Franni Franken campaigns for Al
By KURT NESBITT Journal Staff WriterArticle Photos
NEW ULM - Local Democrats shook hands with a Franken who was in New Ulm Wednesday night to campaign for office.
Unlike the DFL gatherings last summer, it wasn't Al. It was Franni, his wife who has made a tour of the entire state stumping for her husband.
Franken met a crowd of about 30 to 40 local DFLers at the Rhein River Arts Center. They turned out to shake hands, chat, hear a short talk about Al Franken's campaign, ask questions and make comments about political issues.
During her remarks, Franken recounted how she met her husband while they were attending college together. She then segued into their children's' activities; both their son and daughter are also campaigning for their father.
That, in turn, transitioned into a short anecdote about Al's background, growing up in St. Louis Park with a modest house and modest car in the 1950s and 1960s.
In those days, Franken said, Minnesota was the best state for education. Now, it is losing jobs. The largest issue is the economy, she said, and Al is watching Congress to see what happens with respect to that issue.
Franni also talked about her own background. Her father was killed in a car accident when she was a teenager. The tragedy left her mother with four children and Social Security survivor's benefits.
She said her husband feels that the role of government is to provide a safety net and to provide opportunities. While Social Security helped the family survive, the federal Pell Grant, which provides financial assistance for college to those who qualify, helped her through college. At one time, the Pell Grant covered 90 percent of the cost of going to college; it now covers only 30 percent, she said. That is another thing that Franken's husband wants to fix.
After her remarks were finished, Franken mostly fielded comments from the audience. Many of them dealt with the foreclosure trend and with the situation on Wall Street.
Franken said her husband believes a government bailout should happen under certain conditions - there should be no "blank check" and there should be more transparency and oversight and a consumer protection agency should be established.
She said Al also believes in a moratorium on foreclosures and that the government should get judges or bankers to renegotiate the loans. She said Al is against "golden parachutes" and excessive compensation for CEOs.
On the subject of negative campaigning, Franken called the practice "nasty and vile." She later responded to a comment about a recent advertisement that talked about the back taxes Al owned in other states.
She said they paid their taxes in the state where they live, instead of in the states "where Al worked for half a day". She said they found the error themselves and paid the money they owned.
"We just paid it in the wrong state," she said.
On the war in Iraq, Franken quoted her husband, who said "We need to withdraw with more care than we did with going in."
Franken said in response to a comment about the state of substance abuse treatment facilities in Minnesota that Al believes in universal coverage programs and thinks it should be up to the states to decide how to implement them. She quoted the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, telling the audience Franken would "let 50 flowers bloom."
