The other day, the MN GOP got its undies in a bunch over some money Charlie Rangel (D-NY) gave to Minnesota Democrats Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Tim Walz, and Al Franken. According to MudSlingerMike's spokestool Luke Hellier at Minnesota Democrats Exposed, here's the breakdown:
Donations To Minnesota Democrats From Rangel's National Leadership PAC:
Tim Walz Received $15,000 In 2006 & 2008. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Al Franken Received $10,000 In 2008. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Keith Ellison Received $7,000 In 2006. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Betty McCollum Received $5,000 In 2000. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Now, there's a reason I always say "Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP" - and here's today's example.
And here's a cut 'n paste about merely one example of some really, Really, REALLY tainted dough ol' Smokescreen, who was essentially court-certified as The Fourth Most Corrupt Senator, took:
Norm Coleman got dirty money from Alaska
The Big E's picture
Submitted by The Big E on October 5, 2007 - 11:40am.
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has received $6,000 from VECO Corp executives. Norm may complain about Al Franken getting Hollywood money, but Norm is flush with dirty Alaskan oil money.
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VECO founder Bill Allen and former company vice president Rick Smith have pleaded guilty to bribing public officials. They also admitted running a company "special bonus program" that steered money to favored candidates, violated federal tax laws and sent untold amounts of corporate money into political coffers.
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Coleman's office said his campaign books were closed and the money was already spent. (MnBlue.com)
OK, "Coleman's office said..." Hmmm - I wonder who at Coleman's office said that? Thank God for google!
Coleman spokesman Mark Drake said the Minnesota senator is rejecting Democrats' calls that he donate to charity an amount equal to the $6,000 that his campaign got from Allen, Smith and two other Veco executives on July 9, 2002, because that money "has been spent and is not an issue." (AnchorageDailyNews.com)
Hmmm...hmmm...Mark Drake....Mark Drake.... Hey! Is that THIS "Mark Drake"??!?
Communications
Mark Drake
Communications Director
mhd@mngop.com
(MnGOP.com)
So, the same "Mark Drake" that defended Norm Coleman over campaign donations, is now the Communications Director for a GOP that is demanding that some Democrats do what Coleman wouldn't??!?
It turns out we won't have former senator Norm Coleman to kick around in the Minnesota Governor's race. I guess I can re-mothball the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter.
I love Minnesota and I love public service, but this is not the right time for me and my family to conduct a campaign for Governor.
Timing is everything. The timing on this race is both a bit too soon and a bit too late. It is too soon after my last race and too late to do a proper job of seeking the support of delegates who will decide in which direction our party should go. The commitments I have to my family and the work I am currently engaged in do not allow me to now go forward.
(Norm's Facebook page)
In the Republican party, the choosing of candidates is based less on grassroots and more on money. Right now, even the possibility of Norm Coleman running has large contributors holding back their contributions. This means a self-fulfilling prophecy because then many GOP candidates have to drop out. One of the first drop out candidates is Pat Anderson, who is announcing her change to the auditors race today. Craig Stellmacher from the Uptake captured this announcement:
Norm Coleman still has high negative reactions even among his own party. The people from the Teabag movement do not see Norm Coleman as worthy. So the Norm Coleman campaign is going to feel like a rerun TV show. Yet any other Republican might have to fight hard to stop the inertia of same old, same old Norm! I wonder if any other Republican has that kind of fighting power. What do you think?
The Star Tribune published a commentary by former Republican state party chair Ron Ebensteiner today. He admits that Al Franken "outstrategized" Norm in the campaign and in the recount. He admits that Norm couldn't win even with the "prevailing political winds" behind him. Aside from all the factual inaccuracies in his commentary, I couldn't disagree with him more.
I most definitely want former senator Norm Coleman to join the Minnesota Governor's race (MN-GOV).
As we start the New Year, there has been much conversation about the possibility of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman entering the race for governor. As a former state Republican Party chairman and longtime observer of Minnesota politics, I believe it would be a bad idea both for Coleman and for Minnesota. I write these difficult words as one who strongly supported Norm's historic election victory in 2002, a campaign that left me with a great deal of admiration for his remarkable communication skills and sensitivity to the mood of Minnesotans. Words cannot express how emphatically I wish Norm were still my U.S. senator. Yet there are very clear reasons why Norm no longer represents Minnesota in the Senate, reasons with unmistakable relevance and consequences that resonate statewide, leading me to the inevitable conclusion that he should sit this campaign out.
