Norm Coleman
United States Senator from Minnesota
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Dean Barkley
Succeeded by	Al Franken
52nd Mayor of St. Paul
In office 1994–2002
Preceded by	James Scheibel
Succeeded by	Randy Kelly
Personal details
Born	Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. (1949-08-17) August 17, 1949 (age 62) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican (1996–present) Democratic-Farmer-Labor (1988–96)
Spouse(s)	Laurie Coleman; 4 children
Residence	St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma mater	Hofstra University University of Iowa College of Law
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Judaism
Website	ColemanForSenate.com

Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. (born August 17, 1949) is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002. Previously a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Coleman became a Republican in 1996.

Coleman's 2008 US Senate re-election bid, in which he was challenged by Democrat Al Franken and former senator Dean Barkley, was long unresolved. His term ended on January 3, 2009, and after a six-month legal battle in which he lost each of his contests, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously declared Franken the election winner by 312 votes (out of over 3 million cast) on June 30, 2009, prompting Coleman to concede.^[1][2]

As of 2011, Coleman works as an adviser^[3] and board director^[4] with the Republican Jewish Coalition.

In 2010, Norm Coleman served as Chairman and CEO of the American Action Network.^[5] In April 2011, Coleman joined Hogan Lovells, an international legal practice, as senior government advisor in their Washington D.C. office.^[6] As of 2012, Coleman continues to serve on the board of directors to the Republican Jewish Coalition and as Chairman of the American Action Network. Coleman is also on the National Advisory Council for the US Global Leadership Coalition, a bipartisan committee that promotes interntational engagement, and includes every living former US Secretary of State.

Early life[link]

Coleman was born in New York, the son of Beverly (née Behrman) and Norman Bertram Coleman, Sr.^[7] His family was Jewish (his paternal grandfather had changed his surname from Goldman to Coleman).^[8] He was a graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn and Hofstra University on Long Island. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, attended high school with Coleman; Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are both graduates of the same high school.

During his time at college, Coleman was an active member of the 1960s counterculture and a liberal Democrat. "Carting a bullhorn around campus, he'd regularly lecture students about the immorality of the Nixon administration and the Vietnam War."^[9] He successfully ran for president of the student senate during his junior year. Under Coleman, the senate refused to ratify the newspaper's editor and her co-editor and cut some funding to the newspaper. But after refusing to swear in the editor on four different occasions, the senate finally backed down.^[9] He allegedly smoked marijuana,^[10] and he celebrated his 20th birthday at the Woodstock Festival.^[11] He worked as a roadie for Jethro Tull and Ten Years After, amongst others.^[11]

Legal career[link]

Coleman attended Brooklyn Law School from 1972 until 1974 but later received his Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1976.^[12] Coleman then joined the office of the Minnesota Attorney General as a prosecutor, eventually rising to chief prosecutor and then solicitor general. Coleman left the Attorney General's office upon being elected the mayor of St. Paul.^[13]

In April 2011, Coleman joined Hogan Lovells, an international legal practice, as senior government advisor in their Washington D.C. office.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Norm Coleman with his wife Laurie

Coleman married actress Laurie Coleman^[15] (née Casserly) in 1981. They have two children, Jacob and Sarah. Two other children died during infancy (Adam, 1983; Grace, 1992) from a rare genetic disorder known as Zellweger syndrome.^[16]

Coleman is a member of the Freemason fraternity, having been made a Mason at sight in 2003 by then Grand Master of Masons in Minnesota, Neil Neddermeyer.

Health[link]

On September 11, 2009, Coleman announced he had been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, even though it is a typically reversible condition.

Political career[link]

Mayor of Saint Paul[link]

In 1993, Coleman was elected mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat.^[17] One of his first actions as mayor was the elimination of underfunded retirement health benefits for city workers, which saved St. Paul taxpayers millions of dollars.^[18]

One of Coleman's best-known accomplishments as mayor of Saint Paul was bringing professional hockey back to Minnesota. In 1993, the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas. On June 7, 1997 the NHL awarded Saint Paul an expansion franchise, later named the Minnesota Wild, that would play a new arena in downtown at the site of Civic Center Arena. The new arena, later named the Xcel Energy Center, was built through a public-private partnership, with $65 million from state taxpayers and $30 million from the city of Saint Paul.^[19][20]

Coleman also successfully fought property tax increases, successfully freezing property tax rates^[18] for the eight years he served as St. Paul Mayor.

