Donors to president bought influence say Kerry

[FishForLunch]

I guess the NEA, Union donors had noble thoughts while donating to his campaign.

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Bush spokesman says claim is 'hypocrisy'

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:22 p.m. ET Aug. 16, 2004


KETCHUM, Idaho - Sen. John Kerry plans this week to present his case that President Bush is stacking the federal government with friends and donors who are gutting regulations on U.S. corporations.

Kerry, running mate John Edwards and supporters are stressing a theme that they’ve been campaigning on all year — Bush puts corporate interests ahead of workers and the middle class.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry has no standing to criticize, considering that the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics determined he has received more campaign contributions from lobbyists over the years than any other senator. Schmidt also pointed out that Edwards, a North Carolina senator, refused to release the names of his top fund-raisers.

“There is a great deal of hypocrisy in these attacks,” Schmidt said.

Meanwhile, Bush was to begin his campaign week with a rally in northern Michigan, a state he lost to Gore in 2000. Bush’s visit to Traverse City, Mich., was the first by a sitting president since Gerald Ford in 1975.

Bush's trip followed his speech in Cincinnati in which he unveiled a plan for one of the largest U.S. troop realignments since the end of the Cold War.

The Kerry campaign also announced Kerry will donate $6 million from his record-breaking $225 million primary fund-raising to the Democratic Party’s efforts to win seats in the House and Senate. The money will be split evenly between the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Edwards carries the flag
With Kerry vacationing in Idaho, Edwards, a former trial attorney, was arguing the campaign’s case that Bush has “the most aggressive anti-regulatory posture in memory” during a stop in Willard, Mo., on Monday.

“We’ve unfortunately seen too many examples of times when this administration should have stood up for the interests of working Americans but looked the other way instead,” he said in prepared remarks. “When John and I are in the White House, the for-sale sign is going to come off the front door.”

A Kerry-Edwards campaign report attempts to tie donations from various industries to favors that the industry got from the administration. For example, it says:

The logging and timber industry gave more than $1.5 million to Bush and got the right to log without the usual environmental reviews.
The coal industry gave $300,000 to Bush and got less protection against black lung disease for workers.
The chemical industry gave more than $1 million to Bush and got reduced regulations on chemicals exposed to workers.
The auto industry gave more than $300,000 to Bush and got eased rules on reporting potential defects and a rule allowing truckers to drive 11 hours a day.
The restaurant industry gave more than $1.2 million and got killed a regulation intended to prevent their workers from exposure to smoke.
The Kerry campaign also names many administration officials who used to work for the industries they now oversee.

[Dooby]

Originally posted by: FishForLunch
I guess the NEA, Union donors had noble thoughts while donating to his campaign.

Don't forget the trial lawyers.

It is well known that there were many Edwards donors violating campaign finance laws to give money to Edwards' campaign. Kerry is out raising millions and millions of dollars every month. Various 527 organizations funded by multi-millionairs have been slinging millions of dollars in advertising around battleground states for months trying to beat Bush.

But it is all about Bush. Of course it is.