The $8 million man: Jeff Larson looks forward to returning to obscurity

There’s already one clear victor this presidential campaign season: FLS Connect, the St. Paul telemarketing company that’s come under fire recently for making "robocalls" on behalf of Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

FLS Connect, which has headquarters in St. Paul and call centers in Mankato, St. Cloud and Phoenix, has raked in $8 million during the 2007-08 election cycle just from the Republican National Committee. Breaking it down further: The RNC paid FLS Connect almost $2.9 million for telemarketing and other services in the six-month period from March through August 2008; the most profitable month was July, when the RNC wrote $636,822 in checks to FLS Connect, based on reports of receipts and expenditures filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The man at the center of it all is Jeff Larson, the 49-year-old Republican entrepreneur whose name has been frequently in the news this year, not just in connection with his St. Paul-based telemarketing business but also for his work as CEO of the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee (which organized the Republican National Convention) and for his landlord-tenant relationship with Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who is locked in a nasty re-election campaign against his DFL challenger, Al Franken.

"We’re just an honest business, trying to create jobs, employing people, adding to the commerce," Larson said Wednesday. "It’s difficult sometimes dealing with the other side of it, but we have a very determined, very focused team that executes very well. I’m proud of all our folks and our company."

The publicity surrounding him, particularly this year, has made Larson reluctant to talk to the media.

Early in the summer, reports surfaced that Larson was renting part of a one-bedroom basement apartment in his million-dollar Washington, D.C., townhouse to Coleman for just $600 a month. Democratic accusations flew over Coleman’s "sweetheart deal" with Larson, who has long been considered the senator’s closest confidant (and who serves as treasurer of Coleman’s political action committee). In July, an independent watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee, asking for an investigation of that arrangement.

Earlier this month, FLS Connect

3 Responses to “The $8 million man: Jeff Larson looks forward to returning to obscurity”

1. mkulda Says:
   October 23rd, 2008 at 11:25 am

   I know telemarketing robocalls are prohibited (unless you have a prior business relationship with the company) unless you give prior consent.
   But I thought politcal calls were exempt from this.

   If that’s not the case, if anyone has the citation from the statutes, please post it, I’d like to read it.

   Because I’m getting a TON of robocalls for Senate Candidates right now.

2. betsysundquist Says:
   October 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm

   Here’s the statute:

   https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=325E.27

3. Anonymous Says:
   March 13th, 2009 at 11:36 am

   I get robocalls EVERY DAY. It’s a major pain. First it was for mortgages, now it’s for refi, loan modification, legal fees, debt consolidation, you name it.
   Check out callercomplaints (http://www.callercomplaints.com) or number investigator (http://www.numberinvestigator.com) - I always post them up on both these sites.
   what’s up with that? what can be done?