This is one of those stories that just demands a read. There has been much speculation about Minnesota’s outgoing GOP Senator Norm Coleman’s financial dealings, (and who he deals with) and so this nugget below is only going to add more fuel to the conversation. It is a good one!
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and his wife, Laurie, have refinanced or changed the terms of their mortgage on their St. Paul house 12 times in the past 14 years.
Ramsey County property tax records indicate the Colemans have assumed greater and greater debt, increasing from a 30-year $172,900 mortgage in 1994 to a 30-year $775,000 mortgage the couple took out in March 2007.
Their house on St. Paul’s Osceola Avenue has a 2009 estimated market value of $615,000, according to property tax records, suggesting they may owe substantially more than the property is worth.
The extent of the Colemans’ refinancing, first reported Thursday by the online political website Politico, comes to light as Coleman faces continued scrutiny over his personal finances. Allegations have been made in two lawsuits that multimillionaire Nasser Kazeminy attempted to steer $75,000 to Coleman last year from an underwater services company in Texas that Kazeminy controls. In addition, Coleman has also faced questions about his living arrangements in Washington and his relationship with businessman and Republican insider Jeff Larson, who owns the million-dollar Capitol Hill row house where Coleman rents a bedroom and bath.
The Politico story, which was written from records the website said were obtained by a Coleman foe, was distributed to Minnesota media on Friday in an e-mail from the state DFL party. But a DFL spokesman said the party would let the story speak for itself.
Coleman spokesman Mark Drake in a statement dismissed any suggestions that there was anything unusual with the Colemans’ home financing transactions.
“Like millions of other Americans, Senator Coleman has refinanced the same home he and his family have lived in St. Paul over the years to fix it up, secure more credit and get loan rates,” Drake said, declining to comment further.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
I’ve refinanced my house 7 times in the last 11 years.
This kind goes up there with Bill O’Reilly showing footage from the old “Solid Gold” show of Al Franken doing a Mick Jagger impression.
Big Deal.
I was just looking through your website and didn’t see any mention of Franken’s tax dodging, Charlie Rangel’s suspicious dealings, Bill Clinton’s honorariums, or President-Elect Obama’s Chicago property.
Did I miss it?
Publius & tomjerkweed,
Feeling bitter? Feeling like a minority in your own country? Get used to it. Republicans are a dwindling breed and demography will finish them (you) off. So whine all you want. The rest of us will just point & laugh. At you.