Good question. How much time do we have??
Norm Coleman whisked into his car to avoid reporters questions about Nasser Kazeminy lawsuit
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More on Norm Coleman’s Relationship With Nasser Kazeminy
Aaron Landry - October 10, 2008 -
http://mnpublius.com/2008/10/more-on-norm-colemans-relationship-with-nasser-kazeminy/A couple good stories today that were overshadowed (intentionally?) by Coleman choosing to “suspend” his negative ads:
Minnesota Independent’s Paul Demko:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/12519/the-crunch-coleman-suitgate-pal-nasser-kazeminy-is-among-minnesotas-top-20-political-donors During the first 18 months of this election cycle, Kazeminy and his wife have made at least $55,700 in political contributions, almost exclusively to Republican candidates and causes... ranks the household 19th on the list of the state’s most generous political donors.
.... The Kazeminy family made $4,000 in contributions to the then-St. Paul mayor’s 1997 re-election campaign. Three years later Kazeminy footed the bill for Coleman to fly to Jordan for a global trade conference. Since joining the Senate in 2002, Coleman has taken at least two more trips at the businessman’s expense. In 2004 the senator and his wife flew back from Paris on a private plane owned by Kazeminy, a $2,870 value. The following year Coleman and his daughter used Kazeminy’s plane to jet off to the Bahamas, a trip valued at $3,960. “It’s a friend with a plane,” Coleman explained to the Star Tribune after the subsidized trips came to light in 2006. .............
Ari Berman at The Nation adds some more:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/371072/suitgate_sinking_coleman Yet the relationship is deeper than that. When Coleman was mayor of St. Paul (from 1994 to 2002), the city gave a $425,000 loan to help renovate the St. Paul Athletic Club, a project Kazeminy was an investor in. When the new gym opened, Coleman became the first member.
Between his stint as mayor and senator, Coleman joined a law firm, Winthrop and Weinstine, retained by Kazeminy’s company. Coleman was paid $140,000 during that brief time period, even though his law license was suspended at the time of the hiring because he’d failed to pay his dues to the Minnesota State Bar while mayor. Coleman initially declined to disclose the terms of the contract, telling the Minneapolis Star-Tribune it was “between the firm, me and my wife.”
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Kazeminy, Nasser J Mr.
PALM BEACH, FL
33480 N J K Holding Corp./Executive $20,000 07/19/2006 NRCC
..... http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/nasser-kazeminy.asp?cycle=06