[I]it was only after that vicious attack had been unfurled in the Star Tribune — and unfurled during the closing weeks of an extremely tight senatorial race — that the newspaper’s editor decided it was time to muzzle any further campaign commentary from the paper’s columnists.

Adding to the irony (or the double standard; take your pick) was the fact that Please, people, no partisanship memo was distributed the very same day the Star Tribune printed a front-page article about GOP operative Jeff Larson, who found himself at the center of the Sarah Palin shopping spree scandal. (It was Larson’s credit card that got burned up by Neiman Marcus to the tune of $75,000, courtesy of the Palin camp.)

Larson just happens to be one of the closest and most-connected Minnesota political allies of Franken’s Republican opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman. But rather than present the story as an embarrassment to Coleman, the Strib’s article about Larson was a valentine, complete with “Clark Kent” in the headline.

Much of the piece will not be new news for regular readers of blogs like MNpublius and MNblue as well as readers of media sites like MinnPost and the Minnesota Independent. It is, however, the first piece I’ve seen that compiles everything about the Senate race in regards to the Star Tribune’s lean to the right into one story. Highly recommended reading.

(Thanks to MNpublius reader John B. for picking the blockquote — I had a hard time choosing.)

Update: Dave Mindeman has the best breakdown of the endorsement I’ve read.

Sen. Norm Coleman, who criticized the automated call-efforts to tie Obama to Bill Ayers, has paid nearly $1.7 million for consulting services (including nearly $200,000 in the third quarter of 2008) to the firm FLS Connect, the same firm used by McCain. That total doesn’t include the nearly $300,000 that Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC has paid FLS-Connect for additional services.

The ties between Coleman and FLS go beyond the political. Coleman rented an apartment on the cheap from firm head Jeff Larson (the same man who reportedly bought Gov. Sarah Palin’s expensive clothes on behalf of the RNC). And the two worked together closely to help bring the Republican convention to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis. Whoops. Either way, the taint of Jeff Larson continues…

Ironic, isn’t it, how Norm Coleman can denounce negative calls while paying the guy responsible for them?

WCCO’s Pat Kessler also makes note of the Guiliani connection.

All the people interviewed in the article were Republicans. There is not a single critic. They also allow Larson to deny he was behind the vicious robo-calls unquestioned.

Heck, they put “Clark Kent” in the headline.

Maybe they’re leaning Coleman instead of Barkley for their endorsement?

Read about it: New York Times, The Atlantic

Read both. Wow. More on this soon…

The calls are nasty and the legality of the calls are being questioned.

Who’s behind these? FLS Connect. The same FLS that stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson and Tom Synhorst. Jeff Larson, being the same Jeff Larson that’s Norm Coleman’s buddy and landlord. The same friend that gives him the exorbitantly cheap rent, the same friend that paid his utilities, the same friend that has an FLS Connect office in the same basement as Coleman’s bedroom, the same friend that lobbied to bring the RNC to Saint Paul, the same friend’s wife that worked in Coleman’s office and the same friend that Coleman spent over a million on to help run his campaigns.

Now Minnesotans are receiving what are likely the most negative political phone calls they have ever received in their lives from whom is arguably Norm Coleman’s best friend.

Norm Coleman can’t be too happy this week. Again.

MNpublius will have more as this story develops.

UPDATE: Fox9: “Minn. DFL Says Norm Coleman Confidant is Behind ‘Malicious’ Phone Calls”

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.