Let's start with the first factual inaccuracy and this is just the opening paragraph. How could such a few number of words have so many inaccuracies?
"...as one who strongly supported Norm's historic election victory in 2002, a campaign that left me with a great deal of admiration for his remarkable communication skills and sensitivity to the mood of Minnesotans."
Isn't the only reason that Norm won in 2002 because Wellstone died a few weeks before the election? And didn't Norm and the right wing noise machine seize upon Wellstone's funeral and use it for political gain?
"Sensitivity to the mood Minnesotans?" Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he and his fellow Republicans twisted what a grieving son said about his father into a sledge with which they bashed the Democratic replacement candidate Walter Mondale?
Ohhhh ... right ... I forgot ... didn't Ebensteiner orchestrate it?
So much for ringing in the new year with the new. I have heard several people repeating rumors that former Senator Norm Coleman will be joining the Republican race for Minnesota Governor (MN-GOV). Consequently, I'll be bringing the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter back online and repurposing it for Norm's 2010 gubernatorial run.
The best part of all this is that Norm has already lost the MN-GOV race once. Some of you may recall a certain wrestler who beat him in a three way race in 1998.
A report from a reader about a political survey -- and this poll sounds legit, as opposed to the dreck the Republican Party of Minnesota has been putting out on the phones.
I thought I'd pass on a tip that I received a political survey this evening, and while they wouldn't say who paid for it, I'd put money on Norm Coleman. The number was 202-870-5104. I think they said their org was the Capitol Report or something similar (should have written that down earlier). They asked for right track/wrong track for Minnesota, biggest issue, favorable or unfavorable on Pawlenty, Emmer, Anderson, Norm, Rybak and Dayton, which Republican I would prefer, which Democrat I would prefer, head-to-heads with Rybak and Dayton vs. Norm, feelings on the recount (should Norm have dropped out? Or was it his right to challenge results?), and the claim that 11,000 ballots hadn't been counted in recount: if they had been counted, who did I think would have won?
That's my basic memory of the call. I'd take that as a strong indication that this was sponsored by Norm and was being used to gauge whether or not he should get in or not.
The fact that the head-to-heads involving Norm Coleman were asked might indeed be an indication that Coleman himself is polling the field to figure out if he should jump in -- that possibility is reinforced by the ask about the 2008 Senate race and feelings about how that ordeal ended.
If it is indeed Coleman polling the race, I doubt we'll see any of these numbers published anywhere. Which is too bad, I'd love to see how this one shakes out.
As I've previously mentioned, it would be a great move for Coleman to jump into this race -- for the Democratic nominee. This is a guy who has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in statewide races twice, and a third time barely beat a recently deceased opponent and his surrogate.
Those DFL candidates mentioned in that poll should be licking their chops at the possibility of facing Norm.
(I'd like to welcome Hegemommy to the MN Progressive Project ranks. I think you'll appreciate her posts on the nexis between politics, law and business. - promoted by The Big E)
How do we reward steadily increasing profits, even in the face of widespread economic downturn? If you're Thompson-Reuters you eliminate about 10% of your staff.
In the face of nearly a billion dollars of profit in the last fiscal year, and hot on the heels of $61 million in bonus payments, Thompson-Reuters let go 120 workers in what the company said was a response to the "changing landscape of the legal profession."
In many ways the legal landscape is changing. The widespread economic downturn has many lawyers rethinking the benefit of the billable hour as clients are no longer willing to pay $200 for a phone call. But like many other white-collar professions, more and more legal jobs are being sent overseas meaning that local attorneys are now competing for jobs with call-centers overseas. The result has been the emergence of a permalancer culture in the law--an entire workforce of highly educated, highly trained workers forced into independent contracting jobs for $26 an hour.
That means Thompson-Reuters has joined the ranks of those lowering the bar for good jobs for Minnesotans. This matters in a metro-area with four lawschools producing hundreds of new attorneys every year. The tighter the competition for legal jobs the more these workers will spill into other professions, squeezing from the top down any available jobs. The result is to squeeze the worker of every stripe in order to maintain multi-million dollar payouts to management, appearances be damned.
