Franken names chief of staff

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

Last update: April 29, 2009 - 11:15 AM

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For the second time this month, Al Franken has announced a staff member for a U.S. Senate office that still isn't quite his.

Franken's campaign said today he plans to hire Drew Littman, a longtime Capitol Hill staffer, as his chief of staff.

According to the campaign, Littman served as head of Franken's informal transition team, a job he has performed for a half-dozen other newly-elected Senators.

Last week, Franken said he plans to hire longtime DFL activist Alana Peterson to serve as his state director, a move clearly intended to position him as the likely winner of the still-unresolved contest with Republican Norm Coleman.

Littman has worked on Capitol Hill since 1989, as a policy aide for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and as a lobbyist for several self-described progressive groups. He is an adjunct professor at American University.

In a news release, Franken is quoted as saying Littman will help him "hit the ground running" -- the same phrase he used to describe Peterson.

The longest election in state history is now in the hands of the Minnesota Supreme Court, which will hold a hearing on June 1 of Coleman's appeal of a lower court decision that Franken had won the election by 312 votes.