Norm Coleman keeps a "crash pad" on Capitol Hill

[Minnesota Raindog]

Norm's living arrangements and family life have become quite the topic on the campaign trail--first the dubious commercial starring Laurie's wedding ring and now this from the National Journal. It also appears that Norm has been getting a sweet deal on his rent--not unlike those sweet mortgage deals some Democrats got that Republicans are crying foul over. Now the question is, with whom does Norm "crash" in his "crash pad" while wife Laurie is in L.A.?:evilgrin:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080628_2254.php

Along the road to the top of the political heap in Minnesota, Coleman had plenty of help. But in the last dozen years, few if any supporters have played a more important role than a little-known Republican operative named Jeff Larson. Larson works in St. Paul but has gold-plated GOP connections in Washington and across the country. Or, as Coleman puts it: "He's the most connected person in D.C. that nobody in Minnesota knows."

Their relationship--the ambitious, energetic, can-do lawmaker and the low-key, behind-the-scenes strategist--has proved to be mutually beneficial. Larson's political telemarketing business appears to have profited handsomely from the relationship, and Coleman has turned to his close friend in times of need, including in his tough battle to win a second Senate term in November.

Most curiously, Larson provides Coleman with a place to live in Washington. In July 2007, Coleman began paying Larson $600 a month in rent for a portion of a one-bedroom basement apartment in a Capitol Hill town house that Larson owns. The way Coleman explained the arrangement, the apartment serves as a crash pad. The 58-year-old senator sleeps in a bed shoehorned into a 10-by-10 bedroom, and he said he spends perhaps only "three waking hours a night" in the place.

[dflprincess]

1. And where is he the rest of the time he's in D.C.?

Are we to believe that if not in his 10 x 10 bedroom he's at the Capital tending to business?

[loveable liberal]

2. norm coleperson.

which way is the wind blowing today?

[Minnesota Raindog]

3. Norm's cozy relationship with Larson is getting some more scrutiny inside the Beltway

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2008/06/trouble_ahead_for_sen_coleman.html

"Coleman appears to have a good friend in Larson and a great place to live in D.C. Now he probably needs a good lawyer," says Ben Pershing at the Washington Post.

And by the state DFL:

http://www.minnpost.com/douggrow/2008/06/30/2425/dfl_head_homes_in_on_colemans_dc_housing_arrangement

[mascarax]

4. Heartbreaking

From MinnPost article:
<<On two occasions, the senator forgot to pay his monthly rent. In another case, Coleman traded his old furniture for a month's rent.>>
This is so sad. Poor Norm's bartering just to pay his "rent". And so comforting that a senator just plain forgets to pay rent - and that's a shrugged-off explanation (don't think my old landlord would have been that understanding).

<<Coleman told the Journal that he had consulted colleagues in Congress who rent rooms and they said they paid "600 bucks.''>>
Uh, yeah...with *your* friends, more like 600 bucks *a night*.

The comment about only being there 3 hours a night seems very weird...why say that?! It just begs the question, "so where are you the rest of the time?" We're supposed to believe he's *working*?!

[dflprincess]

5. He says "three waking hours"

I suppose the rest of the time he's there he's unconscious.

[mascarax]

9. Aha!

I see. Unconscious.
Well, that makes sense then!

[Avidor]

6. CREW files ethics complaint

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/32111

1 Jul 2008 //

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics asking for an investigation into whether Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) violated the Senate gifts rule by accepting lodging from Republican operative Jeff Larson.

According to National Journal, in July 2007, Sen. Coleman began paying Mr. Larson $600 per month to rent a portion of a basement apartment in a Capitol Hill townhouse owned by Mr. Larson. After the magazine began making inquiries about the senator’s living arrangement, Sen. Coleman “discovered” that he had failed to pay rent in November 2007 and January 2008, and his wife gave Mr. Larson a personal check for the $1,200. Last year, Sen. Coleman sold Mr. Larson some furniture -- a couch, table and chairs and a desk -- to cover one month’s rent, and Mr. Larson held onto Sen. Coleman’s March rent check for three months, until June 17, before cashing it only days after National Journal began asking questions.

Mr. Larson runs the telemarketing firm FLS Connect, which has been paid over a million dollars by Sen. Coleman’s campaign committees and leadership PAC since 2001. Mr. Larson is also the PAC’s treasurer and FLS has been providing it with office space in St. Paul. In addition, Mr. Larson’s wife, Dorene Kainz, has been working in Sen. Coleman’s St. Paul office, but after National Journal asked about her position, Sen. Coleman’s office announced that she would soon be leaving the office.

The Senate gifts rule generally prohibits members and staff from accepting gifts, but has two exceptions under which they may accept lodging: if based on personal friendship or, as long as the giver is not a lobbyist or foreign agent, if the gift constitutes personal hospitality. Because the relationship between Sen. Coleman and Mr. Larson appears to be more business than personal, the gift would not be permitted under the “personal friendship” exception. Because Mr. Larson does not live in the townhouse, but rents it out to others, he is not hosting Sen. Coleman and “the personal hospitality” exception would not apply.

CREW is asking the Senate Ethics Committee to look into whether or not Sen. Coleman is paying fair market value for the apartment, whether Sen. Coleman would have paid the November 2007 and January 2008 rent had National Journal not raised the non-payment as an issue, whether Sen. Coleman and Mr. Larson had agreed that Mr. Larson would not cash the March 2008 rent check, why Sen. Coleman suddenly made up his back rent after National Journal asked questions about it, and why Sen. Coleman’s office announced that Ms. Kainz would be leaving the senator’s employ after National Journal asked about her role.

CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan stated, “Few Americans have landlords who sometimes fail to cash their rent checks, ignore unpaid rent, or accept furniture in lieu of rent. That Sen. Coleman has just such a landlord, who also happens to financially benefit from his relationship with the senator creates exactly the sort of appearance of impropriety that undermines the public’s faith in government.” Sloan continued, “Senators must abide by the ethics rules at all times, not just when they get caught flouting them.”

[Minnesota Raindog]

10. And the GOP points to NY Sen. Chuck Schumer's living arrangements

Republicon Ron Carey and his henchmen over at MDE (that would be the Coleman campaign) are spinning out of control on this one. The best they can do is bring up a New York Senator in response to Norm's paucity of ethics? That's rich! But it's right out of the Rove Playbook: attack the messenger, ignore the message about your rotten-to-the-core candidate.

[dflprincess]

11. The Republican's always try to excuse their own bad behavior by claiming everyone else is doing it

I wonder if none of them had mothers who said "And if all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you have to do that too?" Perhaps this is proof that most of them crawled out from under rocks (though I can imagine Babs encouraging little George to actually jump off a bridge.)

I can't bring myself to go over to MDE - what is Mikey saying about Schumer?

[Minnesota Raindog]

12. Republicons trying to make NY Senator the issue--and not Norm's lack of ethics

MDE and Republicon Ron Carey claim that CREW is a "front group" for Franken and NY Sen. Chuck Schumer, baced on some CREW individuals' contributions to the DNCC. It's the usual tactic of changing the channel. MDE also ran pics of Schumer's residence and claimed he gets a sweetheart rent deal too. What that has to do with Norm Coleman's slimy ethical lapses, I'm not sure. Fraudkorb is in full spin cycle trying to whitewash this thing. They pay him well to do that.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

7. MPR: "Watchdog group calls for ethics investigation of Coleman"

"Watchdog group calls for ethics investigation of Coleman
by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio
July 1, 2008

St. Paul, Minn. — A government watchdog group is calling for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's Washington D.C. rental arrangement."

entire story at:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/01/coleman_ethics/

[Minnesota Raindog]

8. DFL says pay your rent with used furniture this month--just like Norm

an e-mail blast from the dfl arrived today:

It’s the first of the month, which for many of us means that the rent is due. But just for July, we’re encouraging Minnesotans to pay the rent in used furniture — just like Senator Norm Coleman does.

Late last week, the National Journal reported on a sweetheart deal that Norm Coleman is getting in Washington, D.C., from one of the most powerful Republican political operatives in Washington — or as Coleman himself put it, from “the most connected person in D.C. that nobody in Minnesota knows.” (Meaning that you don’t know him.)

Coleman rents what a real-estate agent describes as a “huge English basement” with an “airy bedroom” in a “simply divine” million-dollar townhome on Capitol Hill — and he gets it all for a mere $600 a month. Never mind that market-value rents in the same neighborhood for similar spaces go for double that or more — and never mind that getting a discount that big is a violation of Senate ethics rules.

But it gets worse. For four of the 11 months that Norm Coleman has lived there so far, he didn’t actually pay the rent, paid it late, had it held back for months, or — most bizarrely of all — paid it in used furniture.

That’s right: once, instead of paying his landlord money, Coleman paid him with an old couch, desk, table, and chairs. And even luckier for Coleman, once Coleman “sold” the furniture, the landlord left it with Coleman to keep using — as if he had never “sold” it at all.

So find an old couch, a desk, a table and chairs — really, any old furniture will do — and let your landlord know that it’s worth $600. Of course, if you’re renting in a million-dollar home here in Minnesota, 600 bucks just isn’t going to cover your rent, so you’ll have to come up with more used furniture than Coleman did.

And don’t forget to insist on still using the used furniture after you’ve sold it. After all, if it worked for Norm Coleman, it should work for you, too, right?

Do we really think it will work for you? Probably not, because average Minnesotans don’t get sweetheart deals like Coleman did. But give it a shot, anyhow — then shoot us a message at [e-mail], with a photo of the used furniture that you tried to pay with, and let us know how it went.

Just remember: Norm Coleman got away with it, so you should, too. And if you don’t, ask yourself why Norm did.

Sincerely,


Brian Melendez
Chair
Minnesota DFL Party

[StopTheMadness]

13. Norm's a crook

Norm Coleman isn't just getting free rent. He's also been getting large, unreported "gifts" from major republican donor Nasser Kazeminy. For example, Kazeminy gives an upscale store his credit card and lets Norm and his alleged wife charge 10, 20 thousand dollars worth of goods at a time on Nasser's card. No reporting it as a donation; no reporting it as income to the IRS. Why isn't anyone going after him for this?

[dflprincess]

16. Didn't he also get money from Sen. Stephens?

n/t

[Minnesota Raindog]

18. I'd be interested in seeing the source and/or verification for this rumor

StopTheMadness, can you post it, since you can't receive private messages on DU yet?

[MnFats]

14. brings to mind the case of another Minnesota senator...Durenberger!

claimed he paid rent on a condo he owned.
ruined him.

though GOP he was 100 times the senator Coleman is.
Coleman is not nearly as smart as Durenberger, and he couldn't weasel his way out of his trouble....Can Normie?

[dflprincess]

15. At least Durenberger was instrumental in getting the V.A. hospital built.

Which is more than Normie has ever done for anyone in the state. My cousin was in the old hospital when he first got back from Vietnam and it was awful.

This would be an example of earmarks at their best.

I will also confess that I voted for Durenberger the first time he ran - a lot of DFLers did. It was the year that Bob Short beat the endorsed candidate (Don Fraser) in the primary and a lot of us felt Durenberger was the lesser of two evils in the general election.

[MnFats]

17. Bob Short....haven't heard that name for a long time...

he was evil.
Jim Klobuchar smoked him the day after he won the primary.