The Trail

Saturday, November 1, 2008

REPORTER OFF OBAMA PLANE

Times Editor Squawks

The Washington Times, which has had a reporter traveling with Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for nearly two years, was kicked off the candidate's press plane on Friday.

"The decision came just three days after the editorial page endorsed John McCain," Times Executive Editor John Solomon said. "I hope a candidate who says he wants to unite the country isn't using a litmus test for who can cover him."

The Obama operation also ejected reporters for the New York Post and Dallas Morning News, which have recently endorsed McCain. Room was suddenly made for black-oriented magazines that have not been constant fixtures on the plane: Essence, Ebony and Jet.

Obama adviser Anita Dunn said that the issue is one of limited space and that "anyone who suggests a linkage with editorial endorsements is just plain wrong." Dunn noted that "two of our largest editorial critics are ensconced on that plane, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal." Obama's hometown papers, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, each received an additional seat. Dunn said that adding a second plane, a common practice in past campaigns, would slow things down and hamper the candidate's ambitious schedule.

Solomon said that, although the campaign has not objected to the work of Washington Times reporter Christina Bellantoni, "this feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth. We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator Obama's campaign from the start." Obama aides said they were surprised that Solomon would use one of McCain's catchphrases in responding to the move.

The McCain plane has excluded two prominent critics, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and Time columnist Joe Klein.

While Dunn said that editorial content was not a factor, another spokesman, Bill Burton, told Politico that "we're trying to reach as many swing voters that we can." The Times circulates in Virginia, a key battleground state.

Dunn said her staff is helping the excluded reporters with accommodations and has offered space on the plane of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Obama's running mate. "It's not like we're trying to block coverage of our campaign," she said.

-- Howard Kurtz

ALLEGATION INVOLVES WIFE

Coleman Assails Suit

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) on Friday denounced as "sleazy politics" a lawsuit alleging that one of the senator's largest donors steered $75,000 from a Texas oil services company to a Minneapolis consulting firm where Coleman's wife works.

Coming just days before a tough reelection race, Coleman called a news conference in Moorhead, Minn., to deny the allegations in the lawsuit and to predict that voters would "reject it out of hand" as an attempt to influence his race against Democrat Al Franken.

"Let me be clear: Each and every allegation in this lawsuit relating to me and my wife is false and defamatory. . . . If my opponents have any shred of decency left in this campaign, stop attacking my family," Coleman said.

Paul McKim, the founder of Deep Marine Technology, a Houston company providing services for offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, filed a suit Monday in a Harris County, Tex., court alleging that Nasser Kazeminy engaged in several instances of corporate fraud. Kazeminy, whose family has contributed almost $40,000 to political committees controlled by Coleman in the past two years, is the chief executive of a Minneapolis investment company, which began seeding McKim's company with millions of dollars in 2004.

By early 2007, at which point Kazeminy effectively controlled Deep Marine Technology, he demanded that company officials start making payments to Hays Companies, a consulting firm working on insurance and employee benefits that has employed Laurie Coleman since 2006, McKim's lawsuit alleges.

The suit alleges that the company performed no services but received $75,000 in three payments through Kazeminy's efforts. "He was going to find a way to get money to United States Senator Norm Coleman," McKim's lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit is the latest twist in a race that will help determine whether Democrats reach their goal of a filibuster-proof majority of 60 Senate seats. Coleman had denied accepting free suits from Kazeminy and has defended as fair-market value the $600 a month he pays in rent for an English basement apartment on Capitol Hill owned by one of his political consultants.

Franken, the former comedian running his first political campaign, had to pay back taxes and penalties after it was revealed that he did not pay withholding taxes for employees of his radio program earlier in the decade.

Casey Wallace, McKim's lawyer, filed the suit Monday but then withdrew it. In an interview, Wallace said it was withdrawn so the two parties could pursue settlement negotiations, which have since fallen apart. He refiled the suit Thursday. The Senate race was not a motivation behind the suit, he said.

Bruce C. Gilman, who became chief executive in September after McKim was ousted, said the company had "immediately" hired an outside law firm to investigate all fraud claims from McKim. "Deep Marine Holdings is taking this matter very seriously," Gilman said in a statement, adding that no "evidence of wrongdoing" has been found.

Hays Companies issued a statement denouncing the lawsuit and saying Laurie Coleman is a licensed insurance agent. "We are pleased with her work, and we find any allegations that she accepted money for work she was not responsible for to be outrageous and contemptible," the company said.

-- Paul Kane

SUPPORTS OBAMA NOW

Duberstein's Do-Over

In a surprising rebuff of an old friend, former White House chief of staff Kenneth M. Duberstein said Friday that he is abandoning his support of John McCain and instead will back Barack Obama for president.

Duberstein, who worked for President Ronald Reagan, told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that his vote was influenced by another good friend, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell. "Well, let's put it this way: I think Colin Powell's decision is in fact the Good Housekeeping seal of approval on Barack Obama," Duberstein said. Powell was national security adviser to Reagan when Duberstein was Reagan's chief of staff.

In a separate interview on MSNBC, Duberstein was highly critical of McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as vice president, saying "it has undermined the whole question of John McCain's judgment."

Campaign finance records show that Duberstein contributed $2,300 to McCain's campaign in January. He runs a lobbying firm in Washington.

-- Glenn Kessler