Gephardt raises a Dean-Enron link
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff, 12/14/2003
ROCK HILL, S. C. -- Trying to bundle two issues that have dogged Howard Dean, Richard A. Gephardt called on Dean yesterday to release sealed state records involving Vermont's tax breaks for the "captive" insurance company of Enron, the energy giant that collapsed in a massive accounting scandal.
Speaking to reporters before an address at Winthrop University, Gephardt said that Dean had "met regularly with corporate chiefs who benefited from the tax windfall he created for them." The Missouri Democrat, who is battling Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, said a "chief beneficiary" of the tax cuts was Enron, one of hundreds of corporations whose "captive" insurance companies Dean encouraged to come to Vermont with tax incentives. Dean has often held up Enron as a prime example of corporate corruption.
"I call on Howard Dean to release all records of meetings, phone calls, or negotiations between him, or representatives of his administration, and Enron executives," Gephardt said.
Invoking a Vermont law, Dean had many of his papers from his time as governor sealed. A nonpartisan organization, Judicial Watch, has filed suit seeking to make the records public.
In a statement, Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, acknowleged only that the former Vermont governor "met with business representatives who . . . wanted to bring jobs and tax revenue to his state."
He added that Vermont "had a very successful economic record" under Dean and that "if the Democrats in Congress like Dick Gephardt had produced a record like that, they'd still be in charge."
Gephardt isn't the only rival to criticize Dean since The Boston Globe reported last week that Dean reduced the tax on premiums paid to captive insurance firms by up to 60 percent. That led Enron and other companies to set up businesses in Vermont.
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, campaigning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, yesterday, called Dean's policy in Vermont "wrong" and said he would ferret out tax loopholes and unfair advantages provided to "special interests."
"We've got to have a fair tax system in this country," Kerry said.
Gephardt took his shot at Dean in a two-day sprint through South Carolina with James E. Clyburn, a six-term congressman from Columbia. Clyburn, who is considered the state's most influential African-American political figure, endorsed Gephardt last week. South Carolina is one of seven states holding caucuses or primaries on Feb. 3, a week after the New Hampshire primary. Black voters will account for up to half of the turnout there.
Clyburn's value to the Gephardt campaign began paying immediate dividends as several African-American elected officials, members of "the Clyburn network," endorsed Gephardt. One was state Representative Brenda Lee, a Spartanburg Democrat who had endorsed Dean. She said Clyburn's support for Gephardt was a "major factor" in her switch.
She said Gephardt embodies "old values, with new ideas."
In speeches at three universities yesterday, Gephardt hewed to his message: universal health care, renewable energy resources, and safeguards in trade agreements that protect US workers.
A Democratic leader on the trade issue for more than two decades, Gephardt said the United States must require trading partners to raise their labor and environmental standards. "Otherwise, it's a race to the bottom," he said.
South Carolina has been particularly hard hit, losing 63,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 11 years, many to foreign competition, Gephardt said. Gephardt has been in the middle of the pack in South Carolina, but one recent poll showed that likely primary voters there are concerned about the economic impact of trade. Respondents who thought the North American Free Trade Agreement hurt the state far outnumbered those who thought it had helped.
Gephardt has spent most of the past two weeks raising money to keep up with Dean, who has raised more than any candidate in the Democratic field. Gephardt arrived in South Carolina from New York City, where he said he raised $500,000 at several events.
Patrick Healy and Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed. |
