Kerry Collected Big Speaking Fee Checks From Special Interests

[robbedvoter]

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.
snip
"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.

[AirConditionedGypsie]

1. Big oil and tobacco?

Ughh!

[Don_G]

2. I'm Sure It's True

I'm also certain that a $1000 1987 Democratic speech is far more important to the media than Dimbo's current ties with the major Drug Companies or with Neil's mismanaged billions in the Savings & Loan bail-out Reagn so conviently provided at the same time.

[schultzee]

12. Dumbo's fake visit to Martin L. King's grave and then raising

a huge amout of money and using taxpayer's dollars for the jet were not mentioned by the media. Kerry has to go on the offensive and start talking about Bush's financial gains and ties.

[bowens43]

3. Nothing here....

I'm not sure why this keeps getting posted. Nothing illegal, nothing shady.

[markus]

4. That's whay my old boss Bob Carr used to think

until he ran for Michigan Senate, and the GOP handed him his ass on this very same issue.

His own favorite vice was the speaking trip to pleasant climes.

Remember, all of these are going to be terribly useful to KR et al in suppressing the Kucinich/Dean/Clark vote in the General Election.

Remember: once you muddy an issue in the voters minds (positive or negative) so they can't tell the difference between the candidates, it becomes a non-issue.

[Atman]

5. Bush Collected Big Fees Looting the Treasury

And he's killed over 500 American soldiers in the process, after lying about why we had to go to war.

BFD on Kerry's speaking fees.

[placton]

6. No big deal!

The moron-Americans who will (and this is scary) DECIDE this election all assume each politician is shady. They have given Bush a pass on this, and don't really care.

They are simpletons.

Thus, we need to develop a large picture of Kerry recieving medals for valor, and juxtapose it with CARRIER BUSH. That says it all, and is simple enough for the folks who can't be troubled to read, investigate & think!

[onehandle]

7. Wow!

He must be a politician or something.

zzzz....snore....zzz

[FlaGranny]

8. Okay, I'd like a list of all the politicians

who DID NOT do this. I wonder how long such a list would be? Now that Kerry is in the lead, must knock him down to help Bush, I guess.

[judge_smales]

9. I do get the feeling sometimes

that many members of the board her feel that the point of this whole
site is to trash other Dems and hand Rove the tolls he needs.

I guess those are the Freepers in disguise. Or at least I hope so.

[gbwarming]

10. $120k/5 years: Kerry is an amateur - Laura Bush gets more per night

And she's a lightweight compared to crashcart and *

June 20, 2003 - Chattanooga, TN
Headliner: First Lady Laura Bush.
Also appearing: Pioneer and Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker.
Special attraction: A tour of the mayor’s residence.
Bottom line: $500,000

June 25, 2003 - Cincinnati, OH
Headliner: First Lady Laura Bush.
Also appearing: Mercer Reynolds, finance chairman of Bush’s re-election campaign and oil industry tycoon; Cintas Corp. Chairman Richard Farmer; owner of the Reds baseball team, Carl Lindner.
Special Attraction: Wine and dine in Reynold’s Indian Hill home.
Bottom line: $800,000.

July 18 , 2003 - Dallas, TX
Headliner: George W. Bush.
Also appearing: First Lady Laura Bush; businessman Fred Meyer; Ron McDougall, chairman and CEO of Brinker Corp; Bill Lee, former head of Titon Energy.
Special attraction: Meet Bush mega-fundraiser Jeanne Johnson Phillips, who Bush rewarded with a trip to Paris as a representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Bottom line: $4 million.

July 18, 2003 - Raleigh, NC
Headliner: First Lady Laura Bush.
Also appearing: Jim Cain, former president of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team.
Special attraction: Help raise half a million for Bush just a few hundred yards from the mansion of presidential contender Sen. John Edwards.
Bottom line: $550,000.

September 4, 2003 - Florence, SC
Headliner: Laura Bush
Also appearing: Kate and Eddie Floyd, former chairman of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees
Bottom line: $530,000

September 15, 2003 - Mobile, AL
Headliner: Laura Bush
Bottom line: $423,000

October 30, 2003 - Tyler, TX
Headliner: Laura Bush
Bottom line: $275,000

November 6, 2003 - Norfolk, VA
Headliner: Laura Bush
Special attraction: The first lady also read to children and visited a hospital to warn women about the risks of heart disease.
Bottom line: $100,000

November 6, 2003 - Charleston, WV
Headliner: Laura Bush
Special Attraction: The First Lady will be at the Marriott Town Center at 6 pm for a $1,000 a plate fundraiser. But don't expect to see too much. The event is closed to the public and the press.
Bottom line: 100,000

November 10, 2003 - Wilmington, DE
Headliner: Laura Bush
Special attraction: After reading to some children, the First Lady attended a fund raiser at the home of Charles Cawley, CEO of credit card giant MBNA.
Bottom line: $350,000


November 10, 2003 - Portland ME
Headliner: Laura Bush
Special attractions: No, not the Portland that the Bush Campaign calls "Little Beirut," but the more gentle, New England one.
Bottom line: $150,000

February 4, 2004 - Savannah, GA
Headliner: Laura Bush
Bottom line: $230,000


http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/dashforcash/page.cfm?pageid=49#loui02262004

[seasat]

11. Big Deal

Shrub Sr got something like $100,000 for one speaking engagement with the now defunct Global Crossing.

From the AP article:


The senator's campaign acknowledged Sunday that he accepted the speaking fees, but said he also gave several speeches a year for free.

"He gave these speeches to address what he saw as the important issues at the time such as the growing national deficit," spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "In compliance with the law, he accepted small speaking fees from some of the groups he spoke to, and, in at least one case, donated that money to charity."
...
Kerry, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he didn't learn about the drug connection to the company or its executives, who also gave him political donations, until The Boston Globe informed him of it in 1996. He donated several thousand dollars to charities to make amends.
...
"It certainly didn't seem to influence his voting record," said Laura Brown Narvaiz, a spokeswoman for the NAM, which paid Kerry $1,000 for a speech in September 1986. "I don't think he voted in favor of our positions very many times."

He didn't make the most at the speeches and it was a way for them to supplement their income. I don't assume that Kerry is perfect angel when it comes to money and politics. There aren't any politicians that I can think of that haven't compromised on some position or been influenced by some special interest group. Kerry actually seems cleaner than most.

[TXDemGal]

13. These amounts are chicken feed

when compared to the likes of what BushCheneyCo has bilked their own "special friends" (thank you for that special phrase, David Brooks, you Rethug whore). In fact, this piece reads like a Rove oppo-research screed dictated to the AP journalist whose name appears in the byline. Notice how Rostenkowski's name was dragged into it.

[JPace]

14. Kerry collected speaking fees?

Is this the best the repugs can come up with?
If so.....they are toast.

[Moderator]

15. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=296116