The Associated Press is reporting the jury has reached a verdict in one count in the Jack Abramoff related trial of former Abramoff lobbying associate Kevin Ring. Ring "served" as Chief of Staff for former Rep. John Doolittle and as a Senate Judiciary subcommittee aide to Sen. John Ashcroft. Both Doolittle and Ashcroft are GOPers, as in GreedOverPrinciples types.
Here, in a short segment, Bill Moyers explains in general terms what the Abramoff Scandal is all about, and why - IMNSHO - GOP today stands for GreedOverPrinciples. Let's look!!!
I was going to write about this over the weekend, but ... you know ... weekends happen. Then I had Comcast issues. Anyhoo ...
News came out last Monday that the lawsuit against Nasser Kazeminy might be dismissed. Former Deep Marine Technologies CEO Paul McKim alleged that Kazeminy forced him to make three $25,000 payments to the Hays Co. where former senator Norm Coleman's wife worked. McKim alleged this was a way to get money to Norm.
At the end of the week, the judge did dismiss the case. He dismissed it because McKim had lost his standing in DMT as he no longer had any stock in the company.
That's because Kazeminy, a Minnesota businessman who is a friend and donor to the former senator, has since manipulated the structure of the company at the heart of the dispute - leaving the plaintiff without standing to sue.
"Our goose got cooked," said Casey Wallace, who represents Paul McKim, the former CEO of Deep Marine Technology and a minority shareholder in the company.
The value of the Deep Marine stock McKim owns was reduced to a penny after a merger that Kazeminy helped engineer, Wallace said, leaving his client with no choice but to ask the judge to discontinue the suit in a court hearing on Monday at which the defendants urged dismissal.
(Minnesota Independent)
The salient point of this judges ruling is that this case was not dismissed on it's merits but on technical grounds.
[UPDATE: Wow, is that Dallas Morning News article misleading!]
According to the Dallas Morning News article I found earlier, it appeared like a normal motion to dismiss. This is not at all the case. Apparently, both parties are trying to get the case dismissed.
Both parties in a lawsuit against a prominent donor to former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman say they want to end the legal battle and look forward to a court dismissal, attorneys said.
Houston Judge Michael Gomez will rule at the end of this week whether to dismiss a lawsuit between business associates Nasser Kazeminy, a donor close to the former senator, and Deep Marine Technology's former Chief Executive Paul McKim.
*** ORIGINAL POST ***
In civil proceedings, defense attorneys often file a motion to dismiss. The civil suit case against Nasser Kazeminy in Texas is no different. Paul McKim, former CEO of Kazeminy's Deep Marine Technology, is suing because he was forced to send three payments totaling $75,000 to a company at which Norm's wife worked.
A Texas judge is considering whether to dismiss a Texas lawsuit that jolted Minnesota's U.S. Senate race in 2008.
Judge Michael Gomez hears Monday from lawyers trying to end a civil case against a prominent donor to former Sen. Norm Coleman. Among other things, it accuses businessman Nasser Kazeminy (kuh-ZIM'-ih-nee) of trying to improperly funnel $75,000 to Coleman's family.
(Dallas Morning News)
I doubt he'll dismiss the case as there is considerable evidence that this actually occurred. What will be interesting is what the judge writes in his ruling. It may give us a glimpse into what the eventual outcome may be or at least how tough of a job Kazeminy's lawyers will have defending the indefensible.
The Avista Capital Partners-owned Star Tribune still cannot abide the thought of former senator Norm Coleman out of politics. After all, they invested significant time, effort and copy inches pushing his campaign and then propping it up after it was clear he was going to lose. Mike Kaszuba, seeming to follow company orders, ignored several key facts in writing his analysis of Norm's political future.
The biggest mystery, now that Democrat Al Franken is heading to the U.S. Senate, is how soon Republican Norm Coleman will let Minnesotans know whether he wants to be their governor.
Kaszuba glosses over Norm's legal troubles, ignoring three of the four problems Norm faces. He doesn't even note what Norm is in trouble for:
But Coleman would face potential roadblocks. The FBI is still investigating his relationship with Nasser Kazeminy, a major political donor accused in lawsuits of funneling payments to Coleman through a business where Coleman's wife worked.
