(The fourth poorest Senator in the 110th Congress (now a former Senator) leveraged the value of his house. Just like many of us did. Except maybe a lot more than the rest of us did. - promoted by The Big E)
{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}
According to the TreasuryDirect website, when Norm Coleman was sworn in as a Senator on January 7, 2003, the national debt was $6,387,381,983,103.35. When Coleman's term ended on January 3, 2009, the national debt was $10,627,961,295,930.67. Of course, Coleman wasn't singularly responsible by any means for the $4.24 trillion increase in the national debt in his six years in office, but he was an avid supporter of the George W. Bush economic policies that led to the rapid increase in the national debt.
Well, it seems that as debt-happy as former Senator Norm Coleman was with your tax dollars, private citizen Norm Coleman has been even more debt-happy with his own finances:
|
In the 14 years since The Minnesota Senator-in-Limbo and wife Laurie purchased a home in St. Paul, he has refinanced or otherwise revised the terms of his mortgage 12 times, according to records obtained by a Coleman foe.
Sure, every family considers refinancing the mortgage on their home depending on rate fluctuations and private needs; but, damn! Twelve refinancings in fourteen years?! I don't think you could find any money manager or real estate investor who would call that prudent financial management. But what does all of this financial re-shuffling add up to for the Colemans?
It appears from the filings that Coleman and his family piled up a huge increase in their debt -- rising from a $172,000 first mortgage to a final $775,000 30-year loan registered in 2007.
Holy cow! And Norm Coleman wanted his hands on our tax dollars? In fact let's look at Norm's shrewd real estate moves:
Nov. 1994: took out 30-year $172,900 mortgage.
Dec. 1994: took out 10-year $26,700 second mortgage
March 1996: took out new 30-year mortgage for $174,000.
Nov. 1997: took out new 30-year mortgage for $199,250.
Feb. 1999: took out 30-year mortgage for $203,600. [Coleman Mortgage, 2/1/99]
Jan. 2000: took out a 5-year $50,000 revolving credit line.
Oct. 2001: took out 30-year mortgage for $292,000. [Coleman Mortgage, 10/29/01]
Oct. 2002: took out 5-year $25,000 revolving credit line.
Aug. 2003: took out 30-year mortgage for $320,000.
Jan. 2004: revised revolving credit line from $25,000 to $125,000 and extended the maturity date from Oct. 2007 to October 10, 2008.
Dec. 2006: took out new 30-year mortgage for $423,000.
March 2007: took out new 30-year mortgage for $775,000.
Look at those last two entries in particular. A new $423K mortgage in December 2006, followed three months later by a new $775K mortgage! Try walking into your local bank just a few months after you refinance your mortgage and tell the banker you want to refinance again, and for nearly double what you refinanced for just a few months earlier. Think you'll get that loan? Me neither. Fortunately for Norm, he must have enjoyed some special treatment.
At any rate, this paints a picture of someone who could certainly make good use of $75,000 quietly funneled to his bank account by a good buddy. I'm not making accusations... just saying the optics aren't so good for Normie. |
