Poor Norm...he just lost another appeal in the courts....when will this creepy U.S. Senator stop whining and stop abusing the court system? I just love it when Republicans rant about "trial lawyers" and then continue to use their "services"...
http://thehill.com/...
Judge dimisses Coleman lawsuit
By Michael O'Brien
Posted: 11/13/08
A Minnesota judge Thursday threw out a lawsuit against Al Franken by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who claimed his Democratic opponent had defamed him in ads.
Judge Barbara L. Neilson ruled claims by a watchdog group against Coleman referenced in the Franken ads are “substantially accurate, if not literally true.”
Coleman’s suit centered on a claim in a Franken ad that Coleman is the “fourth most corrupt” Senator, attributed to the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Neilson ruled it did not meet the law's standards for defamation.
“Because the statement made in the Franken advertisements accurately captures the 'gist' or 'sting' of Senator Coleman’s placement in the CREW listing...there is not probable cause to believe that a violation of the statute has occurred," Neilson wrote. She also rejected claims by the Coleman campaign that CREW was not “bipartisan,” contrary to the organization’s claims.
Coleman had filed the lawsuit against Franken several days before Election Day. Democrats contend it was part of an election strategy, and noted that Coleman has filed similar suits against opponents in previous campaigns. Hours after the Coleman suit was publicized, other suits against Coleman emerged alleging campaign donor Nasser Kazeminy had sought to funnel money to the Senator through his wife Laurie’s employer.Coleman's campaign manager said Coleman respected but disagreed with the decision.
Now Coleman has some really big problems to worry about...late last month, in a suit filed in Texas, Paul McKim, the former CEO of Deep Marine Technologies (DMT), alleged in a sworn statement that Kazeminy -- who owns DMT,directed him to make payments totaling $75,000 to the Hays Companies, a Minnesota insurance brokerage that employs Coleman's wife Laurie Coleman. The payments, claimed McKim in the suit, were not for legitimate work performed by Hays for DMT, but rather were a way for Kazeminy to funnel money to Coleman.
Soon afterwards, a group of DMT investors filed a separate suit naming both Kazeminy and McKim as defendants, and making similar allegations.
Since news of the suits surfaced in late October, none of the principals has offered responses that have put the matter to rest, including Coleman and his wife and neither Norm or Laurie Coleman have offered any details on the nature of her work for Hays.
http://thehill.com/...
“As part of an ongoing campaign against Senator Coleman and his family, Al Franken and his campaign knowingly made false statements about Senator Coleman. We will continue to review all of our options as we move forward,” said Cullen Sheehan, the campaign manager.
“Of course the lawsuit was thrown out - it was ridiculous,” said Franken campaign communications director Andy Barr. “But now the question is - if the very serious allegations made in the lawsuit against Nasser Kazeminy are true, will CREW revise its rankings?”
The dismissal comes amid a continued back-and-forth between the two campaigns following the still undecided election. A state canvassing board was appointed Wednesday to begin oversight of the recount of the vote totals in the race.
Norm Coleman, Ted Stevens, Duke Cunningham, Scooter Libby, David Safavian, Bob Ney, Alberto Gonzales, Mark Foley, John Doolittle, Tom DeLay, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Claude Allen, Steven Griles, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Howard “Cookie” Krongard, Monica Goodling, Rick Renzi, Jack Abramoff...now I know that there have been a couple of Democratic law makers who have committed crimes or misdeeds, but you can count them on one hand and have fingers left over... what's the deal with republican immorality? For a complete list of Bush era criminals, convicted or about to be indicted, check out this site:
http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/...
UPDATE:
Norm's day just got just took a turn for the worse..the writing is on the wall!
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is set to become the next chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, after Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) dropped his bid to run the campaign committee.
Coleman called Cornyn on Thursday afternoon to inform him of his decision to drop out of the race and throw his support behind the Texas senator.