Not Your Sweetie

Doug Ireland: 2 John Kerrys

Posted to Robbedvoter's weblog (News and Links) on Sat Feb 7th, 2004 at 10:40:44 PM EST


The Two John Kerrys - Will we get the populist or the lord of special interests?

Fri Feb 6, 7:44 PM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/vv/20040207/lo_laweekly/50825   
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By Doug Ireland LA Weekly Writer

John Kerry (news - web sites) is a man with two faces. Theres the fire-breathing populist whose thundering stump speeches against special interests made him Comeback Kerry, who won in Iowa and New Hampshire and became the Democrats indisputable front-runner. And then theres Corporate Kerry, who has taken more money from lobbyists in the last 15 years than any other senator, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) -- and who has repeatedly carried water for the special interests that smothered him in campaign cash.

Comeback Kerry would also like to be known as Campaign Reform Kerry, the principal co-sponsor, with the late Paul Wellstone, of the Clean Money, Clean Elections bill that would take special-interest cash out of politics in federal elections and replace it with full public financing of campaigns. Kerry has repeatedly boasted of this on the stump -- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/vv/20040207/lo_laweekly/50825
as in the January 6 debate, when he said proudly, Paul Wellstone and I together wrote the Clean Elections law. In the 106th, 107th and 108th Congresses, Kerrys name was on the bill, which has yet to become law. Then Wellstone, the Senates liberal conscience, died -- and Kerry started running for president. Guess what? In the current, 108th Congress, Cautious Kerry, the decorated war hero, went AWOL, refusing to reintroduce the bill he now boasts about -- leaving it with no sponsor in the Senate.

On primary night in New Hampshire, in his victory speech, Kerry again repeated the applause line that won for him: I have a message for the influence peddlers and the special interests: Were coming. Youre going. And dont let the door hit you on the way out.

Its very hard for Kerry to utter this rhetoric without some hollowness to it, according to Charles Lewis, the former investigative journalist who heads the Center for Public Integrity and whose quadrennial series of books on The Buying of the President have become best-sellers. Kerry, Lewis says, has been brought to you by special interests.

Example: Kerrys largest campaign contributor lobbies on behalf of telecommunication interests, and Kerry pushed the legislative priorities of its clients in the wireless industry, according to research for the CPIs 2004 book (available on its Web site). That contributor, the powerhouse Boston law firm and lobbying shop Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, is where Kerrys brother Cameron -- a major Kerry-campaign insider -- works, and where Kerrys former chief of staff, David Leiter, is a lobbyist. Mintz, Levin has given at least $231,000 to Kerry.

According to CPI, Mintz, Levin advertises communications law among its areas of expertise and lobbies on behalf of wireless-industry clients such as AT&T Wireless Service, XO Communications Inc. and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. CTIA is the trade association of the wireless industry. The center found that CTIA-affiliated companies and their employees have contributed at least $152,000 to Kerry and that since 1999 Kerry has taken positions that closely reflect the legislative agenda of CTIA. He sponsored two bills that CTIA lobbied for and co-sponsored six more. Not only do Kerrys assiduous efforts on behalf of the telecommunications industry help his brothers clients, a big chunk of the combined fortune of Kerry and his wife -- perhaps as much as $47.1 million -- is in telecommunications stock affected by the pro-CTIA legislation Kerry has carried.

Another example is the deregulation of the securities industry. An industry-windfall bill with an Orwellian name, the Securities Litigation Reform Act, was promise number nine in Newt Gingrichs Contract on America. It stripped legal protections from defrauded investors and made it harder for them to recover damages with a loser pays provision; repealed application of the federal rackets law to financial transactions; and sharply curtailed monitoring of Wall Street abuses. A 1995 New York Times editorial called this boon to investment bankers, securities manipulators, and Enron/WorldCom-style corporations and their frauding go-go execs a threat to American civil justice. But Kerry not only voted for the bill, he voted to override Bill Clinton's veto of it. Kerrys reward: Hes raked in $1,669,000 in contributions from the special interests that benefited from the law, like FleetBoston Financial, CitiGroup, Goldman Sachs and other similar firms.