It's a business model that hasn't received much attention as of late, but one that ruled the day during the previous decade. Given the current public distate for blatant corporate greed, news of the layoffs does feel a bit gauche, which makes only fitting the fact that news of the Thomspon-Reuters layoffs breaks just as buzz of a Coleman political comeback picks up. So while Thompson-Reuters may claim that this move is in response to a changing economic climate, remember that it's really just business as usual.
As the recount between Al Franken and Norm Coleman in the MN-SEN race moved along, Franken's lead attorney Marc Elias claimed that his candidate was winning and that the numbers would eventually prove him right. The pundits and talking heads laughed at him initially; I hoped that he wasn't just bluffing and they really had gotten as organized as I'd heard. As the numbers began to swing towards Franken taking the lead, it became apparent that the Franken campaign had done a brilliant job preparing for the recount.
This weekend, Netroots MN had a panel entitled Clicks to Votes: Integration on the Franken for Senate Campaign. I attended to learn anything more I could about what I think was an extraordinarily tech-savvy campaign. I wasn't disappointed because in addition I learned more details about how well-organized the campaign was.
The panelists were Dan Cramer of Grassroots Solutions and JD Schlough. JD was in charge of all online activities (he's now a principal at Well & Lighthouse LLC). Dan came on board the campaign as a consultant in September.
Aside from being former senator Norm Coleman's buddy, Jeff Larson also runs a very successful communications and fundraising company, FLS Connect. Norm's campaign and Senate office contracted FLS Connect for upwards of $1.5 million worth of work. Larson is also slightly famous for helping outfit Sarah Palin for her appearances at St. Paul's Republican National Convention in 2008.
Larson has not been immune to controversy.
Larson gave his little buddy Norm a sweetheart apartment deal in Washington, DC. The rates were well below market prices and he even allowed Norm to skip rent payments and even pay with furniture that then remained on the property, probably for Norm to use.
His latest controversy is the equivalent of being posed the question when did you stop beating your wife?
An Arizona man who spent 10 months working as a telephone solicitor for a Minnesota-based Republican fundraising firm claims that the company regularly hires convicted felons who have unrestricted access to political donors' credit card numbers.
Minnesota political consultant Jeff Larson - a founding partner in the company, FLS Connect, which has offices in St. Paul and Phoenix - vehemently denied that any ex-convicts working at FLS have access to credit card information.
(St. Paul Legal Ledger's Capitol Report)
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has Minnesota at 11th on the Line -- the ranking of gubernatorial races most likely to flip party control in next year's elections. Given that there are 37 gubernatorial races going on across the country, that's not a bad ranking.
11. Minnesota (R): The fields on both sides of the race to replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) are packed with candidates -- most of whom have a limited profile statewide. But, Democrats appear to have an ace in the hole in Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak who is widely expected to get into the contest in the near future. Republicans may well have to wait until next year to find out whether former Sen. Norm Coleman will run but given the Democratic trend in the Land of 10,000 Lakes in recent years, it may not matter who the GOP puts up. (Previous ranking: 11)
It's probably too soon for Norm Coleman to get back into electoral politics. He only won 42% in 2008, and his efforts to drag out the recount and election challenge beyond the last vestiges of hope and rationality didn't help his image. That being said, we're talking about a view of the race from Washington D.C., from which the big names automatically become top-tier candidates and little regard is given for on-the-ground happenings. YMMV, I suppose.
When they were the Avista Capital Partner's Star Tribune, they did everything they could to reelect Norm Coleman. As the recount and court cases kept looking worse for Norm, they just couldn't quit him. They kept spinning and twisting each negative development. They kept frontpaging every Republican lie about the proceedings.
Despite the bankruptcy, it's still the same clowns running the show (Nancy Barnes, editor). So it's no surprise that they still value Norm's opinion.
Walking out of a Republican Jewish Coalition luncheon this afternoon, former Senator Norm Coleman strongly suggested that he's in Tim Pawlenty's camp if the governor chooses to run for president in 2012.
"I'm a strong supporter of Tim, yea" Coleman said when asked whether he supports a 2012 Pawlenty run. "If that's what he chooses to do."
He later added, "I think he'd make a great president."
But does admit that Obama has improved America's image
Norm Coleman may be gone and we all may be trying really, really hard to forget his braying, nasal, fake-Kennedy twang, but he's not without opinion. He's teamed up with another loser, former senator from Missouri and right wing nutjob, Jim Talent. They opine in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that putting missiles in Eastern Europe is the right thing to do and Obama is wrong to scrap those plans.
