Why Won’t Norm Coleman Give the Money Up?
"U.S. SENATE"05/16/2008
Coleman Campaign Refuses to Donate DCI Contributions to Charity; DFL Asks How Deep Senator Coleman’s Ties to DCI Group Run
St. Paul, MN (May 15, 2008) After Senator Norm Coleman’s campaign refused to divest contributions from the DCI Group political-action committee and employees and donate them to charity, the DFL Party said today that Coleman should come clean with Minnesotans about his ties to the firm that lobbied on behalf of the repressive military junta in Myanmar that has blocked humanitarian aid to its own people after a cataclysmic cyclone. The Minnesota DFL Party released the following statement from Chair Brian Melendez:
“Senator Coleman says that he’s keeping the money because it was ‘a legal contribution from an individual and company engaged in legal activities.’ But legality alone isn’t always the measure of what’s right. Sometimes doing the right thing takes more than just doing the legal thing, and Norm Coleman is refusing to do the right thing and divest himself of the money that he took from his DCI connections.
“Senator Coleman supported a war to overthrow a dictator in Iraq. And he quickly divested himself of money associated with his fellow Republican Senator Larry Craig. So why won’t he divest these ‘legal’ contributions from a firm that’s helped prop up a repressive military dictatorship in Myanmar?
“Norm Coleman needs to answer some legitimate questions, but so far he has only ducked and dodged. Even Senator John McCain, his party’s standard-bearer, has distanced himself from DCI. Now Senator Coleman needs to explain why this relationship is so important to him, to fully disclose all his ties to DCI, and to lay out just what DCI wanted in exchange for their contributions to him. And if he won’t answer those simple questions, then what is he hiding?”
Norm Coleman’s Ties to the DCI Group:
Coleman And His PAC Have Accepted Nearly $10,000 From DCI Employees and The DCI Group PAC. As of May 13, 2008, Coleman and his Northstar Leadership PAC have accepted $9,861 from DCI employees and the DCI Group PAC. [Center For Responsive Politics]
Coleman Accepted $4,000 From DCI Employees. On one day, October 24, 2007, Coleman accepted $1,000 each from three DCI employees: Doug Goodyear, Justin Peterson, and Angela Flood. Later in December 2007, Coleman accepted another $1,000 from DCI employee Justin Peterson. [Center For Responsive Politics]
Coleman Accepted $2,000 From DCI’s PAC. On October 16, 2007, DCI Group PAC gave Coleman $2,000. [Center For Responsive Politics, accessed 5/13/08]
Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC Took $3,861 from DCI Employees in One Day. On August 11, 2004, 5 employees of DCI gave a total of $3,861 to Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC. The group of donations included $855 from Doug Goodyear and $370 from Doug Davenport. Coleman’s DCI haul on August 11, 2004, also included an $855 donation from Timothy Hyde, an $855 donation from Thomas Synhorst, a $556 donation from Charles Francis, and a $370 donation from James Murphy. [Center For Responsive Politics]
Coleman Campaign Refuses to Donate DCI Contributions to Charity. The Coleman for Senate campaign refused to donate contributions from the DCI Group PAC and employees to charity. According to the Associated Press, Coleman’s campaign said, “As for returning a legal contribution from an individual and company engaged in legal activities, of course we will not be returning the contribution.” At issue, according to the Associated Press, were “donations from DCI Group's political action committee and employees. The firm's chief executive, Doug Goodyear, who had been picked by John McCain's campaign to run the convention in St. Paul, resigned from that role Saturday after Newsweek reported that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar's military government.” [Associated Press, 5/13/08]
Goodyear Resigns as Convention Coordinator After Myanmar Revelations. The Associated Press reported, “The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator, saying, ‘Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign.’ Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent the government in Myanmar, also called Burma.” [Associated Press, 5/11/08]
Second Campaign Aide Resigns over DCI Connections. According to Atlantic Monthly’s blog, “Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. ‘Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it,’ Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, wrote in an e-mail. He joins former DCI Group CEO Doug Goodyear, who resigned yesterday from the post of convention CEO after Newsweek reported that DCI was paid more than $300,000 to represent Myanmar's ruling junta.” [Atlantic Monthly Blog, 5/11/08]