This afternoon, the Alliance for a Better Minnesota called for an ethics investigation:
Alliance for a Better Minnesota (ABM) a grassroots lobbying and online organizing group that works with progressive groups, is calling on the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to look into allegations made in a lawsuit filing that U.S. Senator Norm Coleman had accepted cash gifts totaling $75,000.
ABM is also asking the Minneapolis Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter, which according to court documents, meant Nasser Kazeminy – a Coleman donor and close friend – fraudulently ordered the payment of corporate funds that were not legitimate transactions.
Norm Coleman, in response, came out with a rather surprising statement:
As another Democratic group that spent millions of dollars attempting to defeat me calls for a politically motivated investigation, I want to be clear that I not only welcome such an investigation, but I am eager to have it move forward immediately. The fact that a United States Senator is being used as a tool of extortion by private parties should be of concern to all Minnesotans. I reiterate that none of the allegations which attempt to besmirch my family’s good name and reputation are true. This investigation should move forward, and it is my hope that those who were behind this matter, their motives and what their connections may be to my political opponents be reviewed aggressively by the appropriate authorities and the media. This matter, which has emerged again as a result of the tactics of my political opponents, during a recount, ought to raise even further suspicions in the minds of Minnesotans as to its motives and purposes.
So why would Coleman, on November 12th, now decide he wants an investigation when he didn’t call for one before? Does he know the FBI is going to be knocking on his door either way?
Has he ever denied getting the money?
All I’ve heard him say is that his wife deserves to make a living, which, to me, is a tacit admission that he DID get the money.