Published Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Minnesota rules for Franken in Senate fight

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

Newnan native Mark Ritchie, who is secretary of state in Minnesota, says he is ready to sign the paperwork that will make Al Franken a U.S. senator after a months-long recount.

A unanimous Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Franken, a Democrat, should be certified the winner of the Senate race. Minnesota’s high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman.

“We affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under (Minnesota law) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota,” the court wrote in its 5-0 ruling.

Tuesday’s decision could have major impact nationally. With Franken and the usual backing of two independents, Democrats will have a big enough majority to overcome Republican filibusters in the Senate.

The election certificate also requires Ritchie’s signature. Ritchie, 57, a Democrat, told Associated Press on Tuesday he was ready to sign it “as soon as the governor issues it.”

Coleman conceded to Franken later in the day Tuesday, ending a nearly eight-month recount and court fight over an election decided by only a few hundred votes. Coleman announced his decision at a news conference in St. Paul hours after the ruling.

“The Supreme Court has made its decision and I will abide by the results,” Coleman told reporters outside his St. Paul home.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the wire service the earliest Franken would be seated is next week, because the Senate is out of session for the July 4 holiday.

“I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Ritchie has spent much of his life working for farmers and farm communities, and — in an interview with The Times-Herald last year — said the values that guided him come partly from Newnan. “It’s what my grandparents did and what my father did,” he said.

Ritchie’s father, Alfred Ritchie, was a military man who later worked in agriculture. Ritchie’s mother, Sarah Ellen Young Ritchie, grew up in Newnan. Her parents did various things to make a living, including making mattresses, but also farmed.

Growing up, Ritchie visited Newnan often — coming to see his grandparents each summer and often at Christmas. He usually gets to the local area for an annual family reunion.

Ellen Ritchie’s parents were Ezra T. Young and Curtis Rogers Young. “My mother’s family had been in Coweta County for 100 or more years,” Ritchie said last year.

Along with getting a teaching degree, Ritchie followed in his father’s path and studied biochemistry and biophysics.

Ritchie worked for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, addressing issues impacting family farmers and rural communities. For 20 years, he was president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a Minnesota-based public research center. The goal of the IATP was to create networks of people and organizations to bring environmental and economic sustainability to Minnesota.

In 2003 Ritchie led National Voice, a national coalition of more than 2,000 community organizations. National Voice worked to increase non-partisan civic engagement and voter participation.

Ritchie and his wife, Nancy Gaschott, met while attending a meeting of cooperative representatives in California. Gaschott was born in Queens and grew up on Long Island. They have been married 25 years and live in Minneapolis.

(Associated Press contributed to this story.)