Watchdog group files ethics charge against Coleman

1 Jul 2008 // A Washington-based government watchdog group is asking the Senate ethics committee to investigate whether Sen. Norm Coleman violated gift rules by renting an apartment owned by a longtime Republican associate.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wants the committee to determine whether Coleman, a Republican, is paying the fair market value for the Capitol Hill-area apartment, and what was behind the apparently loose rental agreement the senator had with St. Paul telemarketer Jeff Larson before a National Journal reporter began asking questions about it.

CREW also wants to know why Coleman's office said Larson's wife, Dorene Kautz, would be leaving her job in the senator's St. Paul office after the Journal inquired about her role.

DFL Party officials, who hope to defeat Coleman's bid for a second term this year, said Monday they believed Coleman had violated Senate ethics rules in paying Larson $600 a month for a garden-level bedroom and bath in a three-story row house. Party officials said that's half of what most renters in the area would pay for comparable apartments, a point that Coleman disputes.

The Journal also reported that Coleman had missed two monthly payments since taking the apartment last summer, and that he had swapped some old furniture for another month's rent.

Luke Friedrich, press secretary for the Coleman campaign, called CREW's complaint "a politically motivated attack." He said that CREW executive director Melanie Sloan was featured numerous times on DFL candidate Al Franken's radio show, and called her "a reliable attack dog" for the Democratic party.

"The record is clear that Senator Coleman paid fair market value for a cramped basement bedroom, and attacks by Franken's surrogates won't change those facts," Friedrich said.

Sloan is a former assistant U.S. attorney and worked as counsel for several Democrats, including Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Joseph Biden of Delaware. However, within the last month CREW has sought ethics investigations involving charges that two Democratic senators received favorable mortgages and a Democratic congresswoman reportedly received a loan after her home was foreclosed.

Larson runs FLS Connect, a St. Paul telemarketing firm that has done more than $1.5 million worth of business with Coleman's political action committee and campaigns. He is CEO of the local host committee for next month's Republican National Convention and was instrumental in bringing the convention to the Twin Cities.

Senate rules strictly prohibit most gifts of more than $50. Senators may receive gifts from friends or longterm associates, but only up to $250; a gift valued at more than $250 would have to be approved by the ethics committee. The rules make clear that discounts for lodging may constitute a gift.

In a news release, Sloan said that most people don't have a landlord willing to overlook unpaid rent. "That Sen. Coleman has just such a landlord, who also happens to financially benefit from his relationship with the senator, creates exactly the sort of appearance of impropriety that undermines the public's faith in government," she said.