The DFL press release, as well as congratulatory statements from Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken and Jim Oberstar can all be found after the jump.

DFL Chair, Associate Chair Reelected

Brian Melendez and Donna Cassutt, reelected by acclamation, to serve third two-year terms; three other officers elected by acclamation

Maple Grove, Minn. (February 7, 2009) — Delegates to the biennial Business Conference of the Minnesota DFL Party today reelected Chair Brian Melendez and Associate Chair Donna Cassutt by acclamation to their third consecutive two-year terms.

Delegates also elected the Party’s three other managing officers: Susan Rego of St. Michael was reelected Secretary by acclamation to her third consecutive term, Lori Sellner of Sleepy Eye was elected Treasurer by acclamation, and Jamie Edwards of Brooklyn Center was elected Affirmative Action Officer by acclamation.

DFL Chair Brian Melendez said:

“I am grateful for the confidence that the Party has reposed in me and in Donna. But we couldn’t do our jobs without the selfless work of all the activists, volunteers, donors, and other engaged Minnesotans who offer their time and energy to promoting our candidates, our issues, and our values. They have my heartfelt gratitude.

“I’m proud of the Party’s accomplishments in the last two years. We kept field staff on the ground in every congressional district, we conducted the Party’s business transparently — and above all, we won. We carried Minnesota for President Obama, we expanded our majorities in the Legislature, and we took back Paul Wellstone’s seat by electing Al Franken to the Senate.

“I’m especially proud of the hard work of candidates, activists, and staff on making sure that, in 2008, every campaign and every party unit melded into one unified — and successful — statewide Coordinated Campaign.

“But the fight is far from over. Changing our world isn’t short-term work, and it didn’t end last November. Over the next two years, we will work to take back the executive branch and maintain our congressional and legislative majorities. And we will do it by remaining true to our DFL values of equality, opportunity, prosperity, and fair play for all.”

DFL Associate Chair Donna Cassutt said:

“It has been my great privilege over the past several years to meet and hear from passionate, committed DFLers in every corner of our great state who consistently and unselfishly donate their time, energy and hard-earned money to our fight. Their hard work makes Minnesota a better place to live for us all.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done to ensure that our great activists have the tools they need to keep our Party strong and vibrant at the grassroots. We’ve worked every single day to welcome folks into the Party, especially people from historically underrepresented communities, those newly engaged and folks from all geographic areas of the state. I’m also proud of our success in building strong relationships with partners, especially in organized labor.

“I very much appreciate the opportunity to serve our Party in a third term as associate chair, and thank the delegates for their vote of confidence. I look forward to continuing to support our grassroots, broaden our base and build strong relationships with our allies. While we have much to accomplish in the next two years, when we work together as one Party, I’m confident that we will prevail.”

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U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar:

“Under Brian and Donna’s leadership, the Minnesota DFL Party has been more focused, more organized and more successful when it comes to winning elections — including my own in 2006. For this reason, the DFL has come to serve as a model for other state parties. I congratulate Brian and Donna on their reelection and look forward to working with them to continue to bring change to Minnesota — and America.”

U.S. Senator-elect Al Franken:

“From the moment I won the DFL endorsement, Brian Melendez and Donna Cassutt made sure that the DFL Party became a full partner in my campaign. When the going got tough, the Party got going and kept going … and going, and going, all the way through the recount. They haven’t let up once.

“I’m extremely grateful for Brian and Donna’s unwavering support and am thrilled that they’ll be on the job for two more years. Because of their leadership, I know that I’ll be able to count on the Party when I get to Washington — and the Party can count on me.”

U.S. Representative James Oberstar:

“Brian and Donna have worked hard to ensure that the Minnesota DFL Party continues to build on its past successes. They have helped candidates win by getting them the information and resources they need for victory. In addition, they have ensured that the activist base of our party is energized at the grassroots level. I know that Brian and Donna will keep that winning streak going in 2010.”

Last night the United States Senate voted to take $700 billion from taxpayers who did nothing wrong and offer it as a sacrifice at the altar of financial mismanagement. This bill doesn’t fix an economy that isn’t working for middle class families. This bill doesn’t even fix the damage that’s been done in the last eight years. It is, in fact, the exclamation point on eight years of the worst stewardship of our economy since Herbert Hoover. A terrible end to a terrible presidency. And if we don’t face up to what’s gone wrong – if, at this sad moment in our history, we fail to recognize what is still wrong with our economy and take concrete steps to fix it – then this will not be the last time Minnesota taxpayers are asked to clean up someone else’s mess.

This isn’t a big surprise. If a plan were to be worked out that would actually fix the problem including having real oversight (instead of just oversight on how the money is spent), didn’t have all the loopholes for “golden parachutes,” and doing more to help consumers and homeowners, Franken would have been for it. In a speech today, Franken compared by saying “”we were trying to drain a basement that is filled with water and it’s raining out and we have a roof with a huge hole in it. We’re draining the basement without fixing the roof.” Franken’s also did not blame Coleman (or Klobuchar, for that matter) for voting for it, saying it was a very difficult decision, but did blame Coleman for supporting the no-regulation philosophy of the Bush administration that was likely the largest factor in creating this mess.

