Minnesota Lawyer
A blog post by Glenn Thrush on politico.com this week reveals that Sen. Norm Coleman (or, as Thrush refers to him, Minnesota Senator-in-Limbo Norm Coleman) and his wife Laurie are up to their ears in mortgage debt, thanks to a dozen refinancings over the last 14 years.
The Colemans’ first 30-year mortgage in November 1994 on their St. Paul home was for $172,900. In the latest refinancing, in March 2007, the Colemans took out a new 30-year mortgage to the tune of $775,000. (The documents were obtained by a "Coleman foe," according to Thrush.)
"The documents aren’t especially sinister, but they paint a portrait of a politician who, like just about every other homeowner in the country, used his primary residence as an ATM as real estate prices spiked," Thrush writes.
The blog post also includes a comment from Coleman spokesman Mark Drake: "Like millions of other Americans, Senator Coleman has refinanced the same home he and his family have lived in in St. Paul over the years to fix it up, secure more credit and get better loan rates."
Coleman is currently engaged in a court battle over the results of November’s senatorial election. Earlier this week, Minnesota’s canvassing board declared that Coleman’s DFL challenger, Al Franken, had received 225 more votes than Coleman; Coleman promptly responded by filing a lawsuit challenging the results.
