abm

The death panels at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) work slowly. News that the FEC had dismissed a complaint against former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s re-election campaign finally reached the public yesterday — nine months after it was filed and six weeks after commissioners decided to put it out of its misery.

Being out of office has its privileges. One consolation for Norm Coleman after finally conceding defeat to Al Franken: seeing ethics complaints and investigations in his rearview mirror.

Norm Coleman may not dip into his campaign coffers to cover all his expenses stemming from lawsuits and other complaints that allege misconduct by him or his donors. That’s the upshot of draft advisory opinions issued Thursday by the Federal Election Commission.

Norm Coleman used media coverage of his dealings with friend and benefactor Nasser Kazeminy to argue to the Federal Election Commission that he should be able to spend campaign cash to fight two lawsuits that implicate him in a cash-funneling scheme.