CFO: Donor’s low opinion of Senate pay led to order to hire Coleman’s wife’s firm

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., got passing mention in a civil lawsuit filed in Texas last fall that alleged a campaign contributor steered unreported cash his way. Now details from a deposition in that case have Coleman donor Nasser Kazeminy saying, “United States senators don’t make shit,” one minute and the next demanding that a firm under his control, Texas-based Deep Marine Technology, enter a contract with the Hays Companies, where Coleman’s wife works. From the sworn testimony of B.J. Thomas, former chief financial officer at Deep Marine:

ATTORNEY: In this telephone conversation, it was specifically about Hays insurance, though, right? And about the use of Hays?
EX-CFO: Yes, sir.
ATTORNEY: And he introduces in that conversation the subject about United States senators don’t make shit, correct?
EX-CFO: That’s how the conversation started.

UPDATE: Complete Coleman-Kazeminy content from Thomas’ deposition after the jump.

Thomas gave sworn testimony during a March 19 oral deposition in Houston. His statement is part of a lawsuit Thomas filed last fall with Paul McKim, who formerly served as chief executive officer at Deep Marine Technology LLC.

The allegation that Kazeminy steered Deep Marine funds to Hays Companies is a side issue to the lawsuit, which does not name either Kazeminy or Coleman. But the charge is serious enough to trigger an FBI probe and calls for a Senate ethics investigation.

Both Kazeminy and Coleman have pledged to fight the suit’s claims and hired attorneys to help them. Neither, however, had representatives at the deposition, according to the transcript. Thomas was questioned about Deep Marine’s payments to Hays Companies first by K.B. Battaglini, attorney for Deep Marine, and then by McKim’s lawyer, Casey T. Wallace.

Both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press obtained copies of the deposition. The Strib carried articles about it Friday and Saturday, while the PiPress’ blog Political Animal has a statement from Kazeminy and the complete court reporter’s transcript (pdf). The PiPress story is here.

The Minnesota Independent has excerpted two long passages of Thomas’ testimony that are directly related to the Colemans and the Hays Companies. They are taken from the original deposition transcript but reformatted for easier reading. You can find them here.