McFadden: Franken’s mill closing, job-loss ad misleads

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden says an ad DFL Sen. Al Franken is running that links him to deal that cost 400 workers their jobs in Montana is not true.

Franken's dramatic 60-second ad features bleak testimonials from people who lost their jobs when a Montana mill closed. The ad claims McFadden's company helped do the deal.

But McFadden says the company he ran, Lazard Middle Market,  was not involved.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

"We didn't touch this deal," McFadden said. " It was a deal run by the parent company. The ad is patently misleading, and I'm very disappointed in Al Franken for running it."

But Franken says McFadden's company website featured the deal until the ad began running.

An earlier Franken ad claimed McFadden's business is based off-shore in Bermuda for tax purposes. In fact, McFadden's Lazard Middle Market is incorporated in Delaware.

Its parent company is headquartered in Bermuda.