GOP Goes After Edwards With Allegations

[trogdor]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040708/D83ME8B80.html

(the meat of this article is at the bottom)
--clip--
The Kerry campaign dismissed the charges as "recycled negative attacks."

"Instead of offering solutions to the problems facing the country here at home or plans to make our troops safer overseas, all Republicans could do was to throw their same old attacks out against the Kerry-Edwards ticket," said campaign spokesman David Ginsberg.

Edwards, a highly successful trial lawyer, set up a professional corporation in 1995, with himself as the sole director and stockholder. In 1996 and 1997, he collected $10 million in dividends from the corporation, and more than $1 million in salary from his law firm.

Since Medicare taxes are not paid on dividends, Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth charged in campaign ads just before the 1998 election that Edwards had used the corporation to avoid $290,000 in taxes.

Edwards did not dispute the facts, but called the tax avoidance charge "absolutely false." He said he had paid "every dime of Medicare taxes I owe and am required to pay by law."

Republicans also are recycling attacks on Edwards' truthfulness. They note Edwards' claim in 1998 campaign ads that he worked his way through college loading trucks for United Parcel Service (UPS), when he worked only six months in that job. When a newspaper report challenged the claim, Edwards defended it by saying it was the longest job he had held in college. He later dropped the reference from his ads, a move Faircloth's campaign said was proof he had misled voters.

Edwards' 1998 campaign literature also said he had graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina State University in 1974, although the university didn't use such Latin honors at the time. Edwards graduated with a 3.69 grade point average out of 4.0. Republicans called it "stretching the truth to make a dramatic point." Edwards blamed a campaign mistake.

"I can make a heck of an argument that this is all nitpicking," Edwards said at the time.

--end article--

I don't know about you, but if I graduated from NC State with a 3.69, I'd probably qualify for <i>at least</i> a Magna Cum Laude. That's what I got for my 3.79 from SUNY Utica/Rome. If that's all they've got, Bring 'Em On (TM), I say.

[rfranklin]

1. Pretty funny--the Republicans wanting more taxes on a...

multimillionaire. That seems to be anathema when its a rich Republican.

[JM]

2. Nitpicking...

"Edwards' 1998 campaign literature also said he had graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina State University in 1974, although the university didn't use such Latin honors at the time. Edwards graduated with a 3.69 grade point average out of 4.0. Republicans called it "stretching the truth to make a dramatic point." Edwards blamed a campaign mistake."

I'm sorry we mistakenly stated Summa Cum Laude, but the grade point average is correct. What was the President's* grade point average again?

JM

[Sandpiper]

19. I believe the President's GPA

Was a 2.0

I believe he was also rejected by the University of Texas School of Law.

[LTR]

3. My, they're really reaching, aren't they?

Blasting the guy for getting a 3.69? Geez!

Alright! The gloves are off! Let's see Bush's transcripts!

And what was Bush's part-time job in college? I doubt he loaded trucks for UPS.

Like I've been saying. Give them all enough rope to hang themselves.

[apnu]

13. yeah they are

this morning on CNN's talk show they had some noise machine meat puppet on blathering about the hair "issue" quote: "It looks like Kerry spends more money on his hair than Edwards" When pressed by a democrat about the experience issue and reminded that W spent as much time as governor of TX as Edwards has as a senator, the guy changed the subject.

knuckleheads the lot of them.

[rfranklin]

4. Shall we look at Bush's pathetic records again to contrast?

AWOL, gentleman's C at Harvard and Yale, dry drunk, various failed companies, and total failure as pResident.

[Beetwasher]

5. Oy Vey! Let's Discuss Halliburton's No Bid Contracts

You know, the one's Cheney PERSONALLY involved himself in, and RECENTLY!

Or how about the fact that he's STILL getting paid by Halliburton...

Hell, if you want to go back to Edwards GPA in college, let's take a real close look at the Chimp's! Whaddaya say assholes?

[Grins]

18. Don't forget these guys..

Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) won a $10 Billion Homeland Security contract for Custom/Borders. Trouble was - Accenture corporate offices were - in BERMUDA! - to avoid paying US taxes!!!

