Watchdog group files ethics charge
against Coleman
WASHINGTON - A Washington watchdog group asked the Senate Ethics Committee Tuesday to investigate whether Sen. Norm Coleman's Capitol Hill living arrangement violates the Senate gifts rule.
Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, has been living in the basement of campaign consultant Jeff Larson for the past year, and missed a couple of rent payments until the magazine National Journal brought them to his attention. Coleman also paid one month's rent by selling furniture to Larson.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants the Ethics Committee to determine whether the $600 monthly rent Coleman pays is fair market value, and whether Coleman would have paid the missing rent checks had the magazine not flagged them, among other things.
"Few Americans have landlords who sometimes fail to cash their rent checks, ignore unpaid rent, or accept furniture in lieu of rent," said CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan.
"That Senator Coleman has just such a landlord, who also happens to financially benefit from his relationship with the senator, creates exactly the sort of appearance of impropriety that undermines the public's faith in government."
Coleman faces a tough re-election challenge from Democrat Al Franken.
Coleman campaign spokesman Luke Friedrich replied that Coleman is paying fair market value "for a cramped basement bedroom."
By Richard Leiby
Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page C03
Senator's Wife Reveals Almost All!
Eager to promote her career as a Hollywood actress,
"A little edgy," the onetime model called the publicity pix, "but relatively tame by Hollywood standards." They include boudoir shots accented with the requisite bustier, stockings, garters and four-poster bed. "Honestly, I've done swimwear collections where I've had less on than that," she told us by phone from her home in St. Paul earlier this week.
The photos also depict the lovely Mrs. Coleman clad in cleavage-displaying dresses, enjoying cocktails. "Republicans can have fun," she pointed out with a laugh.
Is she a Republican? "How do I answer that?" came her coy reply. "I grew up as a Democrat, just like my wonderful husband." (Who switched in 1996.) "I tend to vote Republican, but I go all over the place."
She will, of course, make the Grand Old Party scene in New York City with Norm. But regardless of who wins in November, she opines, "the sun is going to rise and the sun is going to set. That's America: The world will go on." Also: "I guess the thing that I hate about politics -- which I separate from public service -- is it makes people out to be good or evil, and that's such a fallacy."
Her career has included dancing and acting, with a part in "The Vagina Monologues" in the Twin Cities -- "which raised a lot of eyebrows," she admits -- and roles in the TV movie "Homeland Security" and miniseries "Kingpin." She maintains an apartment in Los Angeles. "I can't say that being married to a Republican senator, in Hollywood, is the best thing," she says. "A lot of people say: 'You don't look like a politician's wife.' What does that really mean? Female political spouses are the last dinosaur to come out of society's expectations of what a spouse is."
Revealing photos aside, she guards this secret: her age. She fears losing roles. The Colemans have two teenagers, but she quickly points out, "I got married very young."
These photos capture what she called her "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago" personality. Her husband told The Post in 2003, "She's no
He also questioned Sloan's independence, noting she often appeared as a guest on Franken's Air America radio show.
"The only surprise is that it took Al Franken's surrogate this long to file a politically motivated attack against Senator Coleman," Friedrich said, calling her "a reliable attack dog for the Democrat Party."
CREW spokeswoman Naomi Seligman said that Sloan appeared as a guest on Franken's show to discuss government ethics issues. Seligman also noted that the organization has filed ethics complaints against three Democratic senators this year.
The complaint comes a day after the Minnesota DFL held a news conference suggesting Coleman may have violated the gifts rule by paying below-market value for the living space.
| Population | 3,727,565 |
| Price per square foot for Class A* apartments | $17.54 |
| Five-year price change for Class A* apartments | 10.3% |
| Price per square foot for Class B** apartments | $14.34 |
| Five-year price change for Class B** apartments | 18.7% |
In the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, about 35% of housing is renter-occupied, according to 2000 data from the U.S. Census. The census data covers a broader geographical area than our apartment price information does, as it includes the Baltimore metropolitan area. Apartment price data encompasses the Arlington and Alexandria, Va., areas, as well as parts of Maryland and West Virginia. It comes from the National Real Estate Index, part of San Francisco-based real estate research firm Global Real Analytics.
* Very high quality, desirable buildings that are beautifully maintained and managed, according to building cost data company Marshall & Swift.** Not the best buildings, but functional and decently maintained and managed, according to building cost data company Marshall & Swift
DFLers claim Sen. Coleman's D.C. digs break Senate rules
Saying that Sen. Norm Coleman may be breaking U.S. Senate ethics rules, DFL Party chair Brian Melendez called on Coleman on Monday to produce his lease and other information on the Capitol Hill apartment he has rented since last summer from a longtime friend and wealthy Republican operative.
Referring to a National Journal article on Coleman's living arrangement that was posted last week, Melendez said he believes Minnesota's senior senator is making below-market monthly payments to rent garden-level living space in a row house owned by St. Paul businessman Jeff Larson.
