Coleman's Best Legal Remedy May Be To Lose Election
Sam Stein
HuffPost
If allegations turn out to be true that Norm Coleman's wife received $75,000 of payments from a GOP benefactor interested in helping out the Senator's family, then the Minnesota Republican could be facing a whole host of political and legal troubles, Senate ethics experts say.
This past week, the CEO of the Texas-based Deep Marine Technology, filed a lawsuit that, tangentially, alleged that a shareholder in the company, Nasser Kazeminy, helped funnel three payments of $25,000 to the Coleman family. The payments were officially made as insurance purchases from the company at which Laurie Coleman is employed. But an affidavit from Paul McKim, the Republican head of DMT, states that no such services were rendered.
Experts in Senate ethics law said the situation, while hardly settled, spelled myriad problems for the Senator and his family, including - in a ways-away hypothetical - criminal charges. One Democratic lawyer said that the best legal remedy for Coleman would be simply losing his reelection bid on Tuesday.
"If he doesn't go back to the senate than the Ethics Committee goes away," said the attorney who has followed the issue closely. "So, in some ways, Norm's best legal move is to lose on Tuesday. But if he goes back then the ethics committee will almost certainly look at it."
(More here.)
HuffPost
If allegations turn out to be true that Norm Coleman's wife received $75,000 of payments from a GOP benefactor interested in helping out the Senator's family, then the Minnesota Republican could be facing a whole host of political and legal troubles, Senate ethics experts say.
This past week, the CEO of the Texas-based Deep Marine Technology, filed a lawsuit that, tangentially, alleged that a shareholder in the company, Nasser Kazeminy, helped funnel three payments of $25,000 to the Coleman family. The payments were officially made as insurance purchases from the company at which Laurie Coleman is employed. But an affidavit from Paul McKim, the Republican head of DMT, states that no such services were rendered.
Experts in Senate ethics law said the situation, while hardly settled, spelled myriad problems for the Senator and his family, including - in a ways-away hypothetical - criminal charges. One Democratic lawyer said that the best legal remedy for Coleman would be simply losing his reelection bid on Tuesday.
"If he doesn't go back to the senate than the Ethics Committee goes away," said the attorney who has followed the issue closely. "So, in some ways, Norm's best legal move is to lose on Tuesday. But if he goes back then the ethics committee will almost certainly look at it."
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home