Back in 2008, the U.S. Senate election in Minnesota was remarkably close: Norm Coleman lost to Senator Al Franken by fewer than 350 votes.

Fast forward to the present, and it seems Coleman is still trying to wriggle his way into our politics using any means possible.

Minnesota Action Network, the Republican political group headed by Coleman, has already begun trying to forward its special interest agenda in the legislature. MAN sent out mailers last weekend, before the 2015 legislative session even began.

Minnesota Action Network isn’t just stopping with mail, though. As if delivering direct mail to Minnesotans wasn’t enough, Coleman’s group also released an TV ad that Governor Mark Dayton called offensive.

I guess there’s an ad out now from Norm Coleman’s group….[Coleman should] leave education policy to those who live here and whose careers are here. Even before the session’s starting, running ads about denying some child a good teacher based on their ideological premise, to me is insulting, beneath what should be his dignity.

Gov. Dayton has gained a reputation of being a champion for education in the state, making all-day kindergarten an option for every student in the state, along with repaying the massive $2.1 billion debt owed to Minnesota’s public schools.

Coleman’s 2008 campaign was full of extravagant donations from companies that hoped he would work for their interests instead of the interests of the middle class – and he was voted one of the nation’s most corrupt Senators – so it’s a bit eyebrow-raising that he would try to attack Gov. Dayton for being “out of touch” with most Minnesotans.

Voters made it clear in 2008 that Coleman did not represent our interests. Minnesota doesn’t need a Washington insider like Norm Coleman whose sole goal is to try and convince us that his special interest friends’ agenda would actually be right for Minnesota.