Meanwhile, Coleman ended up saying that the bill in its previous form was “not acceptable.” Strange. Just last week he said “we have our quarterbacks in there — Henry Paulson and Bernanke — and they’re calling the play. And we have to run the play.” DFL Chair Brian Melendez said: 

Senator Coleman has been caught in yet another lie. A day after he voted to approve $700 billion in taxpayer money to clean up the mess that he and his sponsors helped make on Wall Street, Norm Coleman is claiming that he opposed the original proposal, though his statements in the past week show instead that he supported it.

The truth is that Senator Coleman supported George W. Bush every step of the way in the bailout, just as he has for the last six years. Norm Coleman still doesn’t get it: the Bush administration’s failed economic policies caused this crisis. And Coleman’s lock-step support of those policies has Minnesotans ready to fire him. I see why he wants to distance himself from his record, but the facts speak for themselves.

I may disagree with Melendez here. Melendez says that Coleman’s lying, I think Coleman doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about. Either way, Coleman screwed up his talking points.

Franken has been showing some real leadership these last couple weeks while Coleman continues to prove over and over again that he doesn’t really know what’s up.

More on Franken and the bailout at his blog.

The all-too-cozy relationship between Senator Coleman, his best Republican operative friend, his roommates at his best friend’s house and his roommate’s clients simply doesn’t pass the smell test. There’s nothing ‘independent’ about it.

Today the DFL Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, alleging the possibility of illegal coordination — between the Coleman for Senate campaign on the one hand and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business on the other — and asking the commission to open an investigation. We make several allegations:

First, that the NFIB may have made in-kind contributions in excess of the legal limit of $5,000.

Second, that the Chamber of Commerce, which is a corporation, may have made, and Coleman may have accepted, illegal in-kind corporate contributions.

Third, that both the NFIB and the Chamber of Commerce may have failed to properly report their in-kind expenditures on Senator Coleman’s behalf, in violation of federal reporting requirements.

And fourth, that Senator Coleman may also have violated federal reporting requirements by failing to report the in-kind contributions from NFIB and the Chamber of Commerce.

Minnesotans deserve some answers from Senator Coleman — because if Senator Coleman sleeps under the same roof as the consultants to the outside groups that are advertising on his behalf, how can Minnesotans be sure that illegal coordination is not taking place right in Coleman’s Washington home?

Senator Coleman can clear this issue up, however, by coming clean on the following questions:

Which clients does FLS-Connect do business with in the million-dollar townhouse where Senator Coleman lives? 

Which FLS-Connect employees work in the townhouse, and what do discuss or coordinate with those clients?

Which FLS-Connect employees have worked both on Norm Coleman’s campaign and on independent expenditures?

Finally, has Senator Coleman ever been a party to any FLS-Connect business transactions that have taken place in his home?

Senator Coleman can easily clear this issue up by answering these questions, but to date, he has refused to do so.

For this reason, and to honor Minnesota’s long tradition of open elections, it is imperative that the FEC open an investigation into the specter of illegal coordination.

Will Coleman come clean?

Coleman uses FLS Connect, run by Jeff Larson, to run his Senate campaigns. Jeff Larson is part of Coleman’s “inner circle of advisors.” Over $1.5 Million have gone to FLS Connect and its sister company DCI Group from Coleman’s campaigns and his PAC. Coleman lives in Larson’s house. Coleman employed Larson’s wife. Coleman didn’t have a lease and did not pay utilities until it was investigated by the press. Even after the lease was signed, Coleman’s rate is significantly under market value. More importantly, Coleman’s rental unit shares an office which is used by FLS Connect. Unless he climbs through a window, Coleman literally walks through FLS Connect’s office to get to his bedroom.

FLS Connect has an interesting list of clients. It includes the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). Both groups are spending large amounts of money in the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. all either in Coleman’s favor or against Al Franken. As the Nation states: (emphasis mine)

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.”

DFL Chair Brian Melendez just released an FEC complaint “charging illegal coordination between Senator Norm Coleman and ‘independent’ groups” two hours ago. More at Minnesota Independent and the Associated Press. MNpublius will post more as this story develops.

Two front groups have been spreading false statements about the Employee Free Choice Act — lies that Senator Norm Coleman has gladly repeated on many occasions, even after labor leaders met with him and explained that the statements were untruthful and that the Act in fact guarantees a secret ballot. Senator Coleman desperately wants to divert attention from his record and from his intimate ties with the corporate special interests that fund his campaign, so he has resorted to telling lies about his opponent, Al Franken.

But in Minnesota, we don’t tolerate intentionally false statements in paid political advertising; in fact, such statements are a crime, and rightly so. We are therefore holding legally accountable the two groups that have knowingly and intentionally spread these false statements in Minnesota. A judge will hold those groups accountable. And Minnesotavoters will hold Norm Coleman accountable.

It’s about time. It was exposed that these ads were intentionally dishonest a long time ago. Coleman has been asked to condemn the ads. Coleman continued to trot along telling the same lie. The ads never stopped. Therefore, appropriate legal action’s being taken.

Minnesotans do not deserve this kind of foul dishonesty.

More at MyFox Twin Cities, Minnesota Independent

Reference: Minnesota Statute 211B.06