The Today Show ran a piece on Kerry-Chung Dealings......

The Today Show just ran a piece, where reporters were asking Kerry about the current Newsweek article linking him to Johnny Chung.

And he responded, you guess it "I have no recollection of it." A non-denial-denial. The worst answer he could have gave - you know, as in "I have no recollection, Senator."

No recollection? Senator, you met with Johnny Chung himself, and there's a note from your own office that proves it!

"...Chung came to Kerry's office in July 1996 to seek help in getting a Chinese official in to see a Securities and Exchange Commission official, and within a week, Kerry's staff wrote Chung asking him to host a Sept. 9 fund-raiser.

Kerry has claimed he never met Chung until that Sept. 9 fund-raiser but the "Dear Johnny" note is dated July 31 and says: "It was a great pleasure to have met you last week."

Kerry yesterday called it "old news" and claimed the "Dear Johnny" note was routine in fund-raising, adding, "I have no recollection of it at all."

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/17080.htm

This is weak. Kerry is known for his resistance to special interests.

This is the story Al is referring to: (Its on www.kausfiles.com
How is John Kerry's office like a subway? A: You have to put in coins to open gates! Newsweek's Isikoff catches the Democratic frontrunner in a damage control lie about not meeting notorious campaign contributior Johnny Chung (remember him?) weeks before Chung funneled him thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions. Kerry's office even acted to open doors for Chung at the SEC--something Kerry later told the Boston Herald was "totally coincidental." ...

According to Isikoff, who got hold of a handwritten note Kerry wrote Chung mentioning the prefundraiser meeting,

A Kerry spokesman acknowledged that the senator may have met with Chung prior to the fund-raiser, but not in his Senate office.

Well all right then! But of course Kerry had denied meeting with Chung at all prior to the fundraiser. In January, 1998, the Boston Herald reported:

"The first time I met him was there ," Kerry said.

Bonus tidbit: Kerry had apparently called the Herald, rather than vice-versa, to impart this bit of disinformation ... If Howard Dean can't mount an anti-Washington attack based on this sort of cash-for-access game, he needs another new campaign manager.

It's easy for him to criticize others while his files remain closed.

Just remember, the Governor had his lobbyists. These strident attacks could bite him in the ass. And I think this muckraking looks desperate and classless. I think it actually turns the public off of the accuser. I think these attacks define the attacker more than they do John Kerry.

Is a right wing source.

Kerry has been vetted on all contributions to his campaign. Turned back the Chung money.

IMHO, saying something like "well, I meet a lot of supporters during fundraising, and it's in my custom to write thank-you notes to people introduced to me, but there is just no way for me to remember all of them (there are {insert large number here}), so I can't be sure of the details of this encounter" would have been much less suspicious-looking, IMHO, as it packages in a reasonable excuse for forgetting things.

The fact that Chung's money was returned speaks louder as to the character of John Kerry than the innuendo surrounding this story.

You know, the BFEE loyalist Koch brothers who Dean arranged to sell Vermont Yankee to after spending years advocating to deregulate electricity a move also approved by the CATO Institute which is funded by the BFEE Koch brothers.

Didn't Entergy executives donate big bucks to Dean's campaign and personal pac?

He has Sorrell doing that now. Kerry is fairly virtuous by any measure.

story. That money was given back and Kerry did nothing illegal.

Now...is your outrage ONLY for the "appearance" that Kerry may have done something wrong or is it legitimate and against ANY dirty deal that Dean may have participated in with the EVIL Koch brothers?

This entire forum is becoming unbearable for supporters of Dean lately. I'm tiring of the relentless attacks. We will not change anyone's mind on here, as much as the other candidate's supporters will not change ours. I'm going to let them fight amongst themselves and use my time productively in the Forum at Dean for America. I feel like a one woman football team, playing a full squad of players here. It's getting old.

I'd love to see a Kerry supporter defend Kerry without using Dean's name.

Once again,my feeling that neither are worth voting for is reinforced.

I want to know why you think it's okay to drag John Kerry's name through the muck over an old story that even the republicans could not prosecute. Will we do their job here and brand John Kerry for a meeting with a lobbyist that he can't recall?

I would be more worried if he had taken any special notice of Chung outside of some scribbled note acknowledging the meeting. I wonder how many of these handwritten notes he has written and discarded over the years. Anyone can show up at a congressional office. If you look important or have a god rap you can get a meeting. Most of the shuffling of the Congressmen is done by aides who push him through a busy, full day through many forums. There are literally thousands of lobbyists that visit the offices of Congress. Some get notice other's get short shrift. Chung may have talked a good game to get a meeting. He may have offered to contribute. Fine.

But the Senator returned the money when Chung was revealed as having connections to the Chinese govt.

Just think of what his accusers are implying. That John Kerry was in league with the Chinese government to supposedly aid in the subversion of our political system. Ridiculous! John Kerry was no more in league with Chung than the other members of Congress who got donations. This is an attempt at guilt by association. Heard of that?
That's when folks can't pin something on you so they wrap their charges in innuendo and half-truths to smear someone.

Good luck with this line of attack. The effort by the media and others on the outside to smear John with this is slippery politics, and will likely turn off more voters than it interests.

