Speaking of Coleman vs. Franken, I wonder if this late surprise will get any traction. This is exactly the kind of thing that could swing a senate race at the very end. If Franken ends up winning by a decent margin, you have to think this story gave him a boost. http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/33615689.html?page=1&c=y Suit alleges ally funneled $75,000 to the Colemans The senator's camp denied the claim, calling it a "vicious, defamatory attack." By PAUL MCENROE and TONY KENNEDY, Star Tribune staff writers Last update: October 31, 2008 - 10:43 AM A Texas businessman has filed a lawsuit alleging that Minnesota multimillionaire Nasser Kazeminy used his Houston marine company to funnel $75,000 to Sen. Norm Coleman last year via a Minneapolis insurance company that employs the senator's wife. Coleman adamantly denies the claims in the lawsuit. "This is a vicious, defamatory attack on the senator and his wife less than one week before the election," Cullen Sheehan, Coleman's campaign manager, said Thursday. Coleman addressed the suit at a brief press conference this morning in Moorhead, where he is campaigning for reelection. He says he believes Minnesotans will "see it for what it is -- sleazy politics -- and reject it out of hand." The company, Deep Marine Technology, is controlled by Kazeminy, a close friend of Coleman's and a longtime campaign contributor. The allegations about Coleman were among the claims in the suit over corporate practices filed Monday by Deep Marine's former CEO, Paul McKim, who founded the company in 2001. The suit was withdrawn later Monday during a flurry of settlement negotiations but was refiled Thursday after those talks failed, said Casey Wallace, a lawyer for McKim. Robert Weinstine, listed in the lawsuit as Kazeminy's Minneapolis attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Wallace said the timing of the lawsuit -- filed nine days before the election in one of the hardest-fought U.S. Senate races in the country -- had "absolutely nothing to do with politics." Coleman, a Republican, is in a tight race against Democratic challenger Al Franken. Asked why he didn't wait until after Election Day to file the lawsuit, Wallace said, "Because it had nothing to do with the election.'' Wallace said that in late July, Kazeminy excluded McKim, who was then chief executive officer, from the company's daily operations and asked him to stay away for 90 days. Kazeminy controls a majority of the company's stock. During that time, other minority shareholders sought changes at Deep Marine, Wallace said. He said when those efforts failed and the 90 days expired, the suit was filed. The lawsuit, based on a sworn statement by McKim, alleges the money intended for Coleman was sent last year in three $25,000 installments to the Hays Companies of Minneapolis, the insurance brokerage that employs Coleman's wife, Laurie. The suit alleges that Kazeminy created the arrangement to provide financial assistance to the senator -- not to obtain insurance services -- by disguising the payments as legitimate business transactions between Deep Marine and Hays. The suit alleges that McKim refused to approve the fourth payment to Hays, against the direction of Kazeminy. "It's patently false," Sheehan said of the payment allegations. "It's over the top, bizarre." The alleged payments to Hays were for invoices received by Deep Marine on May 16, June 1 and Sept. 4, the suit alleges. A fourth invoice from Hays was received by Deep Marine on Dec. 11, but McKim blocked the $25,000 payment from being made, according to the suit. "Laurie Coleman never provided any type of services or products to DMT, nor has any other person on behalf of Hays provided any type of services to DMT,'' the suit alleges. Laurie Coleman did not respond to an interview request. State commerce records show she has been a registered insurance agent since October 2006. Jim Hays, owner of the Hays Companies, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Dan Walseth, said Hays Companies has "a fee arrangement with them [Deep Marine] ... to provide insurance advice with them. I don't want to go any further than that." In 2005, Coleman disclosed on Senate ethics forms that Kazeminy had provided $2,870 in flights for the Colemans. The Associated Press contributed to this report. pmcenroe@startribune.com. • 612-673-1745 tonyk@statribune.com • 612-673-4213#
More campaign craziness regarding the lawsuit against Norm Coleman. On the local news tonight they reported that Norm Coleman is accusing Al Franken of being behind the lawsuit and has accused Franken of crossing a line by going after his wife. Rudy Guiliani campaigning today for Coleman has repeated the charge and Norm Coleman has started running an ad with the same accusation. Franken has countered by running an ad saying Coleman is lying and that he, Franken, has nothing to do with the suit. According to local Minneapolis CBS affiliate there is no evidence supporting Coleman's charge and in fact the person bringing the suit is a Republican.
I'm very much anti-Franken. But if Coleman's accusation is baseless, I hope this swings the election he loses decisively. The pattern of that kind of garbage is why I'm so anti-Republican right now. The party needs to be incinerated and re-started from scratch.
I can't believe Lieberman was the Dem VP nominee in 2000...what a traitor. Hopefully his vote isn't needed anymore.
Sounds like Coleman's own penchant for filing lawsuits against his opponents (Wellstone and Humphrey) is coming back to haunt him. Karma is a b****.
NBC just projected that Elizabeth Dole lost the NC race. Kay Hagan has won, and Dole is out. After her incredibly underhanded campaign, this couldn't be better news.
That also means bye-bye to Holy Joe, who is now free to move tot he Repubs. Also, he will no longer have a committee chairmanship... something he did nothing with when it came to holding Bush accountable, but would probably use to embarrass an Obama administration.
I'm mildly disappointed in Noriega's defeat. I guess I saw it coming. I thought he had a great chance...just didn't have the strong enough ground game in end and couldn't match up $ for $ with Bush's lapdog. I'm really very disappointed in the congressional district I used to live in...District 10. How in the hell do they reelect McCaul? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