Maybe the Strib is too short-handed right now to assign someone who knows the political history of Norm. Maybe they're on vacation. At any rate, Kaszuba ignores three other probable corruption investigations:
Kazeminy bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of designer clothing for Norm.
Norm got a below market rate for his apartment in Washington, DC from a political ally and the guy who received millions in business from Coleman's campaign and senatorial office.
Norm's landlord's company may have paid Norm's utility bills.
In all four cases, Kaszuba fails to mention Norm's legal problem ... he didn't report these gifts. If Norm is indicted, if Norm spends time in prison, it will be for not reporting these gifts.
And there's one more problem with Kaszuba's analysis ...
Now that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has announced he won't run for reelection, it seems that every Minnesota Republican is considering running to replace T-Paw. Unfortunately, most reporters seem to have forgotten a few things about a certain former Senator with surgically enhanced, blindingly white teeth.
In the rush to evaluate who would be the candidates at the forefront, they all forgot some legal troubles the former senator horse dentures will be having:
Norm Coleman failed to report to the Senate $75,000 Nasser Kazeminy funneled to Norm through his wife's sham job.
Norm failed to report to the Senate tens of thousands of dollars worth of designer clothing that Nasser Kazeminy paid for.
Norm's sweetheart apartment deal.
Norm's landlord's company paid his utility bills for the first year of his sweetheart apartment deal.
Who's been getting this wrong? Just about everybody:
Former Senator Norm Coleman is in quite a pickle. He's refinanced his house so many times that it's worth two-thirds of what he owes (at least Nasser Kazeminy paid for the rehab ... phewh). He's taken a pay cut from $185K in the US Senate (plus all the percs) to about $100-120K working for the Republican Jewish coalition. He's still got two kids in college. He still has to pay for upkeep of his wife's place in California.
In other words, he can barely keep his glistening white teeth above water.
On top of this he's somehow got to find a way to retain a legal team to defend him against the inevitable FBI investigation resulting from former Deep Marine Technologies executive Paul McKim's lawsuit against DMT and Nasser Kazeminy. Norm's alleged crime is not reporting gifts. And not just the 3 payments of $25,000 from Nasser/DMT but also all the clothes that Nasser bought for Norm.
The Minnesota source said the FBI questioning focused on whether Kazeminy had purchased clothing on Coleman's behalf, reports of which surfaced in October. At the time, Coleman vehemently denied the allegations. "Nobody but me and my wife buy my suits," he said.
(Huffington Post)
We all know that Norm asked the FEC if he could spend his campaign donations on his non-campaign related FBI investigations. But his justifications are pretty weak...
The Huffington Post is reporting that the FBI is investigating former Senator Norm Coleman in both Texas and Minnesota. I infer from the third paragraph below that the FBI asked questions at Laurie Coleman's employer, Hays Company.
E.K. Watkins, a spokesman for the Minnesota FBI, would neither confirm nor deny the report. The source provided details of the interview to the Huffington Post, in addition to copies of business cards left by the agents.
The FBI has also been conducting interviews in Texas, according to media reports, in regards to different allegations that Kazeminy tried to steer $75,000 to Coleman through his wife's employer. Up to this point, there have not been reports of any FBI work taking place in Coleman's home state.
...
The source, who requested to speak anonymously to discuss the matter more frankly, said that payments made to the company that employed the former senator's wife, Laurie Coleman, were also addressed.
(Huffington Post)
While this investigation centers on a lawsuit in Texas involving Norm's longtime friend, benefactor and donor Nasser Kazeminy, the charges are dangerous for Norm. If the FBI finds that Kazeminy did funnel money to Norm through his wife, Norm will be in trouble.
Specifically, Norm will have violated federal law by not reporting the three $25,000 gifts.
