‘Trouble’s Home Address,’ the Minnesota edition

In an item titled “Trouble’s Home Address,” The New York Times reviews notable (and alleged) scandals involving public figures and their homes. Except for former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, all are from New York, the latest being Adolfo Carrion Jr., a former Bronx Borough president who landed the top job at the new White House urban affairs office that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has gushed over. After the jump, the Minnesota edition of “Trouble’s Home Address.”

“What is it about home repairs and politicians that can lead to ethical trouble?” asks the Times. Partly it’s simply that, for pols as for ordinary mortals, homes are the biggest thing they own (or used to own). 

We knocked on this door last summer, when then-Sen. Norm Coleman’s low-rent tenancy in a GOP fundraiser’s basement apartment was raising eyebrows, in a post titled “Scandal sheets: Coleman not first Minnesota pol to make news in bed.”

Others on the list included state House candidate Sue Ek, St. Paul City Council candidate Kris Reiter, former St. Paul school board member Al Oertwig, former Gov. Jesse Ventura, former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger and former Minneapolis City Councilor Lisa McDonald — several of whose scandals involved whether their homes were in the districts they represented.

Since then Coleman has earned a second and possibly third place on the Minnesota list. First came the revelation last December that a kitchen renovation at his St. Paul home went overbudget by $86,000 in 2007 — just as Nasser Kazeminy, a Coleman friend and benefactor is alleged to have been trying to funnel $100,000 to Coleman’s wife through a Texas company he owns and the insurance firm where she works.

Then in January came news that the Colemans had refinanced the house 12 times in 14 years. At that point shock over Coleman’s homes required raising a third eyebrow.