Please, help stop Coleman from breaking the law . . . again!

[pathansen]

It appears that Norm Coleman is using campaign funds to pay for his personal legal problems with
the FBI investigation and this is illegal:

Go to the following website to write letter to FEC:
http://allianceminnesota.org/page/speakout/FECAct1

"News reports state that Coleman is using funds raised for his re-election campaign to pay for legal fees associated with a reported ongoing FBI investigation and lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in Texas, states that Coleman's friend Nasser Kazeminy funneled $75,000 to Coleman through the Senator's wife.
It's our understanding of federal code that the Senator can't use the funding for re-election for personal use, and these legal fees are considered personal use under the law.
However, because of the huge backlog at the FEC, this case might not come to light anytime soon and we might not get an answer to our questions.
To us, that's unacceptable. We deserve to know whether Coleman is using campaign funds legally, and we deserve to know in a timely fashion."

Please urge the FEC to take quiter action at:
http://allianceminnesota.org/page/speakout/FECAct1

[PBS Poll-435]

1. No wonder he is so bitterly clinging on to hope of re-election.

Without the Senate seat (which is a fucking valuable thing) he would be just another unemployed person that is 250K upside down on his house.

[phleshdef]

2. Oh he could get kicked out for this. But at least then Pawlenty can keep the seat Republican.

At least I think thats the way it would work.

[Baltoman991]

8. Don't think so.

The election has already taken place. While he may place a Republican in Colemans place until the court hears the case, in the end, Al Franken will be sitting in the Senate.

[camera obscura]

3. Is this really illegal? If it is, we need HuffPo & the media hammering him on it.

[1776Forever]

4. Coleman has done this for so long he doens't know when he steals - Time to change that!

Right on!:grr:

[annabanana]

5. hoo-boy

Rotten to the very end...

[pathansen]

11. Yup, committing a crime while being investigated for a crime

And the list goes on.

[wildflowergardener]

6. funds

I wonder if contesting the recount is way he can somehow pay his lawyers for both things out of the campaign funds - though maybe you need different lawyers for each thing.

Meg

[Jim Lane]

7. My guess is that a dodge like that would be illegal but possibly hard to prove

I doubt that he'd need separate lawyers, but one law firm working on both matters would have to render separate bills.

I used to work at a big firm, and it's not at all uncommon for a bill to be broken down according to the case or other assignment that was involved.

Of course, there'd be an opportunity for a fair amount of, shall we say, creativity on the part of the law firm, in determining how to structure its bill.

[MasonJar]

9. Done. Come on, DU, this was easy and not time consuming.

[Kaleko]

10. Done. My pleasure.

[rasputin1952]

12. Done...

:hi:

[Hope And Change]

13. K & R!Thanks for posting!

[davidpdx]

14. Done

It's worth noting there are three position that will be filled on the FEC this year.

[pathansen]

15. Great, hopefully Dems will pick better people to stop the corruption