U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s communication director, Tom Steward, issued the following statement last Wednesday in response to a press release issued by the Minnesota DFL party that contained false information about Coleman’s vote on the minimum wage bill before the Senate: 

“It is a true disservice to the people of Minnesota that the state DFL party believes partisan attacks are more important than the facts. Despite the false claims in their press release, the fact is that Sen. Coleman voted in favor of moving forward on the minimum wage bill before the Senate today. 

"In fact, Sen. Coleman has voted in favor of a minimum wage increase on six previous occasions since taking office.

"If DFL Chairman Brian Melendez truly wants to ‘put partisanship aside’ as he says, he may want to start by checking the Congressional record before creating his own reality.”  The official record on the vote can be found at  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00023.