In less than two hours, commencement starts for The Katrina Kids - Loyola University New Orleans Class of 2009. And after suffering through Hurricane Katrina to start their college careers, they are ending the odyssey enduring another blowhard, Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
Unfortunately, Gov. Jindal doesn't pre-release texts of anything, according to local sources. And I'm not sure I'll get a copy quickly afterwards, either. So, the fisking when final may not be fresh. For an indication of what to expect, here's an excerpt from a column in yesterday's Times-Picayune:
Nobody is going to brag on former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who remains in the federal pen. But anyone who dealt with Edwards in his heyday will aver that, if he told you something to your face, you could believe it. Nobody ever said that about Jindal.
Certainly, legislators don't after they voted themselves a pay raise last year with Jindal's blessing. When the public got mad, Jindal said that while he thought that legislators, in doubling their pay, had gone too far, he wouldn't veto the bill. Then he vetoed it.
That may have been politically expedient, but it also showed legislators that they were working with a governor whose word was worthless. No wonder they got scared.
Jindal is regarded as a potential presidential contender next time round, which may increase the fear factor among legislators. Nobody with hopes of a political future wants to be on the outs with POTUS.
But there is ample time for Jindal to be tumbled. His hypocrisy over "transparency" is merely the tip of the iceberg. He is going around the country raising campaign money as the man who reduced the tax burden in Louisiana while imposing a "gold standard" of ethics on government officials. Legislators know this is pure flim flam.
I'm guessing Jindal will have pawlenty of political flim-flam in today's Commencement Address, too.
Loyola's College Of Law came out much better; they get Neal Katyal for their keynote speaker. Wish I was in town long enough to hear it....
On the way down south, the radio talking heads repeatedly tried to covince me that Jesus loves me, and wants me to vote Republican.
The first part I already knew; the second I don't believe.
Since arriving in N'Awlins, I've become reassurred that although Rod BadHairJob and the Illinois Politicians might be pretenders to the title of "Most Corrupt State", Louisiana got it down.
In today's local paper is another column devoted to Democrats Behaving Badly:
Since he burst onto the public stage alongside his onetime boss, Mayor Ray Nagin, Greg Meffert has been called many things.Computer nerd. Husband and father. Strip club regular. Former City Hall technology chief who oversold himself as deputy mayor, a position that doesn't exist. Good-government crusader gone bad.
Now, newly acquired records from the city subcontractor who gave Meffert a company credit card while working under his supervision suggest yet another label: Kept man.
Here's the part that made me snort coffee all over the hotel's keyboard:
Meffert's attorney, Randy Smith, insisted there's an honorable explanation for all of this.
Well, as poorly as those Lousianna people behave, at least they make the effort to answering questions. Some folk don't even bother with an effort.
We'll get to that, later. Right now, there's beignets at Cafe Du Monde to deal with.
It was promised that a new kind of politics would emerge from Washington under the banner of President Obama and the freshly re-branded Democratic Party. However, it appears that a corrupt band of twelve Democratic Senators did not get the message. Some of you may have heard that on WJJG 1530 AM's "Mornings with Ray Hanania," Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) made the following statement: "And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place,"
But many of you probably didn't hear that twelve Democratic Senators voted against Senator Durbin's "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009" amendment that gives Judges greater flexibility in preventing foreclosures and renegotiating terms for housing owners.
In case you are wondering, here are their names: Sen. Baucus (D-MT), Sen. Bennet (D-CO), Sen. Byrd (D-WV), Sen. Carper (D-DE), Sen. Dorgan (D-ND), Sen. Johnson (D-SD), Sen. Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Lincoln (D-AR), Sen. Nelson (D-NE), Sen. Pryor (D-AR), Sen. Specter (D-PA), and Sen. Tester (D-MT).
In all fairness, thirty-nine Republican Senators voted against, and numerous Democratic Senators voted for it (thank you Sen. Klobuchar), but that is not the point.
If the Democratic Party really wants to fight for the middle class, then they need to stand up to the banking lobby. The only way they can stand up and fight for the middle class is if we hold their feet to the fire to make them do it.
Thus, I am issuing the following as an open letter to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:
During the 2008 election, when Norm Coleman finally answered questions about a lawsuit in Texas that alleged Nasser Kazeminy funneled $75,000 to him in 2007, he couldn't keep his story straight. Even now, former senator Coleman can't keep it all straight. Cynthia Dizikes, MinnPost's DC reporter, asked Norm about that pesky li'l ole' lawsuit.
