‘Texas money’ funding Coleman’s other new gig

Photo: Chris Steller, MnIndy

Has Dave Durenberger gone politically tone-deaf? The former Republican senator-turned-health-care blogger started off his scoop about another new gig for Norm Coleman with two scandal-tinged words that Coleman thought he’d put behind him: “Texas money.”

That phrase, for anyone who followed Coleman’s fortunes over the last year, carries seedy resonances thanks to allegations in a civil lawsuit that businessman Nasser Kazeminy funneled Coleman $75,000 via a company he controls in Texas.

Coleman denied it and wasn’t named in the suit; the plaintiffs claimed they weren’t even interested in whether he’d actually seen any of the cash. When a judge deep-sixed the suit this month, Coleman danced on its grave: “Now the suit goes away and I’m glad it has.”

This new “Texas money,” as Eric Black has fleshed out at MinnPost, comes by way of Bush I pal Fred Malek, the man putting together a new think tank called America’s Action Network, with Coleman at its helm. It’s separate from the Harvard University post CNN reported yesterday, and from the Republican Jewish Coalition gig Coleman took partway through his recount battle with now-Sen. Al Franken.

Here’s what Durenberger wrote on Wednesday:

Texas money is also funding a start-up non-profit called America’s Action Network, which is designed to give definition to a principled “role of government” approach to the Republican Party’s future. In the process, its founders hope to leave some of the “other issues” like those which firmed “the base” in the social values arena behind. New president of the right-of-center group will be former Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

The think tank is so new, Google hasn’t heard of it, except for a flurry of Coleman-related news buzz: