John Goodman

Minnesota businessmen Nasser Kazeminy and John Goodman both back Norm Coleman and both serve on the board of Step into World Peace, a curious local nonprofit that Harper’s Ken Silverstein probes this week.

Nasser Kazeminy, who is accused in a Texas civil suit of funneling $75,000 in hidden money to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman via two private businesses, is in the news again. This time he’s suspected of distributing money in $25,000 increments. Kazeminy is reported to have contributed $50,000 to a fund for residents displaced by a [...]

Minnesota’s top 100 political donors have pitched in a collective $4.1 million to federal candidates since the start of 2007. That’s around $40,000 per family. In this week’s installment of The Crunch, we look at donors ranked 21st through 30th — a field that includes Vance Opperman, dubbed in 1998 “the most powerful man you’ve never heard of,” who, with his wife, comes in at number 27; gay marriage foe Robert Cummins (#21); and, Minnesota’s 24th most generous giver, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and his wife, who’ve contributed nearly $50,000 to state and federal GOP candidates and causes this cycle.