The Minnesota AFL-CIO is up in arms over a new television ad it characterizes as anti-union for its portrayal of union leaders as corrupted by the mob. The ad, paid for a pro-business group called the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, features Sopranos actor Vince Curatola as a mob boss who refers to Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken as "my pal Al" while criticizing incumbent Norm Coleman's refusal to support the Employee Free Choice Act. An AFL-CIO official described the ad as "demeaning" to union members as well as Franken, and called on Coleman to denounce the ads and have them pulled off the air.
See "AFL-CIO urges Coleman to condemn anti-worker advertising", Steve Share, Twin Cities Dail Planet, July 14, 2008