We now have some new evidence in a story that dogged Norm Coleman in the final days of his 2008 Senate reelection campaign. According to the original report, businessman Nasser Kazeminy, a longtime Coleman friend, arranged for money to be paid to Norm Coleman’s wife, for no work done, as a way of funneling money to Coleman himself.
Now the Star-Tribune has obtained a March 19 deposition from the lawsuit that first surfaced the scandal. The deposition is from B.J. Thomas, the chief financial officer of the company that paid out $75,000 to a firm where Laurie Coleman worked as a consultant — even though he found no evidence of actual work.
Thomas was asked: “In that conversation that you had with Mr. Kazeminy, did he tell you, quote, United States senators don’t make shit, close quote? Or words to that effect?”
Thomas answered: “Yes, sir.”
In all, the Kazeminy is alleged to have ordered $100,000 in payments to the Colemans. Norm’s attorney Doug Kelley told the Strib: “I can assure you that not a penny found its way to Laurie Coleman or Senator Norm Coleman. Period. End of story.”
When these allegations emerged during the final days of the campaign, Coleman said it was a dirty trick from the Franken campaign and the Democrats.
Here’s what DSCC spokesman Eric Schultz (who was also Franken’s media guy during that campaign) told TPM: “I’ll be curious to see if Norm Coleman still tries to peddle to Minnesota reporters that this was an 11th hour political attack, given the election is now five months old.”
