Norm Coleman Website Is Shut Down
Reflecting his no-longer-officially-Senator status, Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman's website has seemingly been shut down.
A click on www.coleman.senate.gov now leads viewers to the Senate's own website. The dismantling of Coleman's official web presence comes one day after the Senate Rules and Administration Committee closed down and locked the his offices -- barring staff who had showed up to work from entering the premises.
As Howard Gantman, staff director for the SRAC, explained to the Huffington Post, "the Senator's term expires on January 3," and there was notification made to Coleman that his official capacities for serving in office would no longer be available after then.
Coleman, at this juncture, stands to lose his reelection campaign to Al Franken by 225 votes. The Republican has pledged to appeal the results to state and possibly federal court -- arguing that some voters were disenfranchised by through the state's recount process.
Al Franken has declared victory in the interim, but he lacks a certification signed by Minnesota's governor Tim Pawlenty. Until then, Senate Democrats have declined to attempt to seat the current victor.
UPDATE: The Coleman website is now back up, an hour or so after this report. I contacted Gantman to figure out the rules governing whether Coleman can have a Senate site and he replied:
"The office was asked to provide the same message on both their voice mail system and their website that the office of Norm Coleman is closed."
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January 6, 2009 02:15 PM