Norm Coleman

Coleman is a member of four Senate committees including the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He is also the ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2004 Coleman campaigned for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), but was narrowly defeated for the post by North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole in a 28-27 vote. Coleman's Northstar Leadership PAC made over $200,000 worth of contributions to other Republican senators that were up for re-election during his campaign for the NRSC chair.¹ Coleman opposed President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq in 2007 January but continued to vote against all efforts of Democrats to implement their preferred Iraq policy.²

Biography

Coleman was born in New York to Beverly and Norman Bertram Coleman, Sr. He is married to Laurie Coleman (née Casserly), an actress.³ They have two children, Jacob and Sarah. Two other children died during infancy (Adam, 1983; Grace, 1992) from a rare genetic disorder known as Zellweger syndrome.⁴

Coleman attended Brooklyn Law School from 1972-4, but later received his Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa College of Law.⁶ After getting his law degree in 1976, Coleman went to work as a prosecutor in the Minnesota Attorney General's office. Coleman worked for the Minnesota Attorney General until he was elected mayor of St. Paul, eventually working his way up to chief prosecutor and solicitor general.⁷

Coleman is also a Freemason, having been made a Mason at sight in 2003 by then GrandMaster of Masons in Minnesota, Neil Neddermeyer.⁸

Mayor of St. Paul

In 1993, Coleman was elected mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat.⁹ Coleman had also run for mayor in 1989, but he dropped out when Jim Scheibel won the DFL endorsement.¹⁰¹¹¹² In 1996, he joined the Republican Party¹³ and was reelected in 1997 as a Republican.¹⁴

2002 Senate election

Coleman had made plans for a second run for governor in 2002, but was persuaded by Karl Rove and George W. Bush to run against incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone in that year's Senate election. The White House was determined to unseat Wellstone, and felt Coleman, with his popularity in heavily Democratic St. Paul, offered the best chance of doing so. Coleman easily won the Republican nomination.

Coleman and Wellstone were neck-and-neck in most polls for most of the campaign.¹⁵ Wellstone died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. The Democrats named former Vice President Walter Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. Mondale had held the same Senate seat from 1964 to 1977.

Coleman narrowly defeated Mondale in the election, winning by just over 61,000 votes out of over 2 million statewide. It is generally believed that Mondale--and indeed the entire DFL ticket--was hampered by voter anger over the atmosphere at Wellstone's memorial service, at which Governor Jesse Ventura and Senator Trent Lott were booed. Coleman succeeded Dean Barkley, who had been appointed by Ventura to serve the remaining two months of Wellstone's term.

In April 2003, Coleman told a Capitol Hill reporter that he was a "99% improvement" over Wellstone because he had a better working relationship with the White House. Many supporters of Wellstone were offended and felt that this was deeply insulting, and at least one member of Congress urged Coleman to apologize.¹⁶

Political positions

Coleman's politics have changed dramatically throughout his political career. In college, Coleman was a liberal Democrat and was actively involved in the anti-war movement of the early 1970s. He ran for student senate and opined in the school newspaper that his fellow students should vote for him because he knew that "these conservative kids don't fuck or get high like we do (purity, you know)... Already the cries of motherhood, apple pie, and Jim Buckley reverberate through the halls of the Student Center. Everyone watch out, the 1950s bobby-sox generation is about to take over."⁴

While running for mayor in 1993, Coleman wrote in a letter to the City Convention Delegates: "I have never sought any other political office. I have no other ambition other than to be mayor." He goes on in the same letter to say:

In December 1996, Coleman announced he was leaving the DFL party to join the Republican Party. He cited his frustrations with the Democratic Party and his belief that the Republican Party offered the best chance to continue his efforts to hold the line on taxes and grow jobs. [3] ¹⁷

Many in Minnesota speculated that his switch was motivated by his known aspirations for statewide office — something that would have been difficult considering distrust of him by DFL party leaders ¹⁸. As an abortion opponent, a frequent adversary of public employee unions and a close ally of the business community, Coleman’s positions put him at odds with the DFL Party in Minnesota and aligned him more closely with Republicans. In a letter to supporters announcing the switch, Coleman wrote that “while the political party I belong to changes, nothing about how I govern or what I believe changes at all.”¹⁹

Ironically, prior to becoming a Republican and running against him in 2002, Coleman chaired Wellstone's Senate re-election campaign in 1996. While making the Wellstone nomination speech at the 1996 state DFL convention, Coleman stated: "Paul Wellstone is a Democrat, and I am a Democrat." At this point in time, tensions were so high between Coleman and the DFL party that a number of delegates at the convention were loudly booing Coleman's speech.²⁰

Coleman is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership. In March 2007, National Journal ranked Coleman the fourth most liberal Republican in the Senate.²¹ GovTrack, an independent tracking website, also describes Coleman as a "moderate Republican" based on their own bill analysis.²²

In September 2008, Coleman joined the bipartisan Gang of 20, which is seeking a bipartisan solution to the American energy crisis. The group is pushing for a bill that would encourage state-by-state decisions on offshore drilling and authorize billions of dollars for conservation and alternative energy.²³

