Photo: MnIndy

Two outside organizations and Norm Coleman’s re-election campaign illegally coordinated advertising that aided Coleman via a political consultant they all shared, the Minnesota DFL Party charged in a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

No, they didn’t, the FEC has ruled.

The DFL complaint (pdf) goes back almost a year, to an August 2008 television ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacking Franken’s position on the Employee Free Choice Act. A month later, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) SAFE Trust paid for a full-page ad in Twin Cities daily newspapers claiming Franken would raise taxes.

FLS Connect, a political consulting firm owned by Coleman pal Jeff Larson, counted both groups as clients, along with Coleman. The DFL asked the FEC to investigate whether Larson acted as linchpin in a secret scheme that gave Coleman a role in the three Chamber commercials and the NFIB’s ad, in violation of federal law.

Every election season brings a wave of complaints to the FEC, some of which get dismissed without further inquiry, a commission spokesman told the Minnesota Independent today. The FEC investigated the DFL’s suspicions but found nothing to support them, releasing findings to the parties in May (pdf) before commissioners certified the results last month on a 5-0 vote (pdf).

The FEC found that the two groups and Coleman did share Larson as a vendor — but no evidence that Larson worked on the advertisements.

Larson figured in another controversy that dogged Coleman during the campaign, also the subject of a DFL complaint: the low rate at which Larson leased a basement apartment in Washington, D.C. to Coleman.

Here are two of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce TV ads attacking Franken. First, on the Employee Free Choice Act:

On taxes:

Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign is illegally collaborating with two independent organizations that have been running advertisements on his behalf, according to a complaint filed by the state Democratic Party today with the Federal Election Commission.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business SAFE Trust (NFIB) have both been running ads praising Coleman and attacking Democratic challenger Al Franken. Last month, for instance, the Chamber spent $42,500 to air an ad criticizing the DFLer’s supposed desire to raise taxes.

In its complaint the DFL notes that both the Coleman campaign and the two business groups have paid money to FLS Connect for services. FLS Connect is one of the country’s most influential GOP fundraising and consulting firms. Jeff Larson, a longtime confidant of Coleman who works in St. Paul, is one of the company’s owners. Since 2001, Coleman’s campaign and his Northstar Leadership PAC have paid FLS Connect more than $1.5 million for consulting services and rent. In addition, the National Journal reported in June that Coleman rents a basement apartment owned by Larson in Washington for $600 a month. The other tenant at the Capitol Hill dwelling? FLS Connect.

“When Norm Coleman comes home at night he walks right into the office of the political consultants of outside organizations that are running ads on his behalf,” DFL chair Brian Melendez said at a press conference this afternoon. “Unless he’s climbing into his bedroom through the window every night he has to walk through FLS Connect’s office to get to his bedroom. This arrangement does not pass the smell test.”

Melendez conceded, however, that the DFL possesses no proof that the Coleman campaign has violated election laws. “I don’t have any direct evidence of coordination,” he said. “There is not a smoking gun. But the fact that he’s refusing to answer some very simple questions that could clear him immediately tells me that there’s probably something going on here.”

The FEC complaint is seeking an investigation into whether the Coleman campaign wrongly coordinated activities with the Chamber and NFIB. In addition, it raises the question of whether the two business groups failed to adequately report donations to the Coleman campaign or exceeded limitations on in-kind contributions.

Coleman campaign spokesman Tom Erickson did not immediately respond to a phone call and email seeking comment on the complaint.

The fees were paid to FLS Connect, one of the largest GOP fundraising firms in the country. The company’s principals are Republican operatives Tony Feather, Jeff Larson and Thomas Synhorst. Its clients include the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and all 50 GOP state parties, according to the firm’s web site. The Republican Party of Minnesota, for instance, paid FLS Connect just over $20,000 last month for telemarketing work, according to Federal Election Commission records.

“Coleman’s ties to some of the most well connected, influential Republican operatives and lobbyists in Washington are political and personal,” Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party chairman Brian Melendez said at a press conference held this afternoon to spotlight the connections. “These ties run so deep that you almost can’t tell where Norm Coleman ends and DCI begins.”

Melendez described FLS Connect and DCI Group as “sister companies.” FLS Connect was originally incorporated in 1999 as Feather, Hodges, Larson & Synhorst, according to filings with the Arizona Corporation Commission. In 2001 the firm’s name was changed to FLS-DCI. Then in 2006 the company’s moniker was switched to FLS Connect. Synhorst is a founder and current chairman of DCI Group, while Feather worked as a lobbyist for the firm from 2001 to 2006. “It’s basically the same group of people who have established and run both organizations,” Melendez said.

Coleman’s ties to Larson (a Hudson, Wisconsin resident) date back at least to the period when Coleman was mayor of St. Paul. According to the Pioneer Press, Larson’s firm was hired to assist with the unsuccessful 1999 referendum campaign to build a Twins stadium in St. Paul. Larson currently serves as treasurer of Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC and CEO of the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee, which is tapped with organizing the upcoming Republican National Convention.

The DCI Group initially provoked controversy when Newsweek reported that the firm had been paid $348,000 to lobby for Myanmar’s oppressive military regime. Doug Goodyear subsequently resigned as coordinator of the Republican National Convention owing to his DCI ties. Then Doug Davenport stepped down as a regional director for John McCain’s presidential campaign because of his work for the lobbying outfit.

Since 2004 Coleman’s campaign and leadership PAC have received roughly $10,000 from DCI Group employees and an affiliated PAC, as first reported by Minnesota Monitor. The DFL has called on the senator to divest himself of the contributions and donate the money to charity. Coleman has declined to act on these demands.

“Now we understand a little better why Coleman refused to rid himself of the campaign cash,” Melendez said. “It doesn’t come from garden-variety Washington lobbyists. It comes from the core of his political operation, from his closest associates and personal confidantes.”

(Coleman campaign spokesman Tom Erickson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.)

The first-term senator is embroiled in a tough re-election campaign. According to a poll released yesterday by Rasmussen Reports, Coleman leads likely DFL challenger Al Franken by a statistically insignificant two percentage points.