Ellison accuser: Democrats have "smeared, threatened, isolated" me

While Democrats take to the airwaves to exhort people to “believe the woman” when it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, they seem oddly silent when it comes to one of their own. Karen Monahan accused deputy DNC chair Rep. Keith Ellison of domestic abuse and battery earlier this summer, and might have expected Democrats inside and outside of Minnesota to rally around her. Instead, Monahan says she’s been “smeared” and “threatened” by her own party in an attempt to protect their nominee for Minnesota Attorney General (via the Daily Caller and Instapundit):

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In case anyone wonders, that has been confirmed as Monahan’s actual Twitter account by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Worth noting: Monahan has been tweeting support for Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford, perhaps understandably sympathetic under the circumstances. Monahan has hardly gone full #MAGA.

That’s not to say that the Strib has been all over the Ellison case, however. After an initial burst of reporting in mid-August when the allegations came out, the paper has barely mentioned Monahan at all. She got a mention in 11 articles between August 13th and August 25th, but her name has only come up once since — and that was in a September 8th puff piece about Ellison’s track record as a political survivor. The framing of the story by Jessie Van Berkel was how Ellison was “trying to move past an allegation of domestic abuse by a former girlfriend.” Her name comes up two paragraphs later, but the topic never comes up again, nor does Van Berkel mention Amy Alexander at all, who called 911 in 2005 after Ellison allegedly got violent with her.

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Monahan may well have gotten smeared and threatened by Democrats after coming forward, but for the most part she’s been ignored. That’s very, very curious, given Ellison’s national profile as the Democratic Party’s #2 official, his current office in the House of Representatives, and now a candidate to become the top law-enforcement official in Minnesota. Unlike the allegation against Kavanaugh, these charges are recent, specific, and the alleger claims to have documentary proof of the abuse/assault, a video which she has thus far not released publicly. Furthermore, there is another on-the-record allegation of similar abuse in 2005, far more recently than the Kavanaugh allegation, when Ellison was not just an adult but a public figure and running for Congress.

And yet, none of the Democrats declaring their belief in Christine Blasey Ford have stood up for Karen Monahan, despite contemporaneous documentary evidence. They’ve danced around that allegation and then stopped talking about it altogether. None of the media has given Monahan a percentage point of the attention afforded to Kavanaugh’s accuser. Supposed DNC and DFL investigations into Ellison’s actions have vanished into thin air, and the media has been curiously incurious about their status. As far as the Strib is concerned, it’s just fodder for a heartwarming story about Ellison’s phlegmatic persistence.

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That seems to be helping Ellison, who finds himself in a dead heat with Doug Wardlow in the AG race:

Democrats have had a vice grip on the office of Minnesota attorney general for 47 years, but the 2018 race for that job is shaping up as the closest in decades. A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll shows Democrat Keith Ellison and Republican Doug Wardlow deadlocked at 41 percent each.

“This is anybody’s race,” said political scientist Steven Schier. “Ellison is vulnerable in a way other Democrats are not.”

Schier said that is largely due to allegations of domestic abuse made against Ellison by a former girlfriend. Ellison has denied the allegations. However, they appear to be having an impact on his campaign.

When asked if the allegations are a “factor” in whether they vote for Ellison, 40 percent said they “are a factor” and 39 percent said they are not. The other 21 percent said they’re not sure.

If Monahan got the same treatment as Ford, Ellison would trail by double digits. It’s not tough to conclude that this is the reason Monahan’s getting ignored by the media and by “believe the women” Democrats.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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