John Forbes Kerry The Hypocrite, Vol. I, Issue 3

Friday, February 06, 2004

JOHN FORBES KERRY THE HYPOCRITE, VOL. I, ISSUE 3
Special Interests’ Best Friend
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Charles Lewis, Head Of The Center For Public Integrity: “The Idea That [Sen. John] Kerry [D-MA] Has Not Helped Or Benefited From A Specific Special Interest, Which He Has Said, Is Utterly Absurd.” (John Solomon, “Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash,” The Associated Press, 2/4/04)

QUESTIONS RAISED OVER CASH AND KERRY NOMINATIONS!

In 1984, When Kerry First Ran For U.S. Senate He Promised To Be “Persistent Watchdog Over Presidential Appointments.” “When he first ran for the Senate, Kerry promised voters he would carefully choose nominees on merit. ‘I will act as a persistent watchdog over presidential appointmentsto ensure that only people of integrity, ability and commitment hold positions of power in our national government,’ Kerry wrote in a June 1984 fund-raising appeal.” (John Solomon, “Three Times, Kerry Nominations And Donations Coincided,” The Associated Press, 2/5/04)

However, On At Least Three Occasions Kerry Has Recommended Individuals For Positions At Federal Home Loan Banks Immediately Before Or After Receiving Political Contributions From Nominees. “At least three times in his Senate career, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry has recommended individuals for positions at federal home loan banks just before or after receiving political contributions from the nominees, records show… All three of the people Kerry recommended got the positions they soughton various boards of Federal Home Loan Banks in Boston and New York that provide money for home mortgages.” (John Solomon, “Three Times, Kerry Nominations And Donations Coincided,” The Associated