State Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, who in recent weeks has publicly spearheaded Republican attacks on Al Franken, was in Washington today to call upon Senate Democrats to condemn Franken for his comedic musings on rape.

According to state Republican officials, Brod held a news conference this afternoon outside the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and asked DSCC chair Charles Schumer, the New York senator, to condemn Franken’s 1995 remarks and terminate the committee’s support for the campaign.

The letter is signed by Brod, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former State Auditor Pat Anderson, party activist Mary Igo and GOP political analyst Annette Meeks.

Democrats recently criticized the McCain campaign for a fundraiser planned by Texas oilman Clayton Williams, who made a joke about rape during his 1990 gubernatorial campaign against Ann Richards. McCain later canceled the fundraiser.

During a brainstorming session with writers for Saturday Night Live in 1995, according to a book, Franken proposed a bizarre skit with “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney raping correspondents Lesley Stahl and Mike Wallace. Nothing came of the idea and the skit was never aired.

Addressed to Schumer, the letter expresses “dismay that you turn a blind eye to a man who thinks that the rape of women would be appropriate humor at any time or in any context. Why are Al Franken’s jokes about drugging and raping women acceptable to you?”

It concludes by asking that Schumer end the DSCC’s support for Franken, “whose vulgarity has gone beyond the bounds of decency.”

Local GOP spokeswoman Gina Countryman conceded that Brod could have delivered the same message without leaving town. But going to Washington, she said, helps ensure the letter “doesn’t end up in the circular file of the DSCC.”

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