DEAN CAMPAIGN STAFFER ADMITS LYING, MISREPRESENTING HIMSELF AS IOWA VOTER Kerry Campaign Iowa Director John Norris Demands Firing of Two Staffers January 8, 2004 Dear Jeanni, I'm distressed to learn that staffers from the Dean campaign are misrepresenting themselves as Iowa caucus-goers to gain advantage against our campaign. You should know this is not how we campaign in Iowa, and I demand that you take action to remove these staffers from the Dean campaign immediately. Today, your National Campaign Manager, Joe Trippi was on CNN stating that people from outside Iowa were coming to the state to help Dean, and they never would lie in order impact the outcome of the caucus. If your hired staff are already misrepresenting themselves today in communities like Creston, how can any Iowa voter trust that your campaign will prevent volunteers from engaging in the same illegitimate activity on January 19th. The Iowa Democratic Party has fought for decades to preserve the honesty and purity of the grassroots caucus system. Today's revelations jeopardize that hard work, and no Iowa Democrat should stand for it. On Tuesday, a young man came into our Creston office and said he was a resident of Red Oak, Iowa. He claimed he was in town for business, working at a local farm. He asked numerous questions about what our staff did, the territory they covered, and what type of folks we were calling in Creston. Our staff was immediately suspicious. The next day, a different young man came into the office and identified himself as Mark Evans. He said that he was the new manager at the local HYVEE, and that he and his wife just moved from Georgia. He started Asking questions about our operation and began snooping around the office. Our staffers were confident they had seen him wearing a Dean sticker around town, so they asked him why he had come into the office. He said that he was an undecided Iowa caucus-goer, and was interested in politics. Today, this second man, "Mark Evans," returned to the Creston office and admitted that he and his friend had lied, and that they were employed by your campaign. He identified himself as Mitch Lawson, who moved here from Georgia to work for Dean. According to Mitch, "We came into your office to find out information and get your calling scripts from you." In order for Iowans to trust that the caucuses will be free of further Dirty tricks, these two men should be asked to leave your campaign immediately. The sanctity of the Iowa Caucus depends on it. If your folks are lying today, what's to stop them from stealing the caucus from Iowa voters for Howard Dean on January 19th. Sincerely, John Norris
Every other campaign, democrate and republican, does the same thing here (Iowa) every single year. They just decided to make a big deal out of this time. Bush was caught with a bus load of people from Missouri and no one really cares, it just shows that their organization is good. So, the fact they are bitching about Dean just means their organization sucks, because this has happened for a hundred years here in Iowa. Brandon
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic.../01/09/politics1546EST0686.DTL&type=printable AP Exclusive: While governor, Dean accepted speaking fees, gifts from special interests JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer Friday, January 9, 2004 ©2004 Associated Press URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/01/09/politics1546EST0686.DTL (01-09) 12:46 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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. The checks and pledges totaling at least $62,500 to Dean's Vermont Computer Project, an initiative the governor created to donate equipment to Vermont schools, came from captive insurance and reinsurance companies, nontraditional insurers which provide health care coverage to companies in tax-friendly ways. Dean's campaign said Friday that any suggestion that the payments or donations influenced his actions as governor was "laughable." "Anyone who knows Howard Dean knows he's a straight-shooter who calls them as he sees them and nothing, aside from his interest in the best public policy, ever influenced his decisions as governor," spokesman Jay Carson said. 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 charitable checks and pledges were delivered to Dean and his aides in the mid-1990s by a lobbyist for the insurers. In one letter on his official stationary, Dean wrote lobbyist John L. Primmer to tell him about the status of a state tax break for the industry and to simultaneously thank him for a personal gift. "Both of these bills have the potential to help further opportunities in this area and bring high quality economically beneficial jobs to Vermont," Dean wrote on April 27, 1993 to Primmer, whose clients included a coalition for reinsurers and the Vermont Captive Insurance Association. "Thanks for the gift and your support. Please be in touch with further questions or comments," the then-governor added. Dean's campaign said the governor does not recall what gift was referenced in the letter but said it could have been a token gift or one of several donations or checks Primmer collected to Dean's charity fund. Primmer did not return calls to his office seeking comment Thursday or Friday. 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. Dean's speaking fees were included in his 1998 and 1999 tax forms that the presidential hopeful voluntarily released, and he provided the names of those who paid him at the request of the AP. The largest sum of speaking fees -- $9,000 -- was paid to Dean for two speeches he made in spring 1998 and spring 1999 to Astra USA, now known as AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical giant that makes the popular ulcer drug Prilosec. Astra was based in neighboring Massachusetts and at the time of Dean's 1998 speech had just settled a sexual harassment case with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after admitting to a hostile work environment and agreeing to pay nearly $10 million to more than 70 victims. Dean was paid $4,000 for the 1998 speech, and received $5,000 more in 1999 to speak again to Astra, according to the information Dean provided to the AP. Dean canceled a third speech just before the 1998 election when reporters inquired about the propriety of speaking at a company involved in the harassment case. The new information shows Dean also received speaking fees in 1998 of $1,000 from the University of Texas Science Center, $1,000 from the American Academy of Pediatrics and $2,633 from the University of Arizona Foundation. In all, Dean earned $13,633 in speaking fees while governor and another $5,000 after stepping down. The totals are far smaller than the $1 million-plus that rival Wesley Clark earned in speaking and consulting fees after retiring from the military. 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press Writers Ross Sneyd in Montpelier, Vt., and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report. ©2004 Associated Press
not supporting Dean, but this is pathetic. they donated $60k to a fund to help schoolchildren? lol. comparing this to bush fundraising is like comparing jaywalking to serial murder. rove/perle better have something better up their sleeve than this... probably, it's still early in the campaign.
FLASH** 1/14/04 20:21:03 ET** Dean's campaign managers threatened to kick ABC-TV off the Dean Campaign plane if ABCNEWS ran the affidavit story on tonight's WORLD NEWS, insiders tell DRUDGE... Dean Manager Joe Trippi said: "Im gonna come after you." News editors made the Dean/affidavit story fifth in the news wheel.... Developing... http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/dean_domestic_abuse_040114-1.html
CARTER ON DEAN: I DIDN'T CALL HIM, HE CALLED ME Even though he hosted Dem hopeful Howard Dean in Plains, Georgia on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter annoyed Dean's senior advisers when he claimed that Dean was not invited! "He called me on the phone and said he'd like to worship with me," Carter explained. "I did not invite him, but I'm glad he came." Carter said he has also visited with retired Gen. Wesley Clark, and hopes he will again. The embarrassing Dean moment came after Dean was pressed in recent interviews on why he would leave Iowa at a crunch time. Dean said he could not turn down an invitation to appear with a former president he admires, the WASHINGTON POST reports on Monday. But when a visitor to the Marantha church thanked Carter for inviting Dean, Carter quickly interjected, "I did not invite him!" http://www.drudgereport.com/flashjc.htm