Norms Buddy Nasser Kazaminy

More on Norm Coleman’s Relationship With Nasser Kazeminy MNpublius.com

More on Norm Coleman’s Relationship With Nasser Kazeminy

by

Aaron Landry

Published on October 10, 2008 at 6:12 pm

, filed in

MN 2008: Senate

. Tags: Norm Coleman

.

A couple good stories today that were overshadowed (intentionally?) by Coleman choosing to

“suspend” his negative ads

:

Minnesota Independent’s Paul Demko:

During the first 18 months of this election cycle, Kazeminy and his wife have made at least $55,700 in political contributions, almost exclusively to Republican candidates and causes. (The one exception: $2,300 to Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign.) This includes $20,000 to the Republican Party of Minnesota and $20,000 to Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC. This ranks the household 19th on the list of the state’s most generous political donors.

…

His ties to Coleman go back even farther. The Kazeminy family made $4,000 in contributions to the then-St. Paul mayor’s 1997 re-election campaign. Three years later Kazeminy footed the bill for Coleman to fly to Jordan for a global trade conference. Since joining the Senate in 2002, Coleman has taken at least two more trips at the businessman’s expense. In 2004 the senator and his wife flew back from Paris on a private plane owned by Kazeminy, a $2,870 value. The following year Coleman and his daughter used Kazeminy’s plane to jet off to the Bahamas, a trip valued at $3,960. “It’s a friend with a plane,” Coleman explained to the Star Tribune after the subsidized trips came to light in 2006.

More at the Minnesota Independent

.

Ari Berman at The Nation adds some more

:

Yet the relationship is deeper than that. When Coleman was mayor of St. Paul (from 1994 to 2002), the city gave a $425,000 loan to help renovate the St. Paul Athletic Club, a project Kazeminy was an investor in. When the new gym opened, Coleman became the first member.

Between his stint as mayor and senator, Coleman joined a law firm, Winthrop and Weinstine, retained by Kazeminy’s company. Coleman was paid $140,000 during that brief time period, even though his law license was suspended at the time of the hiring because he’d failed to pay his dues to the Minnesota State Bar while mayor. Coleman initially declined to disclose the terms of the contract, telling the Minneapolis Star-Tribune it was “between the firm, me and my wife.”

Hum… no wonder he was looking for a distraction and then turned around and said he wasn’t going to answer any more questions bout it.

Ari Berman’s story in full is a great read

.

CarpetBaggerDFL Norm Coleman_Thorn in SharonScarrellaAnderson Side

Affiant Sharon4Anderson prusuant to penality of perjury, state and alleges
Lawsuit Targets Major Colem

an Donor

esterday brought another bizarre day for scandal-plagued Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. The latest twist could provide more problems for Coleman's re-election bid. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported:

On Wednesday, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman briefly canceled all his west-central Minnesota campaign stops -- and then quickly resumed them -- after being asked about a lawsuit filed in Texas that mentioned him and his wife.

After a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minneapolis Star Tribune reporters Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy tried to ask Coleman a question about the lawsuit, to no avail. Their chase was captured on tape.

At issue is whether Coleman's wife received $75,000 from one of Coleman's major campaign donors, Nasser Kazeminy, who also reportedly paid for Coleman's suits at Neiman Marcus.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in a Texas district court against Kazeminy by Paul McKim, the CEO of Deep Marine Technologies (DMT), an energy exploration company in Houston in which Kazeminy is a controlling shareholder. The lawsuit, obtained by The Nation, states:

In March 2007, Kazeminy began ordering the payment of corporate funds to companies and individuals who tendered no goods or services to DMT for the states purpose of trying to financially assist United States Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. In March 2007, Kazeminy telephoned B.J. Thomas, then DMT's Chief Financial Officer. In that conversation, Kazeminy told Mr. Thomas that "US Senators don't make [expletive deleted]" and that he was going to find a way to get money to Coleman and wanted to utilize DMT in the process...Kazeminy told Mr. McKim that he [Kazeminy] would make sure there was paperwork to make it appear as though the payments were made in connection with the legitimate transations, explaining further that Senator Coleman's wife, Laurie, worked for the Hays Companies, an insurance broker in Minneapolis, and that the payments could be made to Hays for insurance. When Mr. McKim made further objections, Kazeminy repeatedly threatened to fire Mr. McKim, telling him "this is my company" and that he and Thomas had better follow his orders in paying Hays. Subsequently, Kazeminy caused Hays to produce a document entitled "Disclosure of Service Fees" which purported to legitimize the basis of the payments to be made to Hays by DMT.

According to the lawsuit, three $25,000 payments were made from DMT to Hays from May until September, 2007. A fourth invoice was canceled by McKim. The lawsuit alleges that:

Kazeminy informed McKim and Thomas that Hays would funnel the money from DMT to Senator Coleman through the payment of compensation, to his wife, Laurie, and that there was nothing to worry about. Laurie Coleman never provided any type of services or products to DMT. Furthermore, at no time has Hays been licensed to broker insurance in the State of Texas.

It's too early to know, but news of the lawsuit could be a potential bombshell five days before Election Day. The Coleman campaign told another reporter that the suit has been withdrawn, though the Harris County courthouse says it's still active.

I've asked both the Coleman and Franken campaigns for comment. Will update when/if they do.

UPDATE: Earlier today Coleman sued Franken for defamation in his TV ads. Huffington Post says its "the fourth time that the Minnesota Republican has filed a suit late in the course of his runs for office." This lawsuit certainly seems designed to distract from the one above.

UPDATE II: Plaintiff's lawyer tells HuffPo the suit has been withdrawn. Doesn't say why. Another official says charges within are still true. Reports Sam Stein: "A person familiar with the case, however, emphasized that while the complaint may have been withdrawn, the charges contained within it were still valid."

Furthermore, DC lawyer Brent Kappel notes parallels between Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' conviction for failing to list gifts on his Senate disclosure forms and the allegations against Coleman.

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