"There have never been any allegations that either my wife or I have done anything wrong," said Coleman. "There are allegations between businessmen about a business dispute. But there has never been a single allegation that me or my wife have done anything wrong and we haven't."
(MinnPost)
This is a heaping pile of steaming Norm-speakTM. What Norm has done wrong is not report this gift. If the allegations can be proven true, Norm and his wife have done something wrong. Something federally wrong. Something federal prison-time wrong.
This time Norm left out all the allegations of who's fault the lawsuit really was ... according to Norm. In Norm's alternate reality, this used to be some reporters' fault before it became Al Franken's and the Democrats' fault.
Read on for the history of the Norm-speakTM on this subject.
Local newspapers and TV have not recognized that former Senator Norm Coleman has no political future. They keep discussing the possibility of Norm running for Governor in 2010. They fail to recognize that by 2010, Norm will most likely be under indictment for his sweetheart apartment deal, his landlord's corporation paying his utility bills, not reporting Nasser Kazeminy's gifts of thousands and thousands of dollar's worth of designer clothes and not reporting Kazeminy funneling money to Norm through his wife.
Separate and apart from the ongoing legal dispute over November's election, the Minnesota Republican faces several unresolved investigations: a reported FBI probe into his dealings with Nasser Kazeminy, a friend and benefactor; a potential Senate Ethics Committee inquiry into his Capitol Hill living arrangements; a federal elections investigation into his use of campaign donations for legal expenses; and a possible state probe into his campaign's handling of donors' financial information on its website.
"Coleman would almost be better off if he lost," said David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University in St. Paul. "Should he win, he faces a host of legal and other issues in the Senate. He would enter the Senate with the Kazeminy case shadowing him, and that would almost certainly produce an ethics investigation."
(Politico)
Maybe now the word will filter down from on high. The serious journalists can begin pushing the meme that Norm's has no political future because Politico has said so.
I awoke this morning to the news on MPR that Eric Holder, US Attorney General, will be letting former Senator Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens completely off the hook. While it occurred to me that this might be a practical joke as it is April Fool's Day, this appears to be real news. I immediately thought of the repercussions to Minnesota's very own most corrupt former Senator.
A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. However, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.
(NPR)
While Holder is disgusted that the prosecuting attorney withheld information from the defense, he also cited other factors which I find disheartening. Will the trend of the political elite not facing justice continue?
With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug. His decision is said to be based on Stevens' age - he's 85 - and the fact that Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most important, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.
(my emphasis)
(NPR)
Would the Obama Deparment of Justice consider ignoring Coleman's corruption because he's no longer in the Senate? Will this trend the political elite living under different laws than the rest of us continue?
While the rest of the country caught up with Minnesota in tossing the Republican Party out of power, where does that leave them and what are they doing about it? There's been a lot of discussion of that on the national blogs. I want to examine what it means for Minnesota and MN's Republican Party.
Nationally, the Republicans are trying to rebrand themselves. They want to return to the days when they were considered the champions of small government and fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, after the last eight years, that's just not realistic.
It's like trying to turn a pickle back into a cucumber.
All the speechifying, marketing, Republican talking points repeated ad nauseam by Fox News, CNN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and the rest of the Washington media doesn't change what Americans believe any longer. They've had 8 years of proof of what the Republicans will do when they have the power and plenty of compliant Democrats.
During the 2008 MN-SEN campaign I kept track of everything Norm Coleman did at The Norm Coleman Weasel Meter. One particular subject I focused upon was oversight. Norm claimed to be the tallest midget, largest shrimp, sharpest spoon in the knife drawer Republican Champion of Oversight. The truth is he ignored his duties because he placed his party above the good of his country.
Now we learn how corrupt things got in Iraq Reconstruction while Norm was looking the other way:
Update (by Kelly): Over $12 billion in cash that disappeared and $13 billion in Iraq rebuilding money that never did any rebuilding is just some of the troubles being published, that should have been prevented by the oversight of Norm Coleman's committee.