During his time as Mayor, St. Paul’s job rate grew by 7.1 percent and 18,000 jobs were added.^[18]

While many praised him for his “pragmatic”^[18] leadership style and successes in revitalizing St. Paul, critics labeled him an "opportunist" and Coleman frequently found himself at odds with the more liberal members of the Democratic Party. In 1996, he was sometimes booed at party events or excluded from them altogether.^[21]

In 1996, Coleman joined the Republican Party and was reelected in 1997 as Mayor of St. Paul, defeating Democrat Farm Labor Party nominee State Senator Sandy Pappas.^[22]

Coleman's lobbying for the hockey team and arena raised his profile around the state and made him contacts that would help him in his later runs for statewide office. In 1998 he lost a bid for governor of Minnesota to former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, a member of the Reform Party of Minnesota; the DFL candidate was Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. Senate[link]

Coleman had made plans for a second run for governor in 2002, but was persuaded by Karl Rove and George W. Bush to run against incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone in that year's Senate election. The White House was determined to unseat Wellstone, and felt Coleman, with his popularity in heavily Democratic St. Paul, offered the best chance of doing so. Coleman easily won the Republican nomination.

Coleman and Wellstone were neck-and-neck in most polls for most of the campaign.^[23] Wellstone died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. The Democrats named former Vice President Walter Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. Mondale had held the same Senate seat from 1964 to 1977. Coleman narrowly defeated Mondale in the election, winning by just over 61,000 votes out of over 2 million statewide. Coleman succeeded Dean Barkley, who had been appointed by Ventura to serve the remaining two months of Wellstone's term.

In April 2003, Coleman told a Capitol Hill reporter that he was a "99% improvement" over Wellstone because he had a better working relationship with the White House. Many Wellstone supporters found this offensive and insulting, and at least one member of Congress urged Coleman to apologize. Coleman issued an apology, explaining that he was referring specifically to the reporter's question about the differences between his and Wellstone's relationship with the White House, and saying in part "I would never want to diminish the legacy or memory of Senator Paul Wellstone, and I will accept full responsibility for not having been more accurate in my comments." ^[24] In 2004 Coleman campaigned for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), but was narrowly defeated for the post by North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole in a 28-27 vote.^{[citation needed]}

Political positions[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Norm Coleman

Coleman's politics have changed dramatically throughout his political career. In college, Coleman was a liberal Democrat and was actively involved in the anti-war movement of the early 1970s.^[25][26] He once was suspended for leading a sit-in protest.^[27] He ran for student senate and opined in the school newspaper that his fellow students should vote for him because he knew that, "These conservative kids don't fuck or get high like we do (purity, you know)... Already the cries of motherhood, apple pie, and Jim Buckley reverberate through the halls of the Student Center. Everyone watch out, the 1950s bobby-sox generation is about to take over."^[16][26]

While running for mayor in 1993, Coleman wrote in a letter to the City Convention Delegates: "I have never sought any other political office. I have no other ambition other than to be mayor." He goes on in the same letter to say:

I am a lifelong Democrat. Some accuse me of being the fiscal conservative in this race — I plead guilty! I'm not afraid to be tight with your tax dollars. Yet, my fiscal conservatism does not mean I am any less progressive in my Democratic ideals. From Bobby Kennedy to George McGovern to Warren Spannaus to Hubert Humphrey to Walter Mondale — my commitment to the great values of our party has remained solid.

In December 1996, Coleman announced he was leaving the DFL party to join the Republican Party. He cited his frustrations with the Democratic Party and his belief that the Republican Party offered the best chance to continue his efforts to hold the line on taxes and grow jobs.^{[28] [29]}

Coleman's critics, mostly DFL party leaders, speculated that his switch was motivated by his known aspirations for statewide office.^[30] As an abortion opponent and a frequent adversary of public employee unions, Coleman's positions put him at odds with the DFL Party leadership in Minnesota. In a letter to supporters announcing the switch, Coleman wrote that “while the political party I belong to changes, nothing about how I govern or what I believe changes at all.”^[31] He was re-elected as St. Paul Mayor in 1997, with nearly 60% of the vote.