Larson, whose telemarketing firm has provided services worth more than $1.5 million to Coleman's campaigns and political-action committee since 2001, is the CEO of the local host committee for September's Republican National Convention and was instrumental in bringing the convention to the Twin Cities.
Until April, Larson's wife worked in Coleman's St. Paul office on constituent requests.
At a State Capitol news conference, Melendez said Washington's Capitol Hill-area real estate listings show Coleman is getting a much better deal than other renters would for comparable quarters. DFL officials found similar apartments around the Capitol were fetching rent ranging from $1,100 to $1,450, while Coleman pays $600 a month.
"Senator Coleman is getting a sweetheart deal. He's paying far less than market value and far less than anyone else without his connections would pay. If you're not Norm Coleman, you don't get that kind of deal," Melendez said.
Coleman, a Republican who is being challenged for reelection by DFL candidate Al Franken, was not available for comment Monday. But last week he said he was simply renting "cramped space" from a friend to cut living expenses as his son enters law school and his daughter enters college.
His bedroom isn't quite 10 by 10 feet, he said, and he has a bathroom but no kitchen.
And he acknowledged not only that he had missed two monthly rent payments, but that he paid for another month by giving Larson some of his old furniture for the common area of the lower level, which is used as office space occasionally by a Larson employee. He has since set up an automatic withdrawal system for his rent checks.
"I take responsibility for any negative perceptions, but again, [Larson] is a friend, not a lobbyist," Coleman said. "There are no taxpayer dollars involved, no government contracts. ... No Senate rules have been violated. I have nothing to hide. At this point, I'll continue [to rent there]."
Melendez suggested that discounted rent could be considered a gift to Coleman. Senate rules, while strictly prohibiting gifts of more than $50, grant a bit more leeway for longtime friends and associates. Even then, gifts to senators of $250 or more from friends -- including discounts for lodging -- are prohibited unless first approved by the ethics committee.
Tom Steward, a Coleman spokesman, said the senator had gotten no such approval because he didn't need it.
"As the senator indicated to the National Journal and further articulated last Friday, he is paying fair market value for his cramped bedroom in a basement of a home in D.C. As our research shows, this rent is comparable to other rent in the D.C. area," Steward said.
Although Coleman makes $169,300 a year as a member of Congress, he's far from a wealthy man by Washington standards. Along with a house in St. Paul, his biggest asset is an individual retirement account of more than $500,000 carried over from his time as mayor.
The residence is on North Carolina Avenue S.E., a quiet street lined with classic row houses four blocks south of the Capitol. A Star Tribune reporter knocked on the door Monday, but a woman who answered declined to comment.
According to the National Journal, Larson rents the top floors of the house to a business partner on leave to work for the Republican National Committee.
Melendez said that a 2007 listing for the row house makes the accommodations sound much more comfortable than the "little room in the basement" that Coleman has described.
The three-story row house, which was listed for $989,900, has "a huge English basement with a media center, office space, gorgeous custom marble and oak bar plus an airy guest bedroom and bath," according to the real estate notice.
"This degree of mutual back-scratching ... is not acceptable," Melendez said. "And it's simply not enough for Coleman to say that he's trying to make ends meet by living at the house with an old friend, no matter how much he tries to downplay what he's getting there."
Staff writers Patricia Lopez and Emily Kaiser contributed to this story. Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455
Jan. 10, 2008
Senator Norm Coleman’s Wife Now Available For ‘BLO & GO’
Remember GOP Senator Norm Coleman’s hot model wife? Well she’s back, with the life-changing As Seen On TeeVee product we’ve been waiting for ever since we killed the dog with the FLO-BEE. Laurie Coleman is now selling the amazing BLO & GO. Just blow, and go! So awesome. After the jump, see how she looks almost naked.Laurie Coleman is best known for some pictures that would be pretty horrific if she was, say, Larry Craig’s wife. Here’s one of the pictures:
Anyway, now she’s the spokesmodel for this piece of crap. It’s a hook for your blow dryer. So, we guess, you need to blow dry your hair but you can’t life your arms because of what happened in ‘Nam. And then just BLO & GO. Amazing. Order now and we’ll send you a plate with Abraham Lincoln’s face painted on it by Chinese slave laborers.
Laurie Coleman edited into her husband's ad?
[Updated: see below]
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) released a campaign video without a press conference or press release. Just an email to his supporters. The really bizarre part of this is that his wife, Laurie, looks like she was filmed in California then edited into the ad. What does this say about their marriage? Will Norm answer questions about the state of his marriage when it appears that Laurie won't come to MN to film an ad? Check this out:
Check out the screen captures from the ad, the lighting is completely wrong. It sure looks like she wasn't even in the room!
Check out these these pix. She was actually in St. Paul for the shoot.
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