In 1997, in order to lure Lawson Software from Minneapolis, then-St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman agreed to spend more than $100 million on a new office tower for the company. Three years later the city turned around and sold the building to developer Frauenshuh Companies. Price tag? $54.5 million. For inexplicable reasons, the building had supposedly lost half of its value in less than a decade.

Or had it? Five years later--with the downtown St. Paul office market in absolutely dreadful condition (the vacancy rate has been over 20 percent for years)--the building has suddenly appreciated by more than 50 percent.

The big winner in this real-estate chicanery is, of course, David Frauenshuh, principal owner of Frauenshuh Companies. But another person has benefited tremendously from Frauenshuh's windfall: Norm Coleman.

The developer has become one of the now-U.S. Senator's most generous political patrons. Frauenshuh has contributed a whopping $45,000 to Norm-related causes since 2002, according to Federal Election Commission records. His family members have been awfully benevolent as well. Wife Sandra (whose occupation is listed as "homemaker") chipped in another $4,000, as did son Matthew (a "student").