MN Secretary of State Bashes Coleman
“Their goal is to win at any price," Ritchie said of the Coleman campaign. "They’ve invested millions and millions of dollars. We consider this part of the normal political rhetoric. We're used to the political rhetoric being amped up. That’s part of their job — to win at any price.”
These are highly inflammatory remarks from Ritchie, the official tasked with overseeing the contentious recount between Coleman and his Democratic challenger, comedian-turned-candidate Norm Coleman.
As Secretary of State, Ritchie has rebuffed attempts to ensure integrity in the election process, calling Republican concerns about ACORN "desperate." This may be because before becoming Secretary, Ritchie actively worked with ACORN to increase voter registrations through a liberally-leaning umbrella group.
Ritchie has also been unwilling investigate a batch of 32 absentee ballots an election worker "found" in the trunk of her car. Every one of them were marked for Franken.
Coleman is currently asking that voting documents ("tapes") be audited from voting machines that were used on Election Day. Ritchie hasn't decided yet if that will be done. Perhaps he thinks keeping the elections clean is too high of a "price" to pay this cycle.