You might recall this YouTube clip that shows then-Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) running away from media questions about his sugardaddy Nasser Kazeminy:
The clip was taken in St. Cloud last October, and it was so devastating, so typically Norm-stonewalling-the-media, that part of the clip made it into a Franken campaign commercial.
Yesterday, WCCO-TV political reporter Esme Murphy interviewed former senator Coleman, who complained bitterly at the reporters' ambush tactics:
"That could have been a quiet story," Coleman told Murphy. "Instead you had two reporters in front of cameras confront a candidate on something they could have had a quiet conversation about if that was the purpose."
The reporters in question were Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy from the Star-Tribune, and they were trying to ask Norm about the lawsuit that had been recently filed in Houston, alleging that Coleman buddy Nasser Kazeminy had misappropriated corporate funds by funneling $75,000 to Coleman's wife Laurie. The case is currently under investigation by the FBI.
Certainly it was a hot story, and by October 29, the day of the incident, McEnroe and Kennedy had already been trying for two days to get a response -- something, anything, even a "no comment" -- from Senator Coleman. But Coleman and his staff had ignored repeated requests, phone calls, and emails from the two reporters.
So, is it true, what lyin' Norm said? Could McEnroe and Kennedy indeed have had a quiet conversation about Donorgate with the Senator? Or, is lyin' Norm just, well, you know -- lying? MinnPost reporter David Brauer asked his erstwhile Strib colleagues for comment:
You have to remember the last thing we would want to do, given the nature of our work, is to ask these questions in public because we had this exclusively and didn’t want to alert other reporters. When we got to work on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 29th, there were no messages or emails — not even a no comment — from Coleman’ staff.
This was after:
- Oct. 27 phone inquiry to Coleman staffer Meg Turnell, who promised someone would get back to them (nobody did).
- Oct. 28 phone calls to two or three other Coleman staffers, including press secretary Tom Steward, which were not returned;
- Another Oct. 28 call to Turnell, not returned;
- Polite and professional explainations in left messages that if private response was not forthcoming, the questions would have to be asked in a campaign stop.
So -- Coleman and his staff were stonewalling the Star-Trib reporters, who warned Coleman in advance that they would have to ask the questions publicly if no private response could be had.
When we arrived in St. Cloud on Oct. 29th, about an hour before Coleman’s lunch stop at the Holiday Inn, we signed in and made it clear to the senator's advance man that we needed to talk to the senator. When the "Hope Express" arrived, one of Coleman’s staffers confronted us and told us that the senator would not be taking any questions before, during and after his remarks.
(We found it interesting that Gov. Pawlenty, also in the entourage, walked up to us, greeted us pleasantly.)
McEnroe politely told the staffer we would like to talk to the senator. Instead, he "babysat" us, sitting next to us during the senator’s remarks and then tried to block us from getting to senator as he departed.
Kennedy was physically blocked by one of the senator’s security guards as the senator walked briskly to his vehicle.
We tried to ask the senator to respond to the questions we had but he wouldn’t even roll down his window. His staff drove him away and when the news media filtered away, he returned to confront us.
Coleman accused us of "ambushing" him and we corrected him, telling him repeatedly of our attempts to get ahold of him and that he should ask his communications staff to explain why he wasn't informed.
So, not only is Norm blaming the media for breaking through his stonewall -- he's blaming the media for NOT breaking through his stonewall. How typically fair-minded.
Say Norm: when you're warned that you're walking into an ambush, and you walk right into it anyway: whose fault is that?