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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (36641)	1/31/2004 12:15:51 AM
From: Selectric II	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Kerry Leads in Lobby Money Anti-Special-Interest Campaign Contrasts With Funding By Jim VandeHei Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 31, 2004; Page A01 washingtonpost.com Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has made a fight against corporate special interests a centerpiece of his front-running campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years, federal records show. Kerry, a 19-year veteran of the Senate who fought and won four expensive political campaigns, has received nearly $640,000 from lobbyists, many representing telecommunications and financial companies with business before his committee, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. For his presidential race, Kerry has raised more than $225,000 from lobbyists, better than twice as much as his nearest Democratic rival. Like President Bush, Kerry has also turned to a number of corporate officials and lobbyists to "bundle" contributions from smaller donors, often in sums of $50,000 or more, records provided by his campaign show. "Senator Kerry has taken individual contributions from lobbyists, but that has not stopped him from fighting against special interests on behalf of average Americans," said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "If anyone thinks a contribution can buy Kerry's vote, then they are wasting their money." Kerry on Jan. 19 said he would "happily release any lobbyist meeting I've ever had," but has yet to do so. Cutter said Kerry will not release records until he compiles data on every meeting over the past 19 years, which will be a "pretty lengthy process." Kerry will not release it "piecemeal," she said. Most members of Congress and presidential candidates turn to corporations and their Washington-based lobbyists for political assistance, most often with fundraising. All of the presidential candidates take money from special interests, including Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), who like Kerry has targeted corporations and lobbyists in his stump speeches. And Bush has far outpaced them all. Because Kerry has made his fight against "Washington special interests" a new theme of his presidential campaign, campaign rivals and campaign finance watchdogs have accused him of hypocrisy. Republicans and some Democratic campaigns are compiling information on Kerry's relationship with special interests, anticipating that he could be susceptible to attacks on it. Retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a newcomer to national politics, is running a television ad that hits Kerry and others for ties to special interests. "Special interest deals. Promises unkept. Do we really need another Washington politician?" the narrator says in the ad. "A politician won't change the way Washington works." "John Kerry has been withdrawing money from the special interest bank for his entire career and now -- because it's the popular thing to do -- he wants us to believe that he's going to close the account and go after the people that have funded his political career," said Jay Carson, spokesman for former Vermont governor Howard Dean. Clark spokesman Matt Bennett said, "We think John Kerry's record speaks for itself." "The note of reality is he has been brought to you by special interests," said Charles Lewis of the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group that has closely studied the senator's relationship with special interests. "It's very hard [for Kerry] to utter this rhetoric without some hollowness to it." "I think it's harder for someone like Kerry to take on" Bush over special interests "because he's taken money . . . from a lot of the same" corporate sectors, added Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors money in politics. Dean, who has raised more money than Kerry in this campaign, has taken considerably less from lobbyists.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (36641)	1/31/2004 8:47:05 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Great column in the New York Times today: if you take the 33 states that receive more in government benefits from the federal government than send to D.C. in taxes, you find that they are red-state Republicans that voted overwhelmingly for Bush. If you look at the 16 states that pay more in taxes than receive in benefits, most voted for Gore in 2000. The column divides these states into Givers and Takers, and notes that the Takers vote GOP! nytimes.com