The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's smear campaign on Teresa Heinz Kerry

[LTR]

Here is a great link detailing some of the ways Sciafe's smear machine has been attacking THK. It is from the Heinz Endowment website:

http://www.heinz.org/index.asp?loc=K,K2025&title=The%20Truth%20About%20Heinz%20and%20Tides

The Truth About Heinz and Tides

A statement from Heinz Endowments President Maxwell King.

In recent weeks, The Heinz Endowments has been accused of using its funding of the Tides Center of Western Pennsylvania to advance a laundry list of partisan causes and fringe political groups. This accusation is simply wrong.

It originated in an opinion column written by a researcher for the conservative, Washington, D.C.-based Capital Research Center. The crux of CRC’s argument is that money directed by the Endowments to Tides is "fungible." By supporting projects through Tides, CRC alleged that Heinz has secretly funneled money to every other organization that has ever received funding through Tides Center and the separate Tides Foundation.

Since first being published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, CRC’s accusation has been picked up and expanded in opinion pieces in a number of newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the Washington Times. But not even these publications have leveled this allegation in actual news stories.

The reason why is obvious: The charge does not stand up to objective scrutiny. Four facts undercut it completely. First, by legally binding contract, every penny of Heinz’s support to Tides has been explicitly directed to specific projects in Pennsylvania. It cannot legally be redirected and is the exact opposite of fungible.

Second, the Tides Center is a provider of management and administrative services, and we have used it only for those services, not to advance Tides’ grantmaking agenda. Foundations from all across the country-many, like Heinz, with strong centrist agendas-use these services to incubate an array of nonprofit programs. So does the federal government. It is no more accurate to suggest that Heinz supports every one of these programs than it is to suggest that someone who contributes to a specific group through the United Way supports the agenda of every other United Way beneficiary.

Third, the projects we have supported through Tides speak for themselves. They include programs to test the career readiness of area high school students, protect Pittsburgh’s environment and retain young people in our region-hardly an extremist agenda.

Fourth and finally, information about every one of our Tides-related grants is and always has been readily available in our public filings, annual reports and here on our web site. Far from being secretive, we have been consistently open in detailing the nature of our grants to Tides and every other organization we fund.

Throughout its 63-year history, The Heinz Endowments has scrupulously observed both the letter and the spirit of the law barring foundations from partisan activity. That hasn’t changed. These accusations to the contrary are rooted in politics, not fact. They do a disservice to Howard Heinz Endowment chairman Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose stewardship of the Heinz family’s generous philanthropic legacy has been exemplary, and to our 16 other board members and 31 staff. Together, we remain committed to upholding the high ethical standards and proud traditions of one of America’s most respected charitable foundations.

Go to the site for examples of the smear tactics related to this:

http://www.heinz.org/index.asp?loc=K,K2025&title=The%20Truth%20About%20Heinz%20and%20Tides

[billbuckhead]

1. The Tribune Review is Scaife's paper

What more needs said?

[bleedingheart]

2. I used the same link you referenced to refute the emails that

are being sent to me by coworkers.

[Nevernose]

4. You're getting them, too, huh?

I get the "Theresa Heinz is Funding Hamas" email on an almost daily basis, and I have to ask myself: Just who are all of these assholes and where did they come from? More importantly, how did I get on their mailing list?

[bleedingheart]

5. I agree.. but the best one yet is

the woman in my office who sends this stuff to me and she isn't even registered to vote....so when she sent it to me I sent her the link above and wrote, "what does it matter, you aren't even registered"...it stung her a bit...hahahahaha

[LTR]

3. .