Sen. Al Franken Kissed and Groped Leeann Tweeden Without Consent

The blowback of sexual harassment charges that began with Harvey Weinstein has now reached the U.S. Senate.

The latest is what Senator Al Franken did in 2006 to Leeann Tweeden (in her own words to KABC TalkRadio):

In December of 2006, I embarked on my ninth USO Tour to entertain our troops, my eighth to the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks. My father served in Vietnam and my then-boyfriend (and now husband, Chris) is a pilot in the Air Force, so bringing a ‘little piece of home’ to servicemembers stationed far away from their families was both my passion and my privilege.

Also on the trip were country music artists Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, Keni Thomas, and some cheerleaders from the Dallas Cowboys. The headliner was comedian and now-senator, Al Franken.

On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, “We need to rehearse the kiss.” I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again. I said something like, ‘Relax Al, this isn’t SNL…we don’t need to rehearse the kiss.’ 

He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable. 

He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth. 

I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time. 

I felt disgusted and violated. 

But he didn’t stop there. 

The tour wrapped and on Christmas Eve we began the 36-hour trip home to L.A. After 2 weeks of grueling travel and performing I was exhausted. When our C-17 cargo plane took off from Afghanistan I immediately fell asleep, even though I was still wearing my flak vest and Kevlar helmet. 

It wasn’t until I was back in the US and looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer that I saw this one: 

I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep. 

I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated. 

How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny? 

Today, I am the news anchor on McIntyre in the Morning on KABC Radio in Los Angeles. My colleagues are some of the most supportive people I’ve ever worked with in my career. Like everyone in the media, we’ve been reporting on the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations since they broke, and the flood of similar stories that have come out about others.

The best course of action for Sen. Franken is to resign or be removed.

To read more, go here. 

L.A.'s Red-Light Camera Scam: It Was "Voluntary" All Along!

This evening, I was listening to KABC-AM Talk Radio and a subject was announced that caught my attention: the red-light photo ticket program has been killed by the Los Angeles City Council. But the part that caught my attention was that paying the ticket was "voluntary" all along. What?!








According to the Los Angeles Times:

City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay.

The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday. Even if the program is shut down, it will be little consolation to the tens of thousands like Brickman who already paid fines.

The city dropped the program today.

I am one of those who paid a red-light camera ticket earlier this year. The fine: $476.

The Times' article goes on:

Legal questions about how intensely the city can enforce red-light camera tickets have been circulating at City Hall for months, and some officials have been publicly decrying the problem for some time. But many motorists were shocked this week to read reports that the Los Angeles Police Commission and elected officials consider payment of the hefty fines and fees to be "voluntary."

I called into KABC-AM Talk Radio tonight and was the first caller put on the air on this topic. I said that this revelation "smelled like a rotten fish" and people who paid the tickets should start a class-action lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the red-light camera ticket contractor for being coerced into paying "under false pretenses." It was also revealed that a number of city council members took campaign money from the contractor. Big surprise!

The final paragraph in the Los Angeles Times article (which I read after my call into KABC) said that a class-action lawsuit is being looked into:

Although refunds may not yet be available to those like Brickman who paid their tickets, Sherman Ellison, an attorney who has dealt with "hundreds" of such traffic cases, said some class-action lawyers are watching the Los Angeles County situation closely and determining whether there would be grounds for a lawsuit to recover red-light camera penalties.

If Ellison decides to proceed, he can count me in!

To read the full article go here.