Dean raises money from energy sourcesFebruary 27, 2002
By David Gram
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTPELIER — When Gov. Howard Dean wanted to raise money for a possible presidential bid, he followed the example of a former governor of Texas and called on his friends in the energy industry.
Nearly a fifth of the roughly $111,000 collected in its first months by Dean’s presidential political action committee, the Fund for a Healthy America, came from people with ties to Vermont’s electric utilities, according to a recent Federal Elections Commission filing.
It should be no surprise. Dean and utility executives have had a long and friendly relationship.
One donor who gave Dean’s PAC the maximum amount allowed — $5,000 — said he did so because he and his wife “agree with many of the things the fund is talking about — fiscal conservatism, education, health care.” ...
http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/43125.htmlDean has a long record as Governor for receiving large sums of money from private industry, and has been sued to have the records of his dealings with large corporate interests who he made deals with in Vermont that favored those contributors over other businesses that did not contribute to his campaign:
They're making a list...... In the 2000 elections, over $1.1 million was contributed by the national political parties to gubernatorial candidates. In this election, political party donations made up 60% of Howard Dean's contributions and 62% of Ruth Dwyer's contributions. By contrast, in 1998 only 18% of Dean's and 21% of Dwyer's contributions were from political parties. Special interests such as the pharmaceutical industry ($24 million) and insurance industry ($30.8 million) were among the leading contributors to the both of the major political parties.
http://www.vt-world.com/Archive/2001/November_21_2001/Features.htmMARCELLA LANDELL, et al., Plaintiffs, NEIL RANDALL, et al., Plaintiffs, and VERMONT REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE, Plaintiff v. WILLIAM H. SORRELL, et al., Defendants, and VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP, et al., Defendant-Intervenors
Docket No. 2:99-cv-146....
...Reports also described allegations that Governor Dean vetoed a pharmacy bill after collecting $ 6,000 in campaign contributions from drug companies...
Bryan Pfeiffer, Dean Angry About Pharmacy Veto Criticism, News Story, Rutland Herald, June 16, 1994...
http://www.brookingsinstitution.org/dybdocroot/gs/cf/headlines/cases/LandellvSorrell.DOCCLF seeks details of Dean administration’s talks with utilities
March 11, 2002(from the State section)
By SUSAN SMALLHEER Southern Vermont Bureau
MONTPELIER — The Conservation Law Foundation will file a freedom of information request with the Dean administration today to find out how many contacts it has had with Vermont utility executives over the pending sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Mark Sinclair, senior attorney with the environmental group, said Monday that recent news reports about the financial contributions made by Vermont utility executives or board members to Gov. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign political action committee were “too much of a coincidence.”
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/Archive/Articles/Article/43924Which candidate takes too much money from Wall Street and other special interests.
Deans primary advisor for his entire political career has been Harlan Sylvester"
It's Business As Usual, Starring HOWARD DEAN"The joke among a lot of Vermont Republicans was that they didn't need to run anyone for governor because they basically had one in office already," said Harlan Sylvester, a conservative Democratic stockbroker and longtime adviser to Dean.
(St. Petersburg Times, July 6, 2003)
http://www.optimalprime.org/archives/001435.htmlThe Darkest HorseIn his fiscal conservatism, Dean has been guided for more than a decade by a behind-the-scenes kingmaker named Harlan Sylvester, a senior executive at Salomon Smith Barney in Burlington who chairs Dean's council of economic advisers. Sylvester praises Dean for forcing through a dramatic tax cut during his first year in office, over the objections of "the left of the party
wanted to soak the wealthy," Sylvester explains, leaning back in his chair in an expansive office just off Lake Champlain. "One-quarter of 1 percent of Vermonters pay 16 percent of state income taxes," he says. "That's 829 people, and a lot of them are clients of mine. Four of them moved out of state rather than pay Vermont taxes."
http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V13/13/dreyfuss-r.html
Which candidate takes too much money from Wall Street and other special interests?
Who is more closely connecte to Wall Street?
And even with Deans claims of receiving average donations of less than 100 dollars. the fact that his contributions are not placed under tyhe same scrutiny as Kerry's due to Kerry's status as a Senator makesa large difference. There is literally no way of telling how much of Deans money came from corporate executives. eityher in maximum 2000 dollar contributions, or by using the practice of bundling, having large numbers of executives on corporations make regular monthly donations ot 100 dollars eery week or month. The article on Dean receiving the very first contributions to his campaign withing five minutes of a telephone call to the Vermont Energy industry indicates that Dean has taken funds from large corporate interests, both as Governor and as candidate.
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