I'm just sick of some people saying,"yeah well Dean is no better".I already know that.

As we saw over and over and over. All the while Cheney was making deals with Enron to bankrupt California.

from special interests.....

numbers?

Environmental group lobbyists and prounion and women's groups putting money into Kerry's personal pac which HE distributes to other causes like congressional campaigns is now a dirty deal to you? But, it's OK for Dean to accept money from UTILITY execs he had dealings with for his personal pac and his campaign?

I don't recall that the repugs were able to make more of the buddist thing than a lot of noise. Can you show me where he was reprimanded for ths buddist thing?

For that matter, can you show me where John Kerry has been reprimanded for anything?

I was hoping for a Connie blow job. That would be a real story.
sarcasm of course.

He doesn't recall meeting a two-bit lobbyist crook. He had been ushered by his aides into some meeting and I'm not surprised he didn't remember meeting Chung. I would be surprised if he understood Chung's halting english and he apparently forgot meeting the man.

The money was returned so I fail to see how there could have been any quid pro.

But some will try to make new news out of old. Most voters remember that Chung spread his money between several congressmen. I fail to see the scandal in a contribution that was returned. Sorry you can't make more of this old story. Good luck though.

and SEALED the records?

He handled the money as he should. He gave it back.

Where is your EQUAL outrage for Dean's money from utility execs whose record of dealings with Dean are SEALED?

and lied about not being bought by the special interests when they've sponsored most of his senate career?

Use that same formula you use to paint Kerry as a crook and apply it to Dean's data, slinkerwink.

An HONEST Dean supporter would do that. An HONEST candidate would want that comparison. Is Dean an HONEST candidate?

What do you think those Pioneers and Rangers are? There are groupings of individuals who play by the rules, donate the maximum as a group, and believe me, those groups DO get play. I'm tired of people saying 'hey, those $1000 contributions are all just individuals making a personal statement'... we know better. Maybe that line works out in the public arena, but you dont need to bring that trash in here.

Kerry can say 'donations do not influence policy decisions' till the cows come home - but that's not a very good defense, and if Bush Brings That On against him he's going to look bad. It's like Traficant saying mob money didnt influence him, or Cheney saying his Haliburton payments dont influence him... money is influence - and you know better.

The Chung case was never about a massive amount of money - for Kerry, it was $8k, but dont think for a second that the fact that it was something Kerry and Clinton both did wont make it a battlecry for the freaks. And generally 'I do not recall' is about as truly terrible an answer to these sorts of charges as you can muster.

Candidates help their supporters


Howard Dean's top career patrons are Time Warner, $65,225; Microsoft Corp., $25,100, and IBM Corp., $23,250.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8676~1880270,00.html

Dean raises money from energy sources
February 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.com/Legislature/Story/43125.html

Claims that Dean has been given funds by spcial interests also abound:

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.”

Sinclair said the new offer from Entergy Nuclear of Jackson, Miss., last week wasn’t substantially better than the original bid, and doesn’t really address the serious concerns raised by the state earlier this winter about local control and other economic issues.

http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/43924

But there are even more suspect connections, related to a group of Republicans called "Republicans for Dean"

Some Republicans back Dean
By TRACY SCHMALER Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER - Democratic Gov. Howard Dean got a boost from the other side Thursday when a group of prominent Republicans turned out to support his re-election bid.

[] by South Burlington attorney William Gilbertcore group of 11 Republicans said they believed Dean has proven his ability to lead the state in a fiscally responsible direction and for that reason, and his nine years of experience, he is their choice over GOP candidate Ruth Dwyer...

Gilbert, a former member of the late Gov. Richard Snelling's administration, said he took the initiative to form the group, which boasts a membership of more than 30 moderate Republicans from around the state who back Dean.

He said the committee would support Dean's candidacy by reaching out to other moderates in the party well as helping Dean with fund-raising.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/election2000/repbackdean.html




But this william Gilbert it the same William Gilbert who was the head of Deans secret energy task force, and also an executive for Vermont Utilities Companies:

Dean, Cheney And Energy Secrecy

Dean's Vermont re-election campaign received only small contributions from energy executives, but a political action committee created as he prepared to run for president collected $19,000, or nearly a fifth of its first $110,000, from donors tied to Vermont's electric utilities.

One co-chairman of Dean's task force, William Gilbert, was a Republican lawyer who had done work for state utilities. At the time, Gilbert also served on the board of Vermont Gas Systems, a subsidiary of Hydro Quebec.

Many state legislators, including Dean's fellow Democrats, were angered that the task force met secretly.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/26/politics/main590311.shtml


Physician, health thyself.

I doubt John even knew what Chung wanted. He likely shook his hand and moved on. You, slinkerwink, could contribute to John Kerry. If it was revealed that you were involved in anything improper or illegal than your money would be returned to you, with no reflection on John Kerry.


BTW, you've never seen Chung have you? Geez, spreading innuendo second-hand. Hearsay to you? No independent recollection of anything related to this? Believe anything anyone says against John Kerry?
Hmm?

No recollection is a pretty evasive answer used by many politicians. I hope we don't elect that kind.