WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- Democrats say if Republican Norm Coleman wins the protracted U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, they will pursue ethics investigations against him.
The St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Friday that Democrats point to unresolved investigations into Coleman, including a reported FBI probe into his dealings with Nasser Kazeminy, a friend and benefactor.
They also say they will pursue the unresolved Senate Ethics Committee probe into his Capitol Hill living arrangements and an investigation into his use of campaign donations for legal expenses.
"Coleman would almost be better off if he lost," said David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University in St. Paul. "Should he win, he faces a host of legal and other issues in the Senate. He would enter the Senate with the Kazeminy case shadowing him, and that would almost certainly produce an ethics investigation."
J.B. Poersch, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, says he plans to make Coleman's ethics problems an issue against other Republicans in next year's midterm elections.
"These are really serious ethical issues, and the longer Republicans entangle themselves with someone like Coleman, the more damage he does to them," Poersch was quoted by Politico as saying. "We're going to bring them up anyway, but they would be better off if he was out of the Senate."
