Kerry's Dirty Money
by MediaRevolution
Tue Feb 10th, 2004 at 03:57:30 GMT
Well, we knew generally that he's a corporate man, bought and paid for, but here are the specifics from an AP article a few days ago. If this has already been discussed, I apologize.
John Kerry intervened in the Senate to keep open a loophole that had allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project, then received tens of thousand of dollars in donations from the company during the next two years, documents show.
American International Group paid Kerry's way on a trip to Vermont and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group Kerry used to set up his presidential campaign. Company executives also donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
But Kerry, the current leader of the Democratic presidential race, says there was no connection between his actions in 2000 and the donations that followed in 2001 and 2002.
"John Kerry has long supported getting special interest money out of the political system," campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "If anybody believes that a political contribution influences John Kerry then they are wasting their money."
But some government watchdogs said Kerry's story is a textbook case of Washington special interest politicking that he rails against on the presidential trail.
"The idea that Kerry has not helped or benefited from a specific special interest, which he has said, is utterly absurd," said Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity that just published a book on political donations to the presidential candidates.
Kerry has had no 'vetting' period, it's only beginning to show up in the media at this point.
Current issues in the national media:
The Chung 'contributions for SEC special consideration' - although from 1996 are recent enough for consideration of Kerry's method of operation [MO - not to be confused with 'mo' (momentum)]
Big Dig & AIG Insurance - Kerry helped to kill a bill to cut a loophole that allowed the conglomerate insurance company to hold overpayments for injured workers until the project was finished (then keep the accumulated interest) before returning the funds to the government. Kerry received a $30,000 campaign contribution from AIG when starting his bid for President
VVAW & Medals on the Mall - Kerry returned a decorated soldier from a stint in Vietnam (which he volunteered for by the way) and promptly joined Vietnam Veterans against the War. He participated in a 'sleep-in' on the Capital Mall with, from dated articles, thousands of compatriots. They threw their war medals onto the Mall lawn as a gesture of their disgust with the government's failure to end the war and bring US soldiers home. Kerry was interviewed during this time and is quoted as saying he threw his own medals at the time. A number of years later, when his own medals were seen on his Senate office wall, Kerry changed his story - he then claimed a WWII vet had asked him to throw HIS medals. This is a strange thing for Kerry to lie about, and the record is clear that he did. What effect this will have during the general election is unclear to me. However, make us of it to Kerry detriment, Rove&Co surely will.
Ineffective service in the Senate - the Kerry list of sponsered legislation, and the percentage of such legislation passed that is simply 'cosmetic legislation' (such as 'Mike Voter Day') appears to suggest that Kerry WAS an ineffectual Senator. His response to Dean recently that 'if you knew how washington worked...' only served to make him look like an Inside Politician working backroom deals. Do US Senators perform a majority of their work in committes? Undoubtedly. Will the general election turn on substantial facts such as that? Like the Magic-8-Ball says quite often, "the answer is no".
So get ready, what we're going to be seeing this fall will look a lot like the article in question - only it will have some very attractive pictures to go along with it - for instance, a shot of the cover of Kerry's own book - Kerry in military fatigues, marching along holding a US flag upside down. Hold that picture in your mind for just a moment and then think of what the Bush-Cheney team will run as a tagline..... |
