Norman Coleman - a character issue and the politics of quid pro quo. If you donated hard earned campaign cash to elect the man, did you envision this?

Earning as much as a U.S. Senator does, isn't it shabby to gutter around over small change, compromising bigger things for small favors - in return for bigger ones, but from the contributions war chest, not out-of-pocket?

Big E, at MnBlue, has the viewpoint:

Norm is a US Senator. Norm is paying to keep his wife in her accustomed lifestyle in California. Norm is paying for a mortgage, upkeep and taxes on a house in the posh Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. Norm has two kids in college. Jeff Larson's (Norm's landlord) has a company (FLS Connect) that has received $1.5 million in business from Norm's campaign and office. Norm employs Larson's wife. This is just a little backscratching between fellow Republicans. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Unlike regular folk, Senators cannot receive gifts of more than $250 from friends ... Norm saved at least $1,150/mth switching from his $1,750/mth apartment to his new $600/mth one. The going market rates for the area are around $1,600 - $1,800 per month for the Capitol Hill neighborhood. On top of that I don't believe it is a stretch to claim that he didn't have to pay utilities until he got busted. I lived in the Maryland suburbans of DC for 3 years ... it's freakin' hot from June through September ... my electric bills were way higher for that period alone than $500 or so dollars. It's hard to believe that Norm's utlities all put together averaged $40/mth.

My guess is the reason they will not produce the utility bills is that Larson's company was paying the bills. That means Norm was accepting gifts from a company. That's an even bigger ethics violation.

Reports published yesterday and today revealed that Coleman received a year's worth of unreported, free utilities for his Capitol Hill English-basement apartment, for which Coleman still only pays a far-under-market-value $600 in rent per month. The value of a check that Coleman's wife wrote to Larson to reimburse him for the free utilities — written only after a National Journal article that first exposed Coleman's sweetheart deal — constitutes an admission that Coleman violated Senate ethics rules. (DFL Press Release)

To me, that entire "deal" is a significant abuse of trust. People, not lobbyists or business executives expecting recognition later in real terms, but homeowners thinking the GOP might offer the better people - donating to back that belief and trust - I cannot see another way to analyze it, except that peoples' trust was coarsely and blatently abused.


Who but another crass and entirely heartless individual could condone that?


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