Texas

Both sides in the Texas lawsuit accusing Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy of funneling money to Norm Coleman want to extend an existing 60-day delay by another 30 days, putting off any possible trial action until early May. That’s about the time by which the former U.S. senator said today he expects the Minnesota Supreme Court [...]

Senate Republicans already quietly signaled acceptance that Al Franken will take former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s old seat by agreeing to a tentative committee-assignment plan that factors in the Minnesota Democrat. Now comes news that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) may reconsider her plan to resign for a 2010 gubernatorial run. The reason, according to [...]

An editor’s note in today’s Star Tribune is the latest sign of the newspaper’s squeamishness about its own reporting of what are now two lawsuits alleging back-channel payoffs to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman:

EDITOR’S NOTE
The Democratic Senate [sic] Campaign Committee is running TV ads featuring a Star Tribune reporter questioning Sen. Norm Coleman about a lawsuit noted in this report. The video in the ad was filmed without the knowledge or consent of the Star Tribune.

The original video shows Strib reporter Paul McEnroe trying to ask Coleman about the first lawsuit filed in Texas this week as Coleman left a St. Cloud cafe Wednesday. (See the video here. See the DSCC’s ad after the jump.)

The Texas lawsuit alleging that Sen. Norm Coleman fraudulently received $75,000 from longtime political patron Nasser Kazeminy has been re-instated, according to attorney Casey Wallace, who is representing plaintiff Paul McKim in the case. The lawsuit had been “unsuited,” in the parlance of Texas courts, as the two sides pursued a settlement.

“We entered into serious settlement negotiations,” says Wallace. “Those broke down today.”