Rightwing Blogger hits Al Franken

Blogger targets Al Franken in Minnesota Senate race
Posted: 02:28 PM ET

A blogger has taken a particular interest in Al Franken's Senate campaign.

EAGAN, Minnesota (AP) — Senate candidate Al Franken wants to talk about jobs, health care and global warming. Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb wants to talk about Franken's failure to pay all his income taxes on time.

Guess what everyone is talking about?

From the kitchen table in his tranquil suburban neighborhood, Brodkorb for the last year has used his blog "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" to launch a furious political assault on Franken. He's labeled the former comedian and liberal commentator a "mean-spirited and un-Minnesotan" candidate who's running a "desperate and ridiculous" campaign.

That's routine stuff in the world of political blogging, but in the last two months Brodkorb has scored two direct hits that have the Franken campaign reeling. Brodkorb scooped the traditional media by detailing extensive bookkeeping problems in New York and California that ultimately prompted Franken, this week, to pay about $70,000 in back taxes to 17 states.

The stories have knocked Franken off balance as he prepares to take on Sen. Norm Coleman, in what's expected to be one of the most expensive and toughest-fought U.S. Senate races this year.


Democrats have tried to downplay Brodkorb by portraying him as part of coordinated Republican attacks.

"When people talk about the right wing noise machine, that's what it is," said Franken spokesman Andy Barr.

But even some of his harshest critics admit Brodkorb, who has no real counterweight on the left, has been effective.

A typical Brodkorb scoop is splashed across his Web site under bold-faced banners like "Shock!" or "Breaking News!" The items are often followed soon after by a news release from the state Republican Party on the same subject, and many of his themes find their way into Coleman's talking points.

Watch out Al, you're in big trouble!!!!!

:sarcasm:

Sounds like bullshit. But if true, damn Al! How did you let that happen? You must have known they'd be looking for filth.

For entertainers, there is a crazy quilt of regulations that govern taxable events. That's why even the lowest rung comedian had better have a good agent (to handle bookings), accountant (to watch the agent), and attorney (to watch the accountant).

Franken, a resident of Minnesota, plays a gig in New York City (for example), and gets paid for it. He has to worry about his Minnesota income tax, his New York State earnings, probably a New York City entertainment tax, the folks selling his tickets were based in New Jersey, and those "convenience" fees have to be accounted for, and he had some advertising done for the gig in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware, as well as in New York and New Jersey. What money is taxable, and by whom? What expenses are deductible, and where? It's not really a question of "letting" something happen; it can take a long time before everyone figures out just what taxes are owed to which taxing authorities.

It's pretty complicated, and anyone in the entertainment business knows this. While $70,000 sounds like a lot to you and me, it's really pretty small beer considering the number of taxing agencies standing around with their hand out. The blog guy in Minnesota either doesn't know what he's talking about when he makes a big stink about this, or does know and doesn't really care because it makes Franken look bad. What's most appalling is the traction blog guy gets from media outlets that really do know better. Would that we could get the same sort of coverage for, I dunno, torture authorized as official government policy at the highest levels of our government. Or John McCain's continuing inability to figure out who's a Sunni and who's a Shiite and why it makes a difference when treating with nations in the Middle East.