Daily Digest: Franken says he’s going back to work
Good morning, and welcome back to work. It's Cyber Monday or just plain Monday, as I like to call it. Here's the Digest.
1. In his first interview since allegations of sexual misconduct against him, DFL Sen. Al Franken told MPR News Sunday he felt shocked, embarrassed and ashamed but that he will not leave the Senate. “I’m going to do my job and I’m going to go forward. I’m going to take responsibility. I’m going to be held accountable and I’m going to try to be productive in the way I speak about this.” Franken said he was taking responsibility for his behavior and that he has apologized to the women who have accused him.“I have been reflecting on this,” the two term senator said. “I want to be a better man.” When asked whether other accusers may come forward, he replied that he couldn’t say. “This has been a shock to me.” (MPR News)
2. From the moment she arrived at the Capitol about a decade ago, criminal justice lobbyist Sarah Walker said she felt sexually pursued by Republican Rep. Tony Cornish. In her first on-the-record interview, Walker described to MPR News on Sunday “unrelenting and never-ending” comments by the powerful lawmaker that ranged from comments on her looks to outright propositions for sex. Cornish, of Vernon Center, will resign by the end of this week under an agreement crafted by his attorneys and a lawyer hired by Walker after she anonymously raised the accusations earlier this month. A special election has yet to be scheduled to pick a replacement. Her decision to speak publicly now underscores what she says is a deeper mission to root out similar misconduct at the state Capitol. Walker called for a wide-ranging independent investigation of sexual harassment that she says would provide more due process for both victims and the lawmakers they would accuse. (MPR News)
3. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, heading into his final year in office, says he is ready to make a major concession to Republican leaders in the Legislature in order to win approval of several major initiatives on his wish list. The governor said he will no longer insist that they repeal some recently enacted tax cuts and policy provisions in order to restore the House and Senate operating budgets. Dayton line-item vetoed those budgets in May, triggering a constitutional standoff. He said he’ll still fight against the GOP’s tobacco tax reductions and other provisions he opposes, but he made it clear he’s ready to restore the Legislature’s full funding. (Star Tribune)
4. A big goal of the tax overhaul effort in Washington is to convince U.S. companies to bring home money they have parked in off-shore tax havens. U.S. companies have $2.6 trillion in earnings booked to foreign subsidiaries, including more than $55 billion by Minnesota companies with corporate or operational headquarters in the state, according to federal securities filings. These earnings have not been taxed in the U.S. Proposed tax reforms require corporations to pay a deeply discounted one-time tax on these foreign profits. The Senate plan sets the so-called “repatriation” rates at 10 percent on cash and cash equivalents and 5 percent on illiquid assets. Equivalent rates in the House plan are 14 and 7 percent. Each plan lets America’s corporate sector repatriate foreign earnings for hundreds of billions of dollars less than they would have owed the U.S. government under current rules. (Star Tribune)
5. How are those Sunday liquor store sales going? In Duluth the answer is, so-so. "It's just kind of a wash I think," said Tim Peterson, owner of Woodland Liquors in Duluth. Local spirits sellers are reporting a mixed bag when it comes to selling on Sundays, which the Minnesota Legislature has allowed them to do since July. "A lot of people came in that first Sunday just because they could — the novelty of it — and it's staying pretty steady," Peterson said. "The electricity is already on anyway. It's kind of a one-person day." (Duluth News Tribune)
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