The Senate has answered Norm Coleman on his requests to reopen his offices: You may in fact reopen — for the purposes of cleaning out your desk.
Coleman had been arguing that the closure of his office after his term expired was hurting Minnesota, as his staff was unable to help constituents while the seat stayed vacant. The Senate has responded by allowing Coleman to reopen until February 4, so that his staffers can gather up the pending constituent-service cases and transfer them to the remaining members of the state’s Congressional delegation.
Of course, the underlying reason that the seat is vacant right now, and Minnesota therefore lacking in full constituent services, is that Coleman is keeping Al Franken’s win bottled up in court, and he and the Senate GOP are objecting to any provisional seating. But it’s good to see that Minnesotans’ needs are being addressed to at least some extent.
