CREW Files Complaint About Sen. Norm Coleman’s Cheap RentLast week we pointed out what a great deal on rent Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) appears to be getting on his Washington apartment.
A National Journal reporter found that Coleman pays just $600 a month to live in the Capitol Hill townhouse that belongs to his longtime friend and Republican political operative Jeff Larson. And he’s missed a couple months rent, too.
Apparently the scenario didn’t pass the smell test with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who have filed just an ethics complaint.
They want the Senate ethics committee to take a look at the relationship between Coleman and Larson. Larson’s firm, FLS Connect, pulled in more than a million dollars from Coleman’s campaign committees and leadership PAC since 2001.
And they’re also curious about how Larson’s wife used to work for Coleman until just recently.
CREW is asking the Senate Ethics Committee to look into whether or not Sen. Coleman is paying fair market value for the apartment, whether Sen. Coleman would have paid the November 2007 and January 2008 rent had National Journal not raised the non-payment as an issue, whether Sen. Coleman and Mr. Larson had agreed that Mr. Larson would not cash the March 2008 rent check, why Sen. Coleman suddenly made up his back rent after National Journal asked questions about it, and why Sen. Coleman’s office announced that Ms. Kainz would be leaving the senator’s employ after National Journal asked about her role.
FLS is also linked to The DCI Group, a lobbying firm that came under scrutiny for its work in Myanmar and its ties to the John McCain campaign. They’re known for “Astroturf” organizing as well as robo-calls.