RJC not giving up Coleman fight

Capital J

By Eric Fingerhut · January 5, 2009

Al Franken may have been declared the winner of the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota Monday, but the Republican Jewish Coalition is not giving up the fight for Norm Coleman.

Echoing the statements of party leaders, RJC executive director Matt Brooks told JTA Monday that his organization will back the legal efforts of Norm Coleman until the election is "resolved in a fair and equiable way."

"There are so many irregularities and so many inconsistencies" in the vote count, said Brooks.

The RJC has been raising money for Coleman since the recount began two months ago.

Coleman "is part of our family," said Brooks, noting that the Minnesota Republican was a member of the RJC before he was even elected to the Senate.

The Republican is expected to file a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the results. His campaign claims that 150 ballots from Democratic-leaning areas were counted twice, more than 650 absentee ballots were improperly rejected and another 130 ballots were included in the count even though they were lost after the election.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid called the election "over" and reportedly wants to try to seat Franken this week, even before the result is officially certified by the Minnesota secretary of state and governor.