in Cambodia. We have not done anything wrong. We have fought for democracy. They have killed the will of more than three million people in Cambodia,” said Yim Sovann, CNRP spokesman, referring to the party’s support in June’s local elections.
Greece’s fire department says two more people have been reported missing after deadly flash flooding west of Athens that has killed at least 16 people. The fire service said last night it is now searching for a total of six people missing in the district of Mandra, on the western outskirts of the Greek capital. The flash floods, which came after an overnight storm, turned roads into raging torrents of mud that flung cars against buildings, inundated homes and businesses and submerged part of a major highway.