Friday, November 24, 2017

Two more women accuse Franken of inappropriate touching

Oy, not again
Two more women, not familiar with each other, have come forward and told the Huffington Post that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) touched their buttocks in separate buttock touching incidents. This brings the sexual misconduct incident allegations against Al Franken to four, so far.

Radio host Leeann Tweeden wrote last week that Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour.

On Monday, Lindsay Menz said Franken groped her butt at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, after being elected as a senator.

The two women had remarkably similar stories and both spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions. Both had also been telling their stories over the years, which lends credibility to them.

In a sweat-stained statement to HuffPost, Franken said, "It's difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don't remember those campaign events."

The first woman, a 38-year-old book editor who lived in Minneapolis at the time said Franken groped her when they posed for a photo after a June 2007 event hosted by the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus in Minneapolis. She wanted a photo with Franken because her mother "loves him" and wanted to give her the photo.

Two women close to the first woman corroborated her story.

"My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz's story," she said. "He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op."

The second woman said that weird Al cupped her butt with his hand at a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis. He also suggest they visit the bathroom together.

"My immediate reaction was disgust," the second woman said. "But my secondary reaction was disappointment. I was excited to be there and to meet him. And so to have that happen really deflated me. It felt like: 'Is this really the person who is going to be in a position of power to represent our community'"

Franken  told HuffPost, "I can categorically say that I did not proposition anyone to join me in any bathroom." 

Okay, so he calls it a 'washroom.'

The first woman said that Franken is a "serial groper" and that's why she wanted to tell her story. "Only two people have come forward and people are saying that this is a right-wing conspiracy," she said. "It's not. I'm not a liberal person. ... I voted for him after this happened."

The second woman, who said she was groped at a fundraiser, said it took place in the fall of 2008 at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She was excited about attending the event. She was looking forward to looking to meeting someone she wanted to support.

"I had never attended anything like that," she said. 

She and her friends found Franken and introduced themselves to him.

"I shook his hand, and he put his arm around my waist and held it there," the second woman said. "Then he moved it lower and cupped my butt. I was completely mortified."

Franken is such a classy guy.

The woman had to escape Franken's clutches by excusing herself to go to the bathroom. It was then that he leaned in and suggested that he go with her. She grabbed a friend and ran to the bathroom leaving Franken behind, all sweaty and disgusting.

Since the incident, the woman told several people about what happened but didn't want to report it at the time.

I felt like I didn't have a voice," she began. "This man had all of the power, all of the authority. In addition, he is a white man and I am a woman of color. I was 21 years old. And I was afraid that he would use all of those privileges to discredit me, to make me feel even smaller than I already felt."

Now she's more confident thanks in large part to the many women who have come forward to share stories of sexual harassment by men in power.

What Franken is alleged to have done is not as bad as what Roy Moore is alleged to have done, but in both cases a power dynamic is clear. Also, in both cases the allegations of both men's behavior seem true based on corroborative accounts by the alleged victims.

Should Franken and Moore resign?

I believe they should and I also believe the names of others who have been protected with secrecy need to be made public. We pay their salaries; they work for us, it's time to take our government back from the politicians, even if we have to 'clean house' and Senate. 



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