A bill in Congress aimed at stopping the award. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, argued that: "It is simply wrong for Homeland Security to award an expatriate with the largest corporate contract to date. We have two competitors who are paying their taxes in the US".

Wouldn't you like to have been in Accenture's board froom when this popped up! Not to worry. When the legislation came to the Republican-dominated House, it was voted down, 234-197.

[aintitfunny]

6. It's all they've got

is a fact. They will spew their vitriol all over the place. They have nothing to brag about in their candidates, so they have no choice but to go on the attack. With a little luck, it will backfire. Hopefully we will just keep on smilin'.

[Dhalgren]

7. The Thugs have got to be kidding!

That's it?! That's all you got?! This is just plain stupid! If you got no more "dirt" on a candidate than that, you should try and attack him/her on some other basis. This is beyond amateurish - it is simply idiotic!

[Danmack]

8. They are going to try and define him to the nation before he defines...

himself.

John/John better move pretty qick or they will be playing defense for the next 4 months.

They have hurt kerry with the flip/flop crap and they will attempt to define edwards as a money grubbing (gasp) lawyer.

They need to define themselves and their plank pretty quick and get chimpy on the defense

IMHO

[KurtNYC]

10. They ARE on defense

8 points down in the polls, Ken Lay, Plame, Halliburton, torture photos, AWOL, etc. How much more "on defense" could they be?

Of course their defense is just to go on the attack but I don't see much here so far that is going to carry them.

[colonel odis]

9. but ... but wait, w..... mr. cheney .... ed gillespie ....

isn't being wealthy a good thing? isn't dodging taxes the republican way?

so why is it bad when edwards does it?

it's ok to make millions screwing people but it's not ok to make millions screwing the people who screw people?

black is white. up is down. bad is good.

[Cocoa]

11. UPS-gate!

:wow:

[olddem43]

12. When repugs avoid taxes it's called "planning"

or something similar, and, of course, that's OK. If a Dem does it, I guess it's cheating?

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. Don't use their language and give them this!

Don't fall into the trap of saying when Repubs do it it's called something else. Edwards has stated the charge is false...that's what needs to be said. It's false. So unless they can pony up and prove it, we don't need to say anything else.

[BeyondGeography]

15. What was Bush's GPA in college?

Then again, I guess he never claimed to be especially intelligent. It's the one area where he's been truthful.

[TahitiNut]

16. $10 million in dividends?

Since dividends are paid from after-tax profits, Edwards' professional corporation had already paid federal taxes at a rate of about 34% on net profits of about $15,150,000 in retained earnings - about $5,150,000. Edwards would then pay personal income taxes on those dividends (at the unearned income tax rate of about 18% in those days) - or about $1,800,000.

It's a 'fact of life' that a plaintiff's personal injury law firm that takes cases on a contingency basis can only do so when it has the capital to fund the litigation. That takes lots of bucks. Thus, a firm like Edwards' would have to retain earnings from successful litigation to fund future litigation. That doesn't permit them to take advantage of the many corporate shell games that hide retained earnings - shell games especially popular in companies like Worldcom, Enron, Carlyle, Tyco, etc. As Edwards approached his 1998 campaign, he undoubtedly needed to phase out his law practice and use that income to subsidize his initial campaign expenses.

It sounds to me like he didn't really avoid much in the way of taxes - certainly nowhere near the average Busholini campaign contributor.

[Lex]

17. Let's compare number of DWI arrests between the two tickets as well!

That should be a fun comparison.

Dick Cheney has more than 1 DWI arrest I believe, and Dubya has at least 1 that we know of . . .

Zero DWI arrests for Kerry/Edwards.

[SKKY]

20. Edwards is inexperienced? Give me a F&*@king break!

The only foreign policy experience Bushie had before getting "appointed" president was when the Rangers signed Juan Gonzalez.

[JayS]

21. It sounds like Edwards hired a competent tax planner and...

...got good advice. Tax planning is not illegal but tax avoidance is. There is no legal, ethical, or moral obligation to pay more tax than what you owe.

[74dodgedart]

22. How many Bush donors are avoiding taxes with accounts in the Caymans

Suddenly, the Repubs want dividend taxes ?