AP: While governor, Dean accepted speaking fees, gifts from

[ProgressiveOne]

...special interests.

Excerpt:

While governor of Vermont, Howard Dean accepted personal pay from special interests at least five times for speeches and also received more than $60,000 in checks and pledges for his charity fund from insurers who benefited from a state tax break, according to documents and interviews.

Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal and did not have to be disclosed under Vermont law but were detailed in correspondence and tax records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The lion's share of Dean's $13,633 in personal speaking fees as governor came from a drug company that was embroiled in one of the nation's most high profile sexual harassment cases, which ultimately ended with a nearly $10 million federal penalty.


Interesting that this gets puked out by the media just in time for the weekend talk shows. Who's behind this smear campaign?


Link: AP Exclusive: While governor, Dean accpted speaking fees, gifts from special interests

[madfloridian]

1. Wasn't another candidate just called down for something like that?

I remember something a few weeks ago. Don't remember how it played out, though.

[Bozola]

2. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=90676

Yep. who is behind this?

[ProgressiveOne]

3. Thanks!

I *swear* I looked before I posted. Sorry!

[demdave]

17. It is not a dupe unless it has been posted in LBN

The link he referred to was in GD. Please keep posting these items in LBN. I never go to GD to get my news. Thanks.

[bahrbearian]

28. Yes thanks for the post

I use the Lastest for the new's too.

[killbotfactory]

5. I think Rove is getting nervous...

Here's another AP hitpiece on Dean.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=90928

[NashVegas]

4. AP's John Solomon

If there's a negative AP story, chances are quite good you'll see that name attached to it, I'm beginning to think. This is at least the 3rd or 4th I've seen from him.

[tom_paine]

9. I have no doubt that AP is heavily infiltrated

by the Busheviks and the Party-Loyal Right-Wing Sub-Media.

Either John Soloman or his editor may be these kinds of individuals.

But AP provides a huge amount of stories to papers all around the country. In samll towns, the papers are about 80% AP articles.

It only makes sense that the Busheviks and the Party-Loyal Sub-Media would look to subvert it first and foremost.

I believe they have succeeded on some level. I tell you I have read more than a few AP articles that read like Newt Gingrich's "contrasting words" memo of 1994.

Democrats: furiously counterprogramming
Republicans: honest barnstorming

is just one example of AP's serious Bushevik slanting.

No coincidence either that the original VNS Exit Polling Consortium (run by 6 different institutions) has been replaced by one run exclusively by AP.

The easier to control and subvert the vote, my dear. The Busheviks couldn't fail to notice during the Stolen Election of 2002 how Exit Polling went conveniently down and the Republicans enjhoyed more than a few Dewey-Truman-style "upsets" in states with electronic voting.

So they replaced it with Imperial Pravda Exit Polling, where the poll results ALWAYS agree with the "voting" results.

Welcome to Imperial Amerika...the Free-Market Soviet Union.

(ok, well not yet is it quite that bad...but it's certainly moving rapidly in that direction)

[Politicub]

30. John Soloman

We need to do some muckraking of our own about this guy - expose his pattern and bias.

I swear "special interests" is such a stupid term. It only gets used during election season.

[MGKrebs]

6. Re: the drug company issue.

The fact that a politician takes this kind of money is only an issue because of the possibility of a quid pro quo. In this case, the drug company lost their case. Either Dean did not intervene for them, which is fine, or we would need evidence that he did intervene to no avail.

I admit that some will make even the appearance of a quid pro quo an issue, but that is an ugly road to go down.

[cid]

8. It says right in the article it was legal

Me thinks Bushco is getting a bit worried :) as they should be.

[KittyWampus]

13. It Also Mentions Governors Who Decline Accepting Fees

to avoid appearance of political back scratching.

And just because it is not illegal doesn't make it ethical.

"But many of Dean's former gubernatorial colleagues, including his successor in Vermont, said they don't accept special interest speaking fees to avoid appearances or because of legal prohibitions.

"We choose not to accept anything of value," said Abby Ottenhoff, a spokeswoman for Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The National Governors Association said Thursday it did not readily have information on how many of the country's 50 governors are legally permitted to accept speaking fees or gifts. But several governors told AP they decline such money or gifts for appearances sake.

