Posts by Steve Perry

Transcript of Coleman’s October 10 press conference.
I had originally planned to exclusively talk about the economy and the financial crisis, which I still intend to address. But, these are fearful anxious times – and people are looking for hope and confidence and leadership.
So, today, I want to talk about hope and confidence and real concerns [...]

Contrary to Norm Coleman’s claims to media on Friday and yesterday, when Coleman a) said that the media (specifically, the Star Tribune) first received information about the claims “last week,” and b) implied that this late, low blow could only have been the work of the Al Franken campaign, Coleman had been asked by reporters about the matter in early October.

Who said so? Norm Coleman. Details inside.

This morning’s news of a second lawsuit alleging the transmission of funds from Nasser Kazeminy to Norm Coleman poses serious complications for Coleman’s “they’re out to get me” defense. Coleman can and probably will claim that this is just further evidence of the vast left-wing conspiracy to do him in, but that seemed unlikely yesterday and seems exponentially more unlikely today.

More about lawsuit number two and other matters inside.

Norm Coleman stood before a gaggle of reporters and fans at what was supposed to be a routine campaign stop in Moorhead this morning and addressed the story that’s been chasing after him for the past few days. Allegations that Coleman pal Nasser Kazeminy had funneled money to Laurie Coleman for doing a non-existent job were “absolutely false,” Coleman said. But that was only the starting point of his remarks, which sought for the better part of five minutes to paint the whole affair as a fabrication wrought by “Al Franken and his political allies.”

Only the plaintiff, Paul McKim, can answer with certainty as to his timing and motives. But ultimately, the question of whether politics played a role in the timing of the lawsuit has no bearing on the merit of the claims in the lawsuit.

Let’s take a closer look at the legal complaint.

Speaking at a campaign appearance in Moorhead, Minnesota, this morning, Norm Coleman called the allegations regarding Coleman and his wife contained in a Texas lawsuit filed this week “absolutely false” and “defamatory.”

But the bulk of Coleman’s prepared remarks were devoted to blaming the controversy, and the underlying litigation itself, on Democratic challenger Al Franken “and his political allies.”

A transcription of Coleman’s prepared remarks follows below.

A commenter points out this morning that the print edition of the Star Tribune has relegated Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy’s story about the Texas lawsuit against Friend-of-Norm Nasser Kazeminy to a bottom corner of the metro section’s front page.

Placement means a lot in terms of readership — not only in print but on the web. So we decided to see how the Twin Cities’ mainstream news outlets are playing the story on their home pages.

The AP’s Fred Frommer writes:
“Sen. Norm Coleman is planning to make a statement on a lawsuit that claims his friend and donor funneled $75,000 to an insurance company that employs the senator’s wife.
“The Coleman re-election campaign has called the allegations ‘baseless and false,’ and ‘an 11th-hour attack.’ The senator’s statement was planned for 10 a.m. [...]

The foregoing is an excerpt from the legal complaint in the case filed this week against Norm Coleman pal Nasser Kazeminy. (Our previous coverage of this story is here and here.)
The full complaint is a PDF file. Start on p10 to find the material concerning Norm and Laurie Coleman.

The figure of Nasser Kazeminy — longtime Norm Coleman friend and patron — is once again casting a shadow over the US Senate campaign. Kazeminy, the man who may or may not have purchased suits for Coleman at Neiman-Marcus once upon a time, was reportedly accused in a lawsuit filed (and withdrawn) this week of funneling money to Coleman’s wife, Laurie Coleman, through a third party.

We know this because there is videotape (published this morning at MnIndy) of Star Tribune reporter Paul McEnroe asking Coleman — or rather, the closed window of Coleman’s SUV — about it.

But whereas McEnroe and Kennedy’s previous inquiries into the Coleman/Kazeminy relationship (the Neiman-Marcus affair) never yielded a story in the paper, this one has to. A quick recapitulation of the main known facts in the matter explains why.

There is a new factor in play in the Minnesota US Senate race, and it’s too soon to tell whether it will affect the tight contest between Sen. Norm Coleman, Al Franken and Dean Barkley.

The Pioneer Press’s Rachel Stassen-Berger has some details in her morning dispatch on the race. Coleman apparently freaked out after Star Tribune investigative reporters Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy showed up at a St. Cloud rally and tried to ask Coleman for comment on a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Texas — and withdrawn Wednesday — against Coleman “suitgate” pal Nasser Kazeminy.