He received a 14% progressive rating from Progressive Punch²⁴ And he scored a 73% conservative rating by the conservative group, SBE Council.²⁵ In contrast, Minnesota's other senator at the time, Democrat Mark Dayton, received a score of 90% progressive and 9% conservative by the same groups.²⁴²⁵

Position on Iraq

From the start, Coleman was a strong supporter of the war in Iraq and the War on Terror. He has been a consistent supporter of the war over the past several years, and generally tends to agree with the positions of the Bush Administration on Iraq. He is in favor of the eventual removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but does not believe in any kind of timetable for the removal of troops until the situation in Iraq becomes more stable. According to Eric Black (Writer) of MinnPost.com, "He believes the prospects are good for a drawdown of U.S. troops, but it must be done based on conditions on the ground as reported by commanders in the field, not according to an "arbitrary" timetable set for "political" reasons in Washington."²⁶

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Environment

On December 11, 2005, Coleman voted in favor of invoking cloture on, thus advancing, a defense appropriations bill that included oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) after having pledged in 2002 to oppose such drilling. He stated that he did so because although he planned to vote against the bill, he did not believe that a filibuster was warranted. In spite of this, many environmental advocacy groups (most notably the Sierra Club)²⁷ viewed his vote as a betrayal of his promise. His vote notwithstanding, the filibuster held, and Coleman voted to strip the ANWR provision from the bill in a subsequent vote.²⁸²⁹³⁰³¹³² Sen. Coleman received a score of 33% for 2007 from the League of Conservation Voters, [4][5] in their view taking the pro-environment position in just five of fourteen cases.

Positions on abortion, stem-cell research, and Schiavo case

Coleman has campaigned as a pro-life candidate since at least 1993.¹⁹ Coleman attributes his position on abortion to the death of two of his four children in infancy from a rare genetic disease. He supports limiting stem cell research to adult stem cells and stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, and, in July 2006, he voted against lifting restrictions on federal research dollars for new embryonic stem cell lines.³³³⁴ Senator Coleman is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership a group which supports Embryonic Stem Cell Research. ³⁵ Senator Coleman voted in favor of legislative intervention to prolong the life of severely brain-damaged Floridian Terri Schiavo.³⁶³⁷³⁸This vote failed.

Position on gay rights issues

Coleman opposes recognition of same-sex marriages by either the federal or state governments.³⁹ In his 2002 Senate campaign, Coleman pledged support a amendment to the United States Constitution that would ban any state from recognizing same-sex marriage.^{citation needed} In 2004 and in June 2006, he voted in favour of such an amendment.⁴⁰

When he was mayor, Coleman refused to sign a city proclamation celebrating the annual gay pride festival, explaining his opposition: "What we have had in St. Paul and Minneapolis for many years is signing a joint proclamation making it gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender month. I will say that I support human rights... And of course that includes sexual orientation. On the other hand, I've felt very strongly that is wasn't government's responsibility to give proclamations for people's sexuality. I don't think government has a responsibility to issue awards for one's sexuality." ⁴¹⁴² Coleman hired transgendered Susan Kimberly, formerly Robert Sylvester, to be his deputy mayor in 1998. Kimberly also worked as Coleman’s Minnesota Senate Office as State Director.⁴³

Position on marijuana issues

Coleman recently made this statement about marijuana legalization: "I oppose the legalization of marijuana because, as noted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, marijuana can have serious adverse health affects on individuals. The health problems that may occur from this highly addictive drug include short-term memory loss, anxiety, respiratory illness and a risk of lung cancer that far exceeds that of tobacco products. It would also make our transportation, schools and workplaces, just as examples, more dangerous."⁴⁴ According to Coleman's former college classmate Norm Kent,([6]) a dreadlocked Coleman smoked and dealt marijuana regularly in his college years and was an outspoken opponent of drug busts.⁴⁵

Relationship to the Bush administration

In 2002, the Bush Administration persuaded Coleman to run against Wellstone rather than try for the governorship.⁴⁶ ⁴⁷

In December 2005, Coleman voted for a budget bill that cut funding from a number of programs, but kept funding for sugar beet farmers in Minnesota after Rove asked him to support the administration's position on the issue. Coleman told Congress Daily that he would not vote for a bill that cut sugar beet funding but "Karl Rove called me and asked what I wanted. A few hours later it was out of the bill."⁴⁸

On March 14, 2006, Coleman called on President Bush to replace or reorganize his staff, stating that they did not sufficiently have their "ears to the ground" on matters like Hurricane Katrina, Harriet Miers' failed Supreme Court nomination, and the Dubai Ports World controversy and accusing the administration of having a "tin ear."⁴⁹ He stated that they showed inadequate "political sensitivity" in their handling of the issues.