Prior to becoming a Republican and running against him in 2002, Coleman had chaired Wellstone's Senate re-election campaign in 1996. While making the Wellstone nomination speech at the 1996 state DFL convention, Coleman stated: "Paul Wellstone is a Democrat, and I am a Democrat." At this point in time, tensions were so high between Coleman and the DFL party that a number of delegates at the convention were loudly booing Coleman's speech.^[32]

Coleman was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership. In March 2007, National Journal ranked Coleman the fourth most liberal Republican in the Senate. GovTrack, an independent tracking website, also describes Coleman as a "moderate Republican" based on their own bill analysis.^[33]

In September 2008, Coleman joined the bipartisan Gang of 20, which was seeking a bipartisan solution to the American energy crisis. The group pushed for a bill that would encourage state-by-state decisions on offshore drilling and authorize billions of dollars for conservation and alternative energy.^[34]

He received a 14% progressive rating from Progressive Punch^[35] And he scored a 73% conservative rating by the conservative group, SBE Council.^[36] In contrast, Minnesota's other senator at the time, Democrat Mark Dayton, received a score of 90% progressive and 9% conservative by the same groups.^[35][36]

Energy Independence[link]

Coleman was a strong supporter of bi-partisan efforts to create American independence from foreign sources of energy.^[37] This included support for development of alternative sources of energy such as wind, ethanol, and biofuels.

In 2005, Coleman successfully led a bipartisan coalition of 34 Senators in securing a renewable fuels package as part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which included new standards for renewable fuels and an extension of tax credits for biodiesel, small ethanol producers and wind and livestock waste.

Coleman supported additional oil exploration in the outer continental shelf, but maintained a campaign promise to oppose drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).^[38]

On December 11, 2005, Coleman voted in favor of invoking cloture on, thus advancing, a defense appropriations bill that included oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Critics viewed this as a contradiction of 2002 pledge to oppose such drilling.^[39] Coleman stated that he did so because although he planned to vote against the bill, he did not believe that a filibuster was warranted. His vote notwithstanding, the filibuster held, and Coleman voted to strip the ANWR provision from the bill in a subsequent vote.^{[40][41][42][43][44]}

Coleman received a score of 33% for 2007 from the League of Conservation Voters,^[45][46] in their view taking the pro-environment position in just five of fourteen cases.

Fiscal Issues[link]

Coleman was generally regarded as a fiscal centrist who supported increasing the minimum wage and safeguarding pensions while at the same time supporting broad tax relief and the line-item veto.

Coleman played an important role in the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. In addition to safeguarding the pensions of all Americans, the legislation is credited with saving the pensions of over 24,000 Northwest Airlines employees and retirees in Minnesota.^[47]

Coleman consistently voted to increase the minimum wage as Senator.^[48]

Coleman had a consistent record of voting for broad tax reform. Coleman supported reductions to the capital gains tax, the marriage penalty, and supported the doubling of the child tax credit. Coleman also supported elimination of the AMT and death tax. Coleman supported efforts to make permanent the tax code enacted by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.^[49]

As a member of the Small Business Committee, Coleman supported the Microloan program from elimination, supported funding for Small Business Development Centers and the HUBZone program, successfully extended tax relief for Section 179 expensing, and cosponsored an amendment to increase funding for the SBA by $130 million.^[50]

Coleman is a long-time supporter of the line-item veto, calling it a “no-brainer, the right thing to do.”^[51]

Iraq[link]

From the start, Coleman was a strong supporter of the war in Iraq and the War on Terror. He has been a consistent supporter of the war over the past several years, and generally tended to agree with the positions of the Bush Administration on Iraq. He is in favor of the eventual removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but does not believe in any kind of timetable for the removal of troops until the situation in Iraq becomes more stable. According to Eric Black of MinnPost.com, "He believes the prospects are good for a drawdown of U.S. troops, but it must be done based on conditions on the ground as reported by commanders in the field, not according to an "arbitrary" timetable set for "political" reasons in Washington."^[52]