Smith labels it a “coup” for Pawlenty to land someone with Toner’s pedigree. But in perhaps a telling mistake, Smith refers to Pawlenty as the “former Minnesota Governor.” Given how often T-Paw’s been out of the state since announcing that he won’t seek a third term, it would be easy to forget that’s he still got 15 months left in his tenure. Tomorrow he’s off to Michigan to address the state Republican party.

Photo: MnIndy

Win or lose his pending election appeal, Norm Coleman has other legal matters to worry about: several allegations contained in lawsuits and other formal complaints about improper or unreported gifts and favors from wealthy friends. And a new federal ruling in the case of another pol looks like it won’t help Coleman.

A draft advisory opinion (pdf) from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in the case of embattled U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) allows campaign funds to be spent on “legal fees and expenses incurred … in connection with a Federal investigation into the alleged provision of illegal campaign contributions. …”

But it’s not OK to tap campaign coffers for personal matters. Visclosky cannot “use campaign funds to pay legal fees or expenses regarding allegations unrelated to Representative Visclosky’s campaign or duties as a Federal officeholder.”

FEC opinions are precedential, so if commissioners adopt this language in their final opinion, they’re likely to lean the same way in Coleman’s case. His own long-delayed request for an FEC advisory opinion on spending campaign cash on expenses related to civil lawsuit and other matters is pending but could come any time. 

A lawsuit in Texas (and another in Delaware) contend that Coleman benefactor Nasser Kazeminy steered him $75,000 through a business relationship between a Texas firm Kazeminy controls and the St. Paul insurance firm where Coleman’s wife works.

One sign that things are stirring in Coleman’s case: an email dated last week that was posted to the FEC Web site within the last 24 hours. In it, Coleman’s attorneys clarify that they want an FEC opinion on the Texas lawsuit as filed, withdrawn and refiled last fall.

Now, Alliance for a Better Minnesota, which in November asked for FBI and Senate ethics investigations into the allegations (and later expressed gratitude on news of an FBI inquiry), has forced the question in a complaint filed with the FEC late last month. The complaint asks for more than the advice that Coleman said he’d seek; at its Web site, the Alliance calls on Minnesotans to demand the FEC take swift action. The FEC will likely do something in response to the complaint, though exactly what or when isn’t known. It’s one of two complaints against the Coleman campaign to be lodged with the FEC in two weeks.

From the Alliance letter (pdfs of page 1 and page 2):

This letter is a complaint … that U.S. Senator Norm Coleman is violating Federal Election Commission regulations as they relate to the use of campaign accounts for non-campaign purposes. … These allegations have arisen completely outside of the campaign and electoral process … [and] do not pertain to the performance of Senator Coleman’s official duties. … [W]e urge the FEC to take swift action, and rule on this issue as soon as possible.

From the FEC response (pdf):

This letter acknowledges receipt of your complaint on, December 31, 2008 … The respondent(s) will be notified of this complaint within five business days. You will be notified as soon as the Federal Election Commission takes final action on your complaint.

Left to right: Dick Morris, Norm Coleman, Brian Melendez

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party charged former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and a GOP lawyers’ group with violating Federal Election Campaign laws by raiseingmoney for a post-recount lawsuit challenging the results of the Senate recount.

The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) is soliciting donations for a legal contest of election results certified by the state Canvassing Board. The results show Al Franken defeated Coleman by 225 votes. But the DFL Party’s complaint says the RNLA has failed to register with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and is breaking the law by taking sums in excess of legal limits and from corporations that aren’t allowed to donate.

The DFL complaint also names Coleman for having failed to report contributions to his campaign from the RNLA.

Federal law allows a new contribution limit separate from the pre-Election Day campaign in the case of a recount, the DFL complaint acknowledges, but so-called “soft money” is not allowed. The RNLA is an unregistered 527 organization under Internal Revenue Service code, Democrats contend, and cannot steer cash to Coleman’s campaign, his recount committee or the state GOP’s federal account. Yet that’s what appears to be happening at a NewsMax Media Web page, where check boxes indicate donations for as much as $5,000 are being accepted — far more than the $2,300 maximum allowed by law.

What if the RNLA isn’t really giving Coleman money?

“The Coleman campaign should publicly declare that it has received and expects to receive no contributions whatsoever from the Republican National Lawyers Association,” DFL Chair Brian Melendez said in a statement, adding that such a declaration “would then expose the RNLA as a group that is simply defrauding Republican contributors.”

Another link to the RNLA fundraising Web page is via a Newsmax article by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, or a separate appeal from the mysterious GOPUSA also signed by Morris.

In this drama, the president thrusts Senate staffer Bauerly, a Concordia College grad who’s an expert in election law and voting rights, onstage with the notorious von Spakovsky — Bauerly’s arch-rival in the sense that they battled as volunteers on opposite sides in the 2000 Florida presidential election recount.

Oddly, it’s not the first time Bauerly has figured in a drama orchestrated by someone with the power to make members of Congress walk and talk. “Cynthia Bauerly” is a character in the play “Among Friends” by Chicago playwright Kristine Thatcher, whose works also include a play about the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan. Reached by phone, Thatcher said she’d made up the name. The real Bauerly, who got her law degree not far away at Indiana University, isn’t a friend or acquaintance — draining all post-Indiana primary political significance from this “Among Friends” line: “Maybe you can buy Dick Mills at the Sun Times, maybe you can buy Cindy Bauerly and the Lake County Board of Commissioners. But you can’t buy me, Dan. You can’t buy me.”