Position on CAFTA

Coleman expressed reservations about supporting CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) unless the interests of the domestic U.S. sugar industry (including Minnesota's sugar beet industry) were accommodated.⁵¹⁵²⁵³ He voted in favor of CAFTA after obtaining quotas imposed on foreign sugar until 2008. He stood behind President Bush on August 2, 2005, as the trade agreement was signed into law.⁵⁴ "This is a 3 year insurance policy that I have purchased for my sugar farmers..." he said.⁵⁵

Stance in Social Security debate

Coleman supports allowing workers to divert a portion of their Social Security contributions to the creation of individual accounts to be invested in the stock market, a variation of a general plan referred to by supporters as "personal accounts," referred to historically as "privatization."⁵⁶⁵⁷⁵⁸ He agrees with President Bush's statements that the contribution changes would apply to those younger than 55.⁵⁹ "The Social Security system for those folks 55 and over will not change in any way, shape or form - no ifs, ands, or buts," he said.

Investigations Subcommittee and Galloway testimony

In May 2005, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Coleman, held hearings on their investigation of abuses of the UN Oil-for-Food program, including oil smuggling, illegal kickbacks and use of surcharges, and Saddam Hussein's use of oil vouchers for the purpose of buying influence abroad. These Oil-for-Food Program Hearings covered corporations (including Bayoil) and several well-known political figures of various nations (including Vladimir Zhironovsky), but are much remembered for the confrontational appearance of British Member of Parliament George Galloway, a member of the RESPECT The Unity Coalition (Respect), a then-new British political party. Coleman accused Galloway of abuses, which Galloway denied. ⁶⁰⁶¹ The previous year, Coleman had called for the UN's Secretary-general Kofi Annan to resign for other alleged program abuses. On June 2, 2006, Coleman responded to criticism that he had insufficiently investigated the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) for sanctions busting, saying that there were legal and cost hurdles.[7] The Prime Minister of Australia at the time, John Howard, was a supporter of the invasion of Iraq. The Australian ambassador to the U.S., Michael Thawley, met with Coleman in late 2004 to lobby against any investigation of AWB. ⁶²⁶³

Coleman and government infrastructure

On February 10, 2006, in a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of which Coleman is a member, during testimony of former FEMA director Michael D. Brown, Coleman attacked Brown for poor leadership during Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts, "you didn't provide the leadership, even with structural infirmities." Coleman went on, "you're not prepared to kind of put a mirror in front of your face and recognize your own inadequacies" and "the record reflects that you didn't get it or you didn't in writing or in some way make commands that would move people to do what has to be done until way after it should have been done."⁶⁴ Brown responded combatively, "well, Senator, that's very easy for you to say sitting behind that dais and not being there in the middle of that disaster, watching that human suffering and watching those people dying and trying to deal with those structural dysfunctionalities"⁶⁵ and implored Coleman to stick to questions.⁶⁶ He later likened Coleman's charges to a "drive-by shooting."⁶⁷ Brown had recently stated that he notified Department of Homeland Security and the White House of the tremendous scale of Katrina flooding earlier than had been previously reported.⁶⁸

On March 14, 2006, Coleman introduced a bill that would ban foreign companies from operating ports in the United States and most of Canada. (S.2410, 3/14/2006: A bill to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to limit foreign control of investments in certain United States critical infrastructure).

In March 2007, Coleman introduced legislation (S. 754⁶⁹) to kill the Defense Travel System,⁷⁰ a program intended to automate the purchasing of travel services by the U.S. Department of Defense, which accounts for more than half of the federal government's total outlays of around $11 billion annually for travel, including transportation, lodging, and rental cars. Shortly after he filed the legislation, Coleman received a generous contribution from the CEO of The Carlson Companies, which owns Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a business travel management firm whose CW Government Travel unit provides travel management services for some federal agencies. The Carlson Companies is based in Minnesota. Over the years, Coleman has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from people connected with The Carlson Companies.⁷¹

2008 reelection bid

Results of the 2008 November 4 election show that Senator Coleman holds a narrow lead of 206 votes against former Air America host and comedian Al Franken of the DFL, with a 15 percent showing by supporters of Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley. Coleman claimed victory in the race even though Minnesota law requires an automatic recount of the votes because of such a narrow margin.⁷²

Deep Marine Technologies/Hays Cases

In late October, 2008, Coleman was listed as a beneficiary of ethically-suspect activity in a lawsuit filed in Texas by Paul McKim, CEO of Deep Marine Technologies (DMT) against Nasser Kazeminy. Kazeminy is a longtime supporter of Coleman and owner of a controlling share of DMT. ⁷³. The petition alleges that Kazeminy used DMT to funnel $75,000 or more to Coleman's wife Laurie through her employer, Hays Companies, in order to enrich Senator Coleman. Exhibits filed with the petition show what appear to be multiple Hays invoices for services to DMT in amounts of $25,000 each. McKim states that Kazeminy threatened to fire McKim if he did not go along with the scheme. McKim's petition covers several issues, of which the Coleman matter is only one. Neither Coleman nor his wife are named as defendants in the suit.⁷⁴

On Friday, October 31, a related suit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court by minority shareholders in DMT. The Delaware suit also alleges that DMT was used as a conduit for unearned funds to Laurie Coleman through Hays Companies, at the behest of Kazeminy. As in the Texas case, the Colemans are not named as defendants. ⁷⁵

Coleman responded with a campaign ad in which he denied the allegations and blamed them on his opponent in the 2008 senate race, Democrat Al Franken. ⁷⁶

Committee Assignments

Election Results

Contents