In this weeks Newsweek, crack investigative reporter Michael Isikoff -- in an article entitled Cash and Kerry -- unveils letters from Kerry to Johnny Chung, a star of the 1996 campaign-finance scandals, who pleaded guilty to giving $28,000 illegally to Kerrys and Bill Clintons campaigns (the money turned out to have come from wire transfers by the head of Chinese military intelligence). In 1996, Kerry -- in the fight of his life for re-election against then-Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld -- helped grease the way for getting a corporation run by one of Chungs cronies listed on the stock exchange by arranging a private meeting with the SEC. Kerrys reward: Chung raised him $10,000 at a Beverly Hills fund-raiser. Kerry has always claimed he never knew Chung until the fund-raiser -- but the Newsweek revelations show Kerry, in a handwrittenDear Johnny letter, wrote to Chung months earlier that It means a lot to have someone like you on my team as I face the toughest race of my career. Newsweek adds that Kerry used his position as a member of the Senate Finance Committee to collect $3 million from firms with an interest in the committees work.

With all this sort of thing in Kerrys past and present, its no wonder that the Center for Responsive Politics director, Larry Noble, told the Washington Post that its harder for someone like Kerry to take on Bush over special interests because hes taken money from . . . a lot of the same corporate sectors. The fat cats have flocked to Kerry: 55 percent of his presidential campaigns cash comes from $2,000 contributors, meaning hes closing in on Bush (who gets 73 percent from such big-check writers), according to The New York Times. Theres more. Kerry the populist voted in 2000 to shred the Community Reinvestment Act, which obliged banks to service impoverished areas and lend them money. Kerry voted just two years ago to repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act, designed to keep energy prices to consumers low by forbidding utilities companies to invest speculatively in businesses outside the energy field.

Kerrys Janus-like profile isnt confined just to serving the special interests while denouncing them to win the Democratic nomination. He voted for the blank check for war in Iraq (news - web sites) -- and now denounces Bush for lies he once believed. On October 9, 2002, Kerry told the Senate, Why is Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) attempting to develop nuclear weapons when most nations dont even try? . . . Iraq has chemical and biological weapons . . . Iraq is developing unmanned aerial vehicles capable of delivering chemical- and biological-warfare agents. Of course, every single one of those statements about Iraq has since been proved to be empty rhetoric.

So, the question before Democratic voters is: If you cast your ballot for John Kerry, which one will you get?
 
Doug Ireland: 2 John Kerrys | 14 comments | Group threads together | Post A Comment | Edit Story
(#14) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/10/2004 10:48:35 AM EST

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Richard Mellon Scaiffe owns Kerry _ *
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/primariescaucus/2004-02-08-kerry-loan_x.htm
$6.4M loan that saved Kerry may also drain him
By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- Once written off as a Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry survived to become the front-runner thanks to a $6.4 million Christmas Eve loan he made to his campaign.
John Kerry's home in the Beacon Hill area of Boston.
By John Mottern, Getty Images
Kerry borrowed the money Dec. 24 from the *Mellon Trust of New England. (Scaiffe is on the board - it's his)
Any money DNC has for the nominee would go to Scaiffe if they allow the media to pick Kerry


(#13) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/09/2004 02:05:40 PM EST

Reply

Enron & kerry - another  issue off the table
I normally stay away from unsavory sources, but in this case it's a sign of things to come:
 http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/2/7/150230.shtml
Long after Enron chairman Ken Lay had been demonized as a ruthless corporate buccaneer who had cheated widows and orphans out of their life savings, the man Dems love to invoke to beat up the Bush White House sat on the board of Teresa's Heinz Center Foundation.
In fact, Lay was reportedly a Heinz Center trustee for more than a decade, resigning just last year."
No wonder Kenny escaped the law - he was protected on both sides of the aisle.


