That PiPress item reports detail concerning the Delaware lawsuit claiming wrongful payments were made to the Colemans, and notes a "10th hour" letter as well as the "11th hour" claims the Coleman campaign offered in response to late-breaking questions about litigation. PiPress reports:
Controversy over Coleman donor takes a new twist
His alleged attempt to pay $100K directly to the senator foiled in October
By Dave Orrick - Last Updated: 11/10/2008 10:56:00 PM CST
A longtime friend and benefactor of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman first wanted to pay him cash, according to allegations that weren't made at the "11th hour" of the campaign, court filings show.
Maybe the 10th hour — Oct. 10, to be exact.
On that day, shareholders in a Texas company controlled by Nasser Kazeminy served a legal letter on its officers alleging Kazeminy wanted to pay the senator directly in "quarterly cash payments of $25,000."
According to the allegations, some company officers blocked the move, and Kazeminy then tried to funnel $100,000 to Coleman through his wife's employer before a whistleblower blocked the move, according to legal filings that became widely available Monday.
A different lawsuit with the claim of indirect payments was filed the week before the Nov. 4 election, and Coleman, a Republican, put out a TV ad calling it an "11th-hour attack" by Democratic opponent Al Franken, who said he knew nothing about the lawsuit.
Publicly, Coleman has stopped making that claim and has tried to shift the issue to the propriety of Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ads attacking him on the basis of the allegations. Coleman attacked Franken for not denouncing the ads.
"Our past statements stand," Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said Monday. "I think it was absolutely an 11th-hour attack. It was made public to the general public a week or two before the general election. ... (Franken and Democratic supporters) are absolutely responsible for fanning the flames of this attack, spending millions of dollars broadcasting it on TV ads."
Franken says he and his campaign did not knew about the allegations until reporters questioned Coleman about them.
The Oct. 10 letter from the Texas shareholders was delivered to Kazeminy's associates on the company board of directors by Oct. 13. Sheehan said Coleman didn't learn of it or the allegations it contained until the week before the election.
The allegation of indirect payments via Laurie Coleman's job is contained in a Texas civil suit; the more pointed allegation of direct cash is contained in a second lawsuit filed in Delaware the Friday before the election.
Neither lawsuit accuses Coleman or his wife of knowing about any of it or taking part in any wrongdoing. Coleman denies any wrongdoing, and Sheehan said no conversations about the alleged financial arrangements ever took place involving Coleman. [Timeframe here is unnecessarily vague, and also, surely Coleman conversed with somebody before issuing his blanket denial and anti-Franken accusations. Timeframe and who allegedly never spoke with the Senator should be specified].
Kazeminy, a Bloomington financier, has hired a crisis communications specialist who has issued a blanket denial on his part.
"Mr. Kazeminy vehemently denies the false and baseless claims made against him in recent weeks," the statement from Amy Rotenberg reads. [...]
The five-paragraph statement concludes: "Mr. Kazeminy has always been an exemplary individual and corporate citizen and is deeply offended by these false and reckless claims made by those seeking money. It is his hope that when all inquiry is completed, the facts are known, and the lawsuit eventually dismissed, the truth will be as prominently reported as have been these false claims."
The statement does not address specifics, and Rotenberg declined to elaborate beyond the statement. Rotenberg, an attorney, is part of Kazeminy's legal team, which is led by Winthrop and Weinstine, a law firm where Coleman worked before running for the Senate.
Both lawsuits surround Deep Marine Technology, a Houston-based company that performs underwater maintenance on oil rigs, [...] According to former Deep Marine chief executive Paul McKim, [plaintiff in the Texas suit, codefendent along with the Deep Marine firm in Delaware] Kazeminy told him and former chief financial officer B.J. Thomas to concoct a contract with the Hays Companies, a Minneapolis-based risk management firm where Laurie Coleman is a contractor. Laurie Coleman is licensed to broker insurance in Minnesota. Hays has confirmed it contracted with Deep Marine, but it has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
Thomas could not be reached for comment.
The Delaware suit, which actually targets McKim along with Kazeminy, includes many of the same allegations but attributes them to a "confidential source."
(Pages from that "10th hour letter" concerning the Colemans are images in a prior Crabgrass post from yesterday when the Delaware court filing was first placed online, see here.)
A very good thing about mainstream media, when they need to pin fact and detail down, their calls get returned. They get responses where mere citizens only can speculate. The italic highlighting was added to emphasize where this occured, to benefit the public's understandings. Also they are generally more terse and neutral than blogs. Their reporters are experienced professionals.
PiPress online, the Political Animal, also reports "Senate race [uncertainty] complicates Coleman’s leadership bid," see also here, and MinnMonitor, link above, says:
The PiPress' Rachel Stassen-Berger says Coleman may also have to drop his bid to head the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The D.C. publication Hotline notes the recount may extend beyond the GOP Senate Caucus's vote on the post, but I can't help wondering if DonorGate is a factor.
[emphasis in original]. It seems the denial of wrongdoing should be accompanied by Hays Companies and Laurie Coleman business records being disclosed as a paper trail in line with the denials. So far, no documents of that kind have been released.
It also is astounding that the Texas firm would not have informed Hays Companies of being mentioned in an Oct. 10, shareholder demand letter in a way that could have led to Hays Companies being in litigation, and where Hayes in the normal course of business would have promptly informed its agent, Laurie Coleman, with all of that happening mid month so that first notice of a problematic situation would have been mid month and not as claimed, only after a lawsuit was first filed.
Yet that claim of "11th hour" notice is the answer attained when the campaign spokesperson was contacted by PiPress' reporter.