Norm Coleman and Ted Stevens’ Dirty Money
Posted in From the Trail, News Clips on July 31st, 2008
Wondering what Norm Coleman has been up to this week while Al was talking about lowering energy costs and making prescription drugs affordable? He’s been trying to figure out what to do about his ties to indicted Republican Senator Ted Stevens. Here’s a sampling of what the media has been saying.
Comedian-turned-Democratic candidate Al Franken called on Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to return campaign donations from Stevens. In a statement, Franken’s spokesman said, “(N)ow that (Coleman’s) political patron has been indicted for breaking the law, he needs to return those contributions immediately and explain his role in this scandal.”
Coleman called the indictment “a very, very serious matter,” but added, “Under our system of justice, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. I look at that principle before making any decisions about returning any contributions.”
In Minnesota, Democrat Al Franken called for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman to return $31,000 in contributions from Sen. Stevens and VECO. Sen. Coleman’s campaign said it hadn’t made a decision on what to do with Sen. Stevens’s contributions. “Under the American justice system people are innocent until proven guilty,” said Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan.
Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) has not donated Stevens’s money, but told reporters Wednesday he probably would in order to insulate himself from attacks by Democrats.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman on Wednesday joined the ranks of senators shedding campaign cash from indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Meanwhile, other Republican senators announced Tuesday and Wednesday that they had donated their campaign contributions from Stevens. Seven senators had done so by the time Coleman’s campaign announced Wednesday that the senator would be shedding the $20,000 the campaign and Coleman’s political action committee received from Stevens for this election cycle.
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Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken said Coleman’s attempt to insulate himself won’t work.
“This kind of smells,” Franken said.
He said Coleman has accompanied Stevens on fishing junkets to Alaska.
“He needs to really come clean on what he was doing up there,” Franken said. Franken’s campaign also released a radio ad Wednesday about the Coleman and Stevens connections, with the kicker “Minnesota shouldn’t let Norm Coleman off the hook on this one.”
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman said Wednesday that he would give away $20,000 in campaign contributions that came from a political action committee tied to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who is accused of concealing a quarter-million dollars’ worth of personal gifts from oil interests in his state.
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The $20,000 Coleman is parting with includes money from his campaign account and a leadership committee connected with him.
He received $10,000 from the Northern Lights account in his 2002 campaign. But that money was spent already, said spokesman Mark Drake.
Franken campaign spokesman Andy Barr said Coleman also needs to relinquish past contributions he received from executives of oil services contractor Veco Corp., the company that is part of the Stevens scandal. Company executives reportedly helped arrange for renovations to Stevens’ house and gave him other gifts as they lobbied him for government aid.
“Until that is done we will continue to call [Coleman] out for sitting on dirty money,” Barr said.
The Franken ad
The Franken radio ad mentions three trips Coleman made to Alaska for invitation-only gatherings put on by Stevens and campaign contributions Coleman has gotten from “Big Oil.”
The Pioneer Press is reporting that Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota is donating the money to support childhood cancer research. Interestingly enough, he’d previously said he wouldn’t dump the money, on
the grounds that Stevens is innocent until proven guilty. But a Franken radio ad tying him to Stevens might just have changed his mind.
You can check out our radio ad here.
