Sen. Cornyn says Senate shouldn’t seat Franken

Senate Republican campaign chief John Cornyn (Texas) said Tuesday the Senate shouldn’t seat Democrat Al Franken, who leads GOP Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) in a hotly contested recount.

“Al Franken is falsely declaring victory based on an artificial lead created on the back of the double counting of ballots,” Cornyn said in a statement. The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee also accused Democrats of “creating additional chaos and disorder” during the recount.

{mosads}“Minnesotans will not accept a recount in which some votes are counted twice, and I expect the Senate would have a problem seating a candidate who has not duly won an election,” the Texas Republican concluded.

Franken’s campaign hit back, pointing out the Democrat never declared victory and accusing Coleman’s campaign of creating the recent chaos.

A statewide canvassing board will begin reviewing the final absentee ballots at issue in the disputed race next week. Franken holds only a double-digit lead in the most recent count.

Cornyn also suggested that seating Franken while an electoral contest continued would be unprecedented, though Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was seated the same way after her 1996 victory.

Regardless of whether Democrats decided to seat Franken, it remains up to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) to sign a formal notification to the Senate stipulating that either candidate is the victor.

Pawlenty’s office has said it does not believe it has the power to appoint a senator to a temporary vacancy; instead, the Republican would only appoint someone to a permanent vacancy.