In late 2006, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc. was pushing the notion that nuclear power should be included with solar and wind in any federal mandates for renewable-energy generation.
Xcel’s idea was supported by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who had ordered a study and drafted federal carbon-reduction legislation that included Xcel’s proposal.
At about that time, Minnesota Republican leaders were asking local corporations to sponsor the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, which ended Thursday. Xcel agreed to give $1 million.
UPI:
The controversy illustrates flaws in the current system of raising money for the conventions, Steve Weissman, associate director for policy at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington, told the Post.
“You can give $1 million, $6 million or as much as you want to the conventions,” he said. “These contributions make an enormous impression, and they’re clearly related to companies’ interests.”
But the financial ties were enough to raise eyebrows within the good government community. Xcel has donated more than $40,000 to Coleman campaign committees since 2003. Moveover, back in 2005, Xcel Energy hired Coleman’s financial director Jan Unstad to be its PAC fundraiser.
The revelation was one drip in a rush of unwelcome news for Coleman during the course of the convention. His help in orchestrating the event also came under scrutiny after it was reported that the CEO of the convention’s host committee, Jeff Larson — a longtime Coleman confidante — had provided the Senator with a heavily discounted deal on his Washington D.C. apartment.
And his efforts have gotten a boost from Jeff Larson, a friend and adviser who is also fundraising coordinator for the convention’s host committee.
Coleman’s windfall is one of the more subterranean aspects of convention weeks that take place far from the carefully constructed stagecraft that appears on television. That is the mingling of politicians eager for financial support with wealthy donors in convention skyboxes where the price of admission can run to the tens of thousands of dollars, on sunset cruises on the Mississippi River, and at private functions in restaurants.
Coleman’s campaign and political action campaign have paid [Jeff Larson’s] FLS Connect almost $645,000 in consulting fees in 2007-2008, and Larson is the treasurer of his PAC. Two of Larson’s clients, the Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business, have begun running tv and print ads against Franken, knocking his support for the Employee Free Choice Act and accusing Franken of supporting tax increases while failing to pay back taxes.
The fact that Coleman resides in the same home as Larson’s company has prompted questions about whether the Coleman campaign is coordinating campaign expenditures with Larson’s clients in violation of federal election law.
Says Franken spokeswoman Colleen Murray: “Norm Coleman literally lives in the office of the consulting firm for both the Chamber and the NFIB, so I’m not sure his claim of no coordination passes the laugh test. But sadly it’s not surprising - that kind of ethical lapse is business as usual for the Special Interest Senator.”
A top client of GOP convention CEO Jeff Larson — the same St. Paul, Minn. operative who rented a $600 room-plus-commode to Minn. Sen. Norm Coleman — is uncorking a second round of negative ads against Coleman opponent Al Franken.
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FLS Connect, which has done about $1.5 million of business with Coleman’s campaign, has offices in the Larson-owned Washington townhouse where the Minnesota Democrat-turned-Republican lays his head during session.
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Federal law prohibits Coleman from coordinating campaign expenditures with outside groups like the chamber.
All the above stories are good reads in full. It’s good to see more national media finally starting to picking up on a lot of Coleman’s conflicts of interest.
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