Long after Norm Coleman (R-MN) and I were co-secretaries of our elementary school class at PS 197 in Brooklyn, disturbing rumors started circulating about him being a womanizer, something no one from the 5th grade would have guessed. I sat down with a well-placed friend on mine in Minneapolis and we tried piecing it all together. As Coleman heads into the final week of a troubled re-election bid, nobody is willing to be identified for fear of the backlash from a sitting Senator and his powerful, wealthy friends. However, there are numerous anonymous sources that independently confirm his philandering. Some have spoken on tape, others via email, but all sources have been well documented. These rumors are so pervasive that Twin Cities public television's political reporter Mary LaHammer felt it necessary to directly ask Norm.
Hot pictures here but the rest of the steamy story below the fold.
- Now it might not be the question that reporters are trying to get him to answer at this moment (about who bought his suits) but contrary to Sen. Coleman's statement that he doesn't respond to blogger accusations and rumors, he did with us. In the interview we showed an excerpt of on Almanac, Coleman responded to all the whispers and blogger claims that he cheats on his wife. Coleman said he's been true to his wife, although he conceded his marriage hasn't been perfect, he said his marriage is stronger now than it has ever been. He said the accusations come from hate over his pro-life position on abortion and his wife's career acting in Los Angeles.
Norm felt the need to address this issue himself with his first ad (which ironically sparked accusations that Laurie was green-screened into the ad... later disproved).
When Republicans accuse a Democrat of something, they are usually much worse. The Republicans accused Norm's opponent Al Franken of writing porn a decade ago and linked him to rape jokes and accused him of having a poor attitude toward women in classic Republican smear attacks. The truth is that Norm's treatment of women is disgusting and shameless.
Numerous sources have confirmed that they knew Norm had an affair. Multiple sources have attested that Norm is often out with his friends shamelessly hitting on women. Most sources have also seen Norm with women they characterize as prostitutes.
It's not just that Norm hasn't been faithful, it's the many reports of how Norm treats women. From women who have seen Norm grope waitresses who served him at restaurants to a media personality in the Twin Cities who claims that Norm stuck his tongue in her mouth, many women have had unpleasant experiences with Minnesota's senior Senator.
Norm has always claimed that he has been faithful, but multiple sources claim that this is simply not true. Like I said, these sources want to remain anonymous because they fear reprisal from Norm and his rich, powerful benefactors. For about 5 years in the 90s, Norm had an affair with Mary Sue Perpich, the daughter of former Governor Rudy Perpich. This affair occurred while Norm was the Mayor of St. Paul, MN. Witnesses saw Norm and Ms. Perpich at restaurants repeatedly. This appears to be the best kept secret in St. Paul that everyone knows about.
In recent years, Norm's neighbors claim to have seen a woman arriving "within hours" of Laurie leaving for California. This woman would stay the entire week, leaving before Laurie's return. Also, they have occasionally seen various women leaving Norm's house as early as 5 AM when Laurie was out of town.
His neighbors also tell the story of Laurie throwing Norm out of the house after finding out about his relationship with Ms. Perpich. He stayed with a friend who they say lived "down the street" until Laurie let him back in.
One of Norm's neighbors had an interesting run-in with one of Norm's ex-girlfriends (not Ms. Perpich). This neighbor heard crashing sounds downstairs while he and his family were upstairs. He came downstairs and confronted the woman. She was drunk and thought she was trashing Norm's house. The police came and arrested her. According to this neighbor the police report of this incident was buried-- He had a hard time getting his insurance company to cover the damages.
Norm made a pass at a Twin Cities media personality who wishes to remain anonymous. She related that Norm kissed her on the lips and tried to stick his tongue in her mouth, but she rebuffed his advances. She didn't "make a scene" because this was in a public place.
A former employee of the Minneapolis restaurant Babalu claims to have seen Norm with women she characterized as "skanky." She believes that these women were prostitutes. She stated that she saw Norm fondle one of these women's thighs. She also states that she saw Norm grab a server's butt and would often try and "feel up" a server's leg. She also related a story from one
particular evening which Norm called a friend and urged him to drive over to Babalu because "there is an unbelievable amount of tail here."
A former employee at Bellanotte witnessed Norm hit on an African-American waitress. When she walked away rather than respond to his advances, he said loudly "C'mon back, baby, you're giving me
jungle fever." Another person verified this incident.
Norm hit on a waitress at Morton's Steak House in Minneapolis. She said the encounter "grossed her out." Norm took her hand and wouldn't let go. "He gave me the creeps," she said.
A former server at Rossi's, a Minneapolis restaurant which recently closed, said she worked a private room that was set aside for Norm Coleman and his buddies. They call themselves the "Millionaire Boys Club" (note: Norm is not a millionaire). They had reserved the room from noon to 6. Along with their steak dinners and cases of wine, they were smoking cigars. An obvious flaunting of the recently passed smoking ban.
The former server said that they "got good and drunk" and that the conversation in the room was "nauseating." They made sexist and racist comments all afternoon long. African Americans were referred to as "darkies." There was a long conversation in which they expounded upon the reasons poor people were poor. The conclusion was that "they are lazy and don't work" according to this source. The worst part was when they were passing around a laptop they were using to view hardcore pornographic movies. They showed the movies to the women employees and tried to encourage them to watch with them. They were commenting "like frat boys" on the movies making her and the other servers very uncomfortable.
Later in the evening, there was a wedding event planned in this room. Not only had Norm and his buddies fumigated the room so badly that the wedding event was nearly ruined, they refused to leave when asked to by the staff so they could prepare for the event. The server described their behavior as "being jerks about it."
A Minneapolis man witnessed Norm "hitting on" women at Redstone, a restaurant in Minnetonka, MN (a western suburb). He describes Norm's behavior as "blatant" and said Norm's womanizing behavior and obvious come-ons became a standing joke amongst the female customers at Redstone.
An attorney claimed to have spoken with two women who were looking into pressing sexual harassment charges against Norm. These women in the end decided against moving forward with their claims.
A woman who lives in Minneapolis stated that she spoke to three female Republicans who bragged about sleeping with Norm recently. But beyond that, Young Turks host Cenk Uygur pretty much has the rest of the Norm Coleman down pat: