This is sure to endear Coleman to many of his supporters:
Coleman supporters’ private info likely breached
In other news: Franken to rest in Minn. Senate case
Franken rests. It’s up to the judges now.
And the appeals.
More information on the situation Squink linked to: Coleman’s unsecured donor database revealed on Wikileaks
So, they violated the law in not only failing to encrypt donor’s credit card information, but they also stored tehe cards’ 3-digit security codes, which no one is ever allowed to store for any purpose, encrypted or not.
And beyond that, some unknown party downloaded all this information in January. The Coleman campaign has not responded in any way, did not tell anyone that their credit card information was compromised. Unbelievable.
Not correct.
They were all over the news last night, demanding a “Federal investigation”, claiming it was politically motivated, and trying very hard to imply that Franken’s campaign was behind it (but carefully not actually saying that – they know Franken has some tough lawyers).
They just haven’t responded in terms of fixing their insecure website, or notifying their donors of the security breach. At least not in a timely way last January when it happened – I assume they have done something about it now.
In California there is a law requiring such breaches be reported in a timely fashion - do you have a law like that? It might be another violation.
I hadn’t heard of the unsecured database before - what a shoemaker.
this can’t be a reference to Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashing into jupiter, can it?
What’s it really mean?
Predates that. It is from a former colleague of mine, from Cicero, IL, who used it all the time. I did work in a place where one of the managers was named Shoemaker, but he really wasn’t sufficiently clueless. I’ve always liked it since it just sounds like a good insult to me.
Yes, they are supposed to notify them within 48 hours (325E.61). On top of that, I would find it likely that the CC companies may revoke their ability to collect money. (Kinda doubt it, since on the off chance Norm does make it back to the senate)
“Dirty tricks” was the term the Coleman campaign used on the radio to describe what the incident might have been. They didn’t say who pulled the dastardly deed, however. I guess conservatives are left to ponder what Saturday Night Live alum might be implicated here.
I wonder if any of Coleman’s high-profile contributers such as Karl Rove, liberal media baron Stanley Hubbard or most of the U.S. Senate Republican contingency used their credit cards when they contributed to Coleman’s challenge fund.
The next step is the MN Supreme Court, which has to take the appeal, but which will uphold the decision in favor of Franken.
After that, Coleman can try to go the federal route (my impression was that the next stop would be SCOTUS, but maybe they have to go through a circuit court first), but the federal courts don’t have to hear it, and the consenus (about SCOTUS anyway) is that they won’t bother.
After that, Coleman is talking about a possible Equal Protection lawsuit, which would still go nowhere but could still delay and stall, and keep Franken from being able to take his seat, which is the only goal anymore.
Even if Coleman somehow managed to miraculously steal the election back from Franken, I don’t think the Senate Dems would ever accept his certification and would refuse to seat him. The one and only goal of this whole process is to try to keep the Dems that one more seat away from cloture, and they’ll stall all the way to the 2010 Midterm if they can.
I know state law says a certificate can’t be issued until the election contest is over, does that include appeals? I wouldn’t think so. Assuming Franken wins, I’d guess he’ll get the election certificate issued and be seated, regardless of the appeals process. Kinda like a criminal goes to jail even while appeals are being worked on.
In the event that the appeal on Equal Protection wins, won’t they have to have a new election anyway?
I think the law is worded in such a way that the Governor doesn’t have to certyify until the election is “decided,” and that Pawlenty is basically using any and all ongoing appeals and delays as cover for saying the election is still “undecided.” This is something else that would probably have to be decided by a court, though. Franken has already lost one attempt to ask the courts to force Pawlenty to certify.
I have no idea what the remedy would be, but since it would have ramifications for many more elections in many more states than just Coleman-Franken, I doubt a new election would be ordered (it would mean even having to redo the Presidential election in some states). I think it would be too catastrophic a remedy, and I think the case is exceedingly weak on the merits anyway. Different methods of counting does not equal different “standards,” the way Coleman is alleging, and he would have to prove that voters were actually be disenfranchised by different counting methods. I’ve heard a lot of lawyers talking about this election in the local media here, and none of them seem to think that the EP argument would have any legs.
If Franken wins, he’s going to move to charge Coleman for costs and attorneys’ fees! (In Florida, it is routine for the losing party in civil litigation to be assessed the winner’s costs, but attorney’s fees are much harder to get; it’s probably that way in Minnesota too, it’s the American rule as opposed to the English rule.)
On the basis that it was premature, not that they lacked the authority, though, right?
SCOTUS ruled the opposite in Bush v. Gore, as you know. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch Coleman try to cite that to them as a precedent? 
Kinda. The full ruling is here: http://www.mncourts.gov/opinions/sc/current/OPA090064-0306.pdf
It’s actually a pretty good read. Franken’s position is more nuanced than I originally thought it was.
For someone who’s interested but doesn’t have the legal chops, could you explain in a nutshell his position?
I wonder if he is building seniority at this time?
I don’t believe so, as he hasn’t been seated by the Senate yet. He also is not drawing his Senate salary yet.
P.S. Coleman is not drawing a Senate salary either, since his term ended. But recent info locally is that the reason that he was present in court almost every day of his Election Contest is that he was being paid for this – his campaign committee was paying him as a lawyer at his hourly rate.