Of course, these two start off in their first sentence with a bald-faced lie.
We are two Republicans who believe politics must end at the water's edge. For example: Despite misgivings, we support the administration in the war in Afghanistan. But with the best will in the world, we cannot understand how the president could have abandoned the missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, particularly since he seems to have gotten nothing in return. And we think that everyone across the political spectrum should ask some pointed questions.
"Politics ends at the water's edge", huh? That couldn't be farther from the truth for Norm.
Whatever happened to the motto you Republicans lived by "my country right or wrong?" Oh, right. It only applies to Republican administrations.
Norm participated in the one of the most corrupt, deceitful regimes in American history. They lied and politicized everything regardless of any border. They believed that if enough people repeated the lie, it made it true. They called anyone who criticized Bush traitorous if not a traitor.
What about making sure that the war was run competently in Iraq? What about making sure that our tax dollars weren't wasted by the millions by corruption and incompetence? No you would only investigate Rove-approved targets.
What about protecting our troops from contractors that poison them and electocrute them? You chose to sit on your hands so that Republican donors could make fortunes off of no-bid contracts.
I was going to write about this over the weekend, but ... you know ... weekends happen. Then I had Comcast issues. Anyhoo ...
News came out last Monday that the lawsuit against Nasser Kazeminy might be dismissed. Former Deep Marine Technologies CEO Paul McKim alleged that Kazeminy forced him to make three $25,000 payments to the Hays Co. where former senator Norm Coleman's wife worked. McKim alleged this was a way to get money to Norm.
At the end of the week, the judge did dismiss the case. He dismissed it because McKim had lost his standing in DMT as he no longer had any stock in the company.
That's because Kazeminy, a Minnesota businessman who is a friend and donor to the former senator, has since manipulated the structure of the company at the heart of the dispute - leaving the plaintiff without standing to sue.
"Our goose got cooked," said Casey Wallace, who represents Paul McKim, the former CEO of Deep Marine Technology and a minority shareholder in the company.
The value of the Deep Marine stock McKim owns was reduced to a penny after a merger that Kazeminy helped engineer, Wallace said, leaving his client with no choice but to ask the judge to discontinue the suit in a court hearing on Monday at which the defendants urged dismissal.
(Minnesota Independent)
The salient point of this judges ruling is that this case was not dismissed on it's merits but on technical grounds.
[UPDATE: Wow, is that Dallas Morning News article misleading!]
According to the Dallas Morning News article I found earlier, it appeared like a normal motion to dismiss. This is not at all the case. Apparently, both parties are trying to get the case dismissed.
Both parties in a lawsuit against a prominent donor to former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman say they want to end the legal battle and look forward to a court dismissal, attorneys said.
Houston Judge Michael Gomez will rule at the end of this week whether to dismiss a lawsuit between business associates Nasser Kazeminy, a donor close to the former senator, and Deep Marine Technology's former Chief Executive Paul McKim.
*** ORIGINAL POST ***
In civil proceedings, defense attorneys often file a motion to dismiss. The civil suit case against Nasser Kazeminy in Texas is no different. Paul McKim, former CEO of Kazeminy's Deep Marine Technology, is suing because he was forced to send three payments totaling $75,000 to a company at which Norm's wife worked.
A Texas judge is considering whether to dismiss a Texas lawsuit that jolted Minnesota's U.S. Senate race in 2008.
Judge Michael Gomez hears Monday from lawyers trying to end a civil case against a prominent donor to former Sen. Norm Coleman. Among other things, it accuses businessman Nasser Kazeminy (kuh-ZIM'-ih-nee) of trying to improperly funnel $75,000 to Coleman's family.
(Dallas Morning News)
I doubt he'll dismiss the case as there is considerable evidence that this actually occurred. What will be interesting is what the judge writes in his ruling. It may give us a glimpse into what the eventual outcome may be or at least how tough of a job Kazeminy's lawyers will have defending the indefensible.
So much for ringing in the new year with the new. I have heard several people repeating rumors that former Senator Norm Coleman will be joining the Republican race for Minnesota Governor (MN-GOV). Consequently, I'll be bringing the 
Norm Coleman may be gone and we all may be trying really, really hard to forget his braying, nasal, fake-Kennedy twang, but he's not without opinion. He's teamed up with another loser, former senator from Missouri and right wing nutjob, Jim Talent. They 