"The governor does not accept honoraria or gifts," said Josh Morby, spokesman for Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, also does not accept honoraria, his spokesman said. Public officials in Ohio have been prohibited by state law from accepting speaking fees since 1994, when the Ohio Senate president and other lawmakers were indicted on misdemeanor counts of failing to report thousands of dollars in speaking fees from The Limited, a women's clothing retailer.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, doesn't accept speaking fees and Tennessee law prohibits its governor from accepting honoraria, spokesmen said.

And Dean's successor in Vermont, Republican Gov. James Douglas, hasn't accepted any honoraria in his first year and believes it "unlikely that he would accept honoraria to speak on a subject clearly related to his duties as governor," spokesman Jason Gibbs said.

The House and Senate have banned lawmakers from accepting honoraria in the early 1990s after controversies.

[KittyWampus]

24. Yes But Apparently The Insurance Companies Profitted From The Relationship

And when you are an elected official one has to consider even the APPEARANCE of impropriety:

But in a 1993 letter to Dean, Primmer wrote that two insurers were sending a gift to the governor, described only as a "package," after Dean met with them to discuss the bill that would provide new tax breaks. Dean signed that bill into law later that year.

In 1994, Primmer donated $250 to Dean's re-election campaign. And in a series of 1995 letters, Primmer passed along a $7,500 check to Dean's school fund from insurer Commercial Reinsurance Company, and pledges for an additional $55,000 from that company and another insurer named MEDMAR.

"We greatly appreciate the flexibility your administration and it predecessors have promoted in the regulation of insurance companies," a MEDMAR executive wrote in a "Dear Gov. Dean" letter around the time of the donations.

[Aunt Eunice]

7. I always thought..

it was good for pols to have bad news on Friday.

A minute percentage of pol junkies (guilty) watch the Sunday shows and by Monday, it was old news.

The Clintons were quite adept at making document dumps to investigators on Fridays.

[Skittles]

12. Here is a tip for you

Clinton hasn't been president for years, as is reflected by the dismal state of the union.

[Aunt Eunice]

35. Save your condescension

for someone who cares.

Clinton is not a dim memory for me.

Little has changed in the way political news is reported over the last 3 years, regardless of who's president.

Pols know what works and what doesn't.

Clinton wrote the book.

[Sideways]

43. Clinton Wrote A Book About Condescension?

Wow news to me. Skittles did you get the memo? Little has changed in the way political news is reported over the last 3 years....let us just disregard the fact that the media, yeah that fucking media, is owned by the Military Industrial Complex and is in bed with fucking Bush and his whoring war machine. Ghastly fucking thought nonetheless Pols know what works and what doesn't and WJC wrote the book. Who would have thunk it?

I'm glad the old auntie is here to bring elucidation to the subject. Aren't you Skittles?:crazy:

[Skittles]

45. I shudder to think where she gets her memos from

perhaps the Clear Channel.

[Sideways]

46. AKA The Obfuscation Channel

Never a moment when the lines can't be blurred.

"Are you thinking outside the box Timmy well no lunch for you."

[Tempest]

14. Compared to Bush, Clinton rarely made a Friday announcement

Bush is the king of the Friday night massacre.

[schultzee]

10. G.O.P pigs and D.L.C. corporate pigs are both after Dean because

most of his contributions come from individuals. They want us the people out of their game to gain.

[Voltaire99]

26. Yep

The media will be used for the destruct-o-thon from now until the election, with the same message hammered over and over: "Enough of this foolish populism! Put aside your foolish thoughts of 'democracy'! Only we can protect you, helpless people!"

[stickdog]

11. If the AP showed half this much interest in exposing the Bush

Adminstration, they'd have to triple their staff.

The media is playing the sheep like a fiddle.

These headlines should read:

"Newsflash: Howard Dean Once Held Political Office!"

or

"Newsflash: Howard Dean Once Said Something That Could Be Construed in a Way To Make Him Look Unpopular or Inconsistent!"

[wabeewoman]

15. When reading or hearing this stuff most people

just think, "and what about bush?" And the second question is, "why are they just reporting this about the democratic candidate?" Well, guess we know the answer to that one...One of the saddest things to come from all this is the lost credibility of news media that used to have some like AP, Time.....

[Dookus]

18. Rove! Bias! Rove again!

Perhaps they reported the story because it's true.

[gristy]

21. Well, most of you, anyways.

:)

[gristy]

16. I want to compliment the people who have posted on this thread

I was hesitant to open this thread. But you have correctly attacked where the problem lies. With the media. Not with Dean.

