Senator Norm Coleman Gets by with a Little Help From His Friends

[a kennedy]

By Ken Silverstein

Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota seems to enjoy mutually beneficial relationships with his financial contributors and political allies. Earlier this year, National Journal reported that he had a cozy deal to rent a “crash pad” on Capitol Hill owned by a G.O.P. operative named Jeff Larson. Larson is a top advisor to Coleman and the treasurer of his personal Political Action Committee (PAC). The story said:

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… Earlier this month, after National Journal questioned Coleman and Larson about the living arrangement, the senator said he discovered that his rent for last November and January had not been paid. In mid-June, Coleman covered the back rent with a personal check for $1,200 made out to Larson and signed by the senator’s wife. Last year, Coleman sold furniture to Larson to cover one month’s rent, according to Larson. And Larson held on to yet another month’s rent check for three months, cashing it a few days after NJ’s inquiries.

Incidentally, Coleman’s P.A.C. has paid Larson’s political consulting firm, FLS Connect, $1.6 million since mid-2001. And Larson’s wife was hired to work in Coleman’s St. Paul office as a “casework supervisor.” (For some reason, Mrs. Larson was put on payroll under her maiden name.) Larson’s wife was paid more than $100,000 over two years before resigning after the Journal asked about her employment.

Meanwhile, the senator’s own wife, Laurie Coleman, is employed by Minneapolis-based Hays Companies, according to his latest personal financial disclosure form. The Hays Companies offers clients advice on risk management, commercial insurance, and employee benefits. The firm’s executives, their spouses and employees provided Coleman with $20,700 in campaign contributions between 2002 and 2006.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003661