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Planned Parenthood email blasts 'degrading' Franken essay
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DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken took another blow on Thursday with news that Planned Parenthood has gone on the offensive against the comedian for a comic soft-porn piece he once wrote for Playboy magazine.
In an unusual move, a top official with Planned Parenthood sent an email to DFL legislators saying the organization is concerned over "the misogynist remarks of some of these statements and find them degrading to women."
Connie Perpich, the organization's senior legislative director, said in the email that some of Franken's commentary had "gone beyond the bounds of what is appropriate for any candidate for elected office. If half these allegations are true, it is very difficult for us to foresee the Planned Parenthood of Minnesota Action Fund Board endorsing the candidacy of anyone with such extreme perspectives."
Perpich would not comment on the email, which was sent to most DFL legislators on Tuesday.
The discontent among women's groups could be raised further with the revelation this morning that Franken was quoted in a 1995 New York magazine piece brainstorming a comedy skit for Saturday Night Live that involved drugging and raping former CBS reporter Leslie Stahl and raping CBS reporter Mike Wallace.
The Perpich email expressed support for the two Republican legislators, Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, and Sen. Betsy Wergin, R-Princeton, who had publicly criticized Franken for the Playboy essay and other humor they said was derogatory toward women.
"We hope that you will all join us in requesting that the DFL state and party leadership take seriously the offensive nature of these remarks," Perpich said in the email.
Patricia Lopez • 651-222-1288
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