Writing for the New York Times, Molly Ball recently noted that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., “has been sitting on jokes for a decade” and “now he’s ready to tell them” in his new book. No doubt one of the biggest whoppers of the 406-page tome is that the funnyman-turned-senator took lobbying seriously.
Less than two years ago, the Minnesota Democrat was co-sponsoring legislation to make lobbying more difficult, to reduce money in politics. Now a rumored contender for president, Franken admits that lobbyists aren’t all bad, noting that sometime “you’re on the same team.”
The former “Saturday Night Live” personality explains, in sections of his new book, Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, that “more often than not you’re not meeting with [lobbyists] because of a check they wrote, but rather because you’re on the same team.”
Almost like a dark comedy, Franken opens up about a collaborative process where lobbyists and politicians “strategize about how to move the ball forward.” Any campaign contributions that occur as a result aren’t a big deal, Franken would have his readers believe, because “campaign contributions don’t buy votes. What they buy is access.”
A closer look at campaign disclosures shows just exactly who has access and who has been strategizing with Franken these days. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Franken’s teammates include power brokers like George Soros, big unions like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and big banks like UBS Americas.
Always-edgy Franken has made a career of pushing the envelope and exposing social taboos. Honest and almost wholesome by comparison, Franken seems to be telling the truth about how legislation becomes law.
But Franken reassures the worried reader that, while money in politics remains a problem, not all politicians “are bought and paid for.” After fooling around with lobbying for the better part of a decade, it’s not clear if voters will be willing to trust him again.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
