Al Franken should resign or be expelled from the U.S. Senate; and Erin Maye Quade should be appointed to Franken’s Senate seat

Disturbing image shows Franken groping woman who was asleep at a USO event in 2006

I’m not going to post the image in question on here, but there is an image circulating on social media showing Al Franken, who, at the time, was a comedian and is now the junior Democratic-Farmer-Labor U.S. Senator from Minnesota, groping Leeann Tweeden, who, at the time, was a correspondent for the now-cancelled Fox Sports Net program The Best (expletive) Sports Show Period (the show’s actual title contained profanity) and is now a morning radio host for KABC-AM in Los Angeles, while Tweeden was asleep aboard a U.S. military helicopter that was leaving a USO event in Afghanistan in 2006. The picture appears to be completely legitimate, and it depicts an act of sexual assault that occurred in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Armed Forces.

I have read Tweeden’s account of the assault, and I completely believe her account. Franken responded to Tweeden’s account by claiming that the photo depicting Franken sexually assaulting Tweeden by claiming that the photo was “…intended to be funny…”:

I don’t find what Al Franken did to be funny at all. Leeann Tweeden was asleep, and, when one is asleep, one cannot consent to sexual contact of any kind, and Franken sexually assaulted Tweeden while she was asleep. Sexual assault is a serious crime, and I firmly believe that Franken should either resign or face expulsion from the U.S. Senate. There should be a zero tolerance, no excuses policy in regards to perverts in public office.

If and when Franken’s U.S. Senate seat becomes vacant, I believe that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton should appoint Erin Maye Quade to the U.S. Senate. Maye Quade, who is currently a Minnesota State Representative, has helped bring the misogynistic culture of sexual harassment in the Minnesota Legislature to public attention, and, as a Minnesota state legislator, she has been a champion of women and a leader in the fight against sexual harassment.