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Former Sen. Norm Coleman has been hitting the trail to promote the new think tank he’s heading up. The American Action Network hopes to take advantage of the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning rules about political giving by corporations, Coleman told the New York Times. The group also has plenty of ties to — and support from — Wall Street.

Coleman’s group has been slow to get off the ground with news of its founding more than six months ago. Here’s what former Sen. Dave Durenberger had to say to MinnPost’s Erik Black back in August:

“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. This will place two Minnesota Republicans in the national political spotlight as Governor Tim Pawlenty seeks to similarly define the next national GOP for what he calls ‘Sam’s Club’ Americans.”

ThinkProgress gives a more in-depth report on the backgrounds of Coleman’s new Wall Street partners.

Robert K. Steel
Former Goldman Sachs Exec & Wachovia CEO
Robert Steel spent close to 30 years with Goldman Sachs before joining his Goldman colleague Henry Paulson in the Treasury Department. Steel and Paulson helped ensure that Bush’s 2008 Wall Street bailout would leave Goldman “among the biggest beneficiaries of the $700 billion U.S. plan.”

Kenneth Langone
Home Depot Founder, Investment Banker
Wall Street titan Kenneth Langone was called “The Man Behind Grasso’s Payday” after NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso was awarded $139.5 million amidst controversy over Wall Street excesses in 2004. Langone, chair of the compensation committee, defended the exuberant pay, arguing that Grasso was entitled to the amount. Then-NY AG Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against the NYSE — including Langone — charging that “the board of the NYSE was misled about parts” of Grasso’s compensation. In 2004, a businessman in Florida also sued Langone for $1.8 billion. The suit charged him with “conspiring to interfere and interfering with business relationships,” as well as “extortion, defamation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and violations of the Florida Antitrust Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.”

Ed Gillespie
Fmr RNC Chairman, Lobbyist
Ed Gillespie’s lobbying firm includes a host of clients whose interests are grounded in Wall Street: Enron, Citibank, Bank of America, Zurich Financial, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the “clean coal” front group ACCCE.

Fred Malek
Thayer Capital Partners Founder
Fred Malek is a super-wealthy Republican operative who got his start with the Nixon administration. The former co-owner of the Texas Rangers with George W. Bush was responsible for a 1972 scheme that was investigated by the Senate Watergate Committee to politicize broad segments of the federal government in favor of reelecting Nixon. In 2004, Malek “was fined $250,000 for what the SEC called a ‘fraudulent scheme.’”

Coleman told the New York Times that the recent Citizens United court ruling opening the doors for corporate campaign giving would be a boon to his new group.

“This [Obama] administration as well as Citizens United — when you combine the two the prospects for funding these types of efforts are greatly enhanced,” Mr. Coleman said.

And Coleman took to Fox News this week to talk about AAN: