Comments on: Norm Coleman, like Michele Bachmann, wrote pardon letters on behalf of Petters associate Frank Vennes Jr.

By: Norm Coleman, like Michele Bachmann, wrote pardon letters on behalf of Petters associate Frank Vennes Jr. | Stop The Petters Scam

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:29:35 +0000

[...] By Karl Bremer, Minnesota Independent The Minnesota Independent | 11/10/08 1:03 PM Link to article [...]

By: Evangelical Christian Pyramid Scam « Trollblog

Evangelical Christian Pyramid Scam « Trollblog — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:19:54 +0000

[...] Norm Coleman too (remember him?) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)MRE: BACHMANN SEEKS PARDON FOR TOM PETTERS’ CRONIES! [...]

By: reportnews

reportnews — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:07:14 +0000

Petters donations are mixed. But Vennes made only one contribution to a democrat – $2,100 to Klobuchar while also giving same to Kennedy in the 05 primary. Vennes has given over $100,000 to Bachman, Pawlenty, Coleman, Kline, Kennedy, the Republican Party of Minnesota, House Republican Campaign Committee, RNC and various Republican leadership funds… To imply he is an equal opportunity donor is misleading.

That said, the real story is the error in judgement, seeminly isolated to Republicans, who wrote appeal letters on behalf of Vennes, whose ethics are clearly questionable.

By: Bill Wright

Bill Wright — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:30:33 +0000

Now this is reporting – keep it up!

By: cowboyguns

cowboyguns — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:56:19 +0000

What the story doesn’t mention is that both Vennes and Petters made campaign contributions to Democratic politicians as well. Why the focus on Republicans?

Is Amy Klobuchar going to return her contributions from Petters, as Bachman has? If Bachman thought that the funds were tainted, I personally think it was wise of her to donate the funds to Teen Challenge, yet you report this as though it was some sort of damnation of her.

What a hack job….Petters was connected to nearly every politician in this state….not just the Republicans.

By: reportnews

reportnews — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:10:21 +0000

And if you look at that same PAC, you’ll see over $5,000 in donations from Jim Hays, the same Jim Hays implicated in the Kazeminy/Coleman scandal. Lots of fast money and influence peddling in this crowd.

By: lazercat

lazercat — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:28:46 +0000

I guess if you give the RNC ten thousand dollars you are excused from stealing from old ladies and churches.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:11:53 +0000

“…where he reportedly earned more than 90 percent of his income, or about $38 million, over the next 14 years.”

This information is wrong. Please read the government’s documents again and see that in the LAST YEAR, he claims $38 million. 90 percent of Vennes’ income is from Petters over the last 14 years, but that total is in the HUNDREDS of millions.

Star Tribune link:
http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/affidavit.pdf?elr=KArksi8D3PE7_8yc+D3aiUo8D3PE7_eyc+D3aiUeyc+D3aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

Note page 15-16 for the corrected information.

By: Minnesota Central

Minnesota Central — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:01:36 +0000

Thanks for your dedication in following this story.

The 2002 letter would appear to be “Return on Investment” but why did Coleman stop after only sending a second letter in December 2004 ? IF Coleman thought Mr. Vennes was worthy of a pardon, shouldn’t he have continued with letters in December 2006 … or did the elections of 2006 change everything ?

It would be interesting to know how many other pardon requests that Coleman supported.
IF this is his only one that would be quite telling.
IF he requested many others, it would be interesting to know how many of those made financial contributions.

From your reporting it would appear that only Republicans sent letters … considering Mr. Vennes is a Minnesotan, shouldn’t the President want some input from Democrats ?

By: chuck

chuck — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:11:10 +0000

Great story. And what a sleaze-bag of politicos taking money and dispensing favors from on high. Sickening…