(#12) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/09/2004 09:04:23 AM EST

Reply

Racking money in speeches from unsavory, interested sources (in buying influence)
Kerry Collected Big Speaking Fee Checks From Special Interests
By JOHN SOLOMON
Feb 9, 2004, 07:43
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_4039.shtml
Back when federal lawmakers legally could be paid for speaking to outside groups, John Kerry collected more than $120,000 in fees from interests as diverse as big oil, tobacco, the liquor lobby and unions, records show.
Senator John Kerry
Brian Snyder / ReutersBetween 1985 and 1990, Kerry's first five years in the Senate from Massachusetts, he pocketed annual amounts slightly under the limits for speaking fees set by Congress. Unlike many colleagues, he donated a speaking fee to charity only once, according to annual financial disclosure reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
One of the companies to pay Kerry $1,000 for a speech in 1987, Miami-based Metalbanc, was later indicted, along with two executives, on charges it helped the Cali drug cartel in Colombia launder money in the United States. The charges eventually were dropped because the firm was defunct.
At the time of the 1987 speech to Metalbanc, Kerry was chairman of the Senate subcommittee that investigated drug trafficking and money laundering.
"The Distilled Spirits Council, which paid Kerry $2,000 for a speech in 1987, said such engagements gave a chance for the liquor lobby to bend the ears of policy-makers on issues such as taxes, free trade and restrictions on alcohol ads.




Later, at a black church, Kerry said there should be a separation of church and state in America "but not in our lives."
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/sns-ap-kerry,0,3356964.story?coll=nyc-topnews-short-navigation


(#10) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/08/2004 06:56:47 PM EST

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http://216.250.230.16/gp_ppl_kerryjohn_1102.gif


(#9) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/08/2004 05:06:40 PM EST

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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4179618/
  Kerry:I know this guy(Bush).  He was two years behind me at Yale.  I knew him, and he's still the same guy."
Did you know him at Yale?
President Bush: No.
Russert: How do you respond to that?
President Bush: Politics.  I mean, this is--you know, if you close your eyes and listen carefully to what you just said, it sounds like the year 2000 all over again.
Russert: You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society.
President Bush: It's so secret we can't talk about it.
Russert: What does that mean for America?  The conspiracy theorists are going to go wild.
President Bush: I'm sure they are.  I don't know.  I haven't seen the (unintel) yet. (Laughs)


(#8) (No rating)

by Constance on 02/08/2004 04:58:25 PM EST

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I just read this article on Kerry.  Not pleasant reading.  I am surprised at the degree of his involvement with lobbyists and anti-citizen bills in the Senate.  I hope people hear about this.  They are voting blindly.
Elizabeth in Los Angeles


(#7) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/08/2004 09:16:38 AM EST

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http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/1/12/18163/7302


(#6) (No rating)

by Robbedvoter (Robbedvoter at forclark dot com) on 02/08/2004 08:01:09 AM EST

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Dear John
http://www.forclark.com/story/2004/2/1/84318/48694
Updated verrion- Not Dukakis's Lt
http://chat.forclark.com/story/2004/2/1/93824/65759
Kerry blaming CIA for WMD lies
http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/1/30/9319/54910
Kerry + W vs Constitution, Clark, Byrd, Welstone, Kennedy (IWR)
http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/2/1/84318/48694
Kerry vs the little people
:
http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/1/25/61128/0616
Kerry for preemption doctrine, war with Syria
http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/1/25/63853/2133


(#5) (No rating)



(#4) (No rating)

by cajungirl (cajungirl at forclark dot com) on 02/07/2004 11:41:53 PM EST

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who they voted for today.  Thanks to the always inept McAulliffe, these drive-thru primaries allow for little to no time for really getting to know candidates.
We can't let the DNC rush this primary.  Remember, Clinton didn't win a primary until March.  And, if Kerry walks away with this thing, and Democrats don't find out about him until after...I shudder to think.


(#3) (No rating)

by Constance on 02/07/2004 11:38:59 PM EST

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Thanks for pointing out this article for us, Robbedvoter.  I will read it soon.
And your reaction amuses me, BostonClarkette.  I also like knowing that you chose Clark even though you're from Kerry country.  I received a letter from a lady in NH this week to whom I had sent one of my Clark postcards.  She is from MA and doesn't care for Kerry either, too arrogant for her.  She doesn't want him to get the nomination.
Elizabeth in Los Angeles


(#2) (No rating)

by desertvet (desertvet at forclark dot com) on 02/07/2004 11:33:35 PM EST

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Vote up.  Maximum exposure.


(#1) (No rating)

by BostonClarkette on 02/07/2004 11:24:00 PM EST

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I think I'll just knock myself out for a few months.