[JPace]

19. "Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"

"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
Just in case the media and freepers have forgotten....

"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"
"Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal"

[KittyWampus]

22. They Were Also Unethical

[JPace]

27. "They Were Also Unethical"

Bush/Enron
Cheney/Haliburten

Now that is UNETHICAL!

[Rainbows]

31. It is a crying shame indeed ...

some were unable to see how unethical some other candidates have been as illustrated on NOW by Bill Moyers, tonight. It might get posted again in the GD forum to allow some to catch up with pots calling kettles black.

[RetroLounge]

38. That's your biased opinion

Duh...

[mainer]

44. How is it unethical?

If the speaking fees went to a charity? He didn't personally profit from any of it. In fact, he DONATED HIS TIME AND EFFORT to raising money for a charity.

I just do not understand why the question of ethics even comes up in this discussion since there was no personal profit involved!!!

>>When asked whether the discussion of official business and private donations mixed in the correspondence might create a perception of a conflict of interest, Dean spokesman Carson replied: "As Governor he started a charity that provided hundreds of computers to the poorest kids in the state and he's not going to make any apologies for that." <<

[MaineDem]

20. We'd be furious if this was a Republican who did this

To me this is another bit of information about Dean that makes me question his ability to be successful against Bush.

We need a Democrat who can beat *. I fear Dean isn't the one.

[cthrumatrix]

23. I fear it's smear....it says it's not illegal...what do you want..?

[papau]

25. Most of the 2000 per year - so say 1000 - came from a drug company.

And this makes us wet our bed when we compare to the 300 million ripped off of Texas for the baseball team land - and the 13 million reward given Bush by the Ranger's directors?

Did the AP ever go through Bush's finances?

The bin-Laden connection?

[gristy]

29. When a Repuke does this , you (nor anyone else) will know about it.

Keep that in mind. K?

[conservdem]

36. Agreed.

It is too risky to stay with Dean. I hope his supports will realize this before it's too late.

[ldf]

40. don't think so

nothing has come out that would make me stop supporting dean.

it is either a choice of the people (as in us little people), or choice for the party hacks to decide for us.

[are_we_united_yet]

37. Oh...... I say thats crap!!

Republicanss also do this. When do we hear about it? Seldom. In fact there is such a littany of other illegal, unethical and immoral to acts to their credit, that something like this seems benign in comparison. Sure blame Dean for this, but let the W admin off the hook for countless impeachable offenses. Brilliant.

[MaineDem]

39. Where did I say to let the administration "off the hook"?

When the time comes and we have a Democratic nominee to match against Bush we'll fight like hell to make sure all the BFEE's transgressions are well known.

Right now the fight is to find that candidate to beat Bush. I was merely saying that, to me, this perception of something unethical is just another reason to question Dean's ability to be better than the GOP.

[are_we_united_yet]

42. To be fair you didn't explicitly mention "letting the admin off the hook".

Perhaps I got carried away.

Sorry.

But I mostly see this as a smear tactic. Few here would condone illegal or unethical practices of their candidate. But to point to this issue with Dean and then question his ability to lead based on this revelation is, in my opinion, not an intelligent decision. Do you think for a moment that unethical/illegal practices would not be "unearthed" by the Republican smear machine for any Democratic front-runner?

[madfloridian]

32. Like this?

Read these articles about Clark:
Then go to the NOW website and see if you can get the transcript from tonight. About Clark.

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/politics2003/100803_clarkpost_2003.shtml

http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,516726,00.html

http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8460

[AP]

33. This reminds me: you know what's a shakedown? Boss asking for donations.

Have you ever been solicited for United Way donations in the office. I haven't. But I understand from friends who have that there is huge pressure on people to give to United Way when the boss asks.

Stories anyone?

[jpgray]

34. AP: Politician acts like politician

In our system, this doesn't surprise me. Maybe if this were Kucinich I would be surprised. :)

[mainer]

41. Money went to a charity fund

If I'm reading the article right, it didn't go to HIM. It went to a charity. How is this the same thing as "Dean accepted speaking fees"?

Shouldn't a more accurate headline read: "Dean contributed time and speech to a charity?"

[NNN0LHI]

47. Does it say if he deducted any donations to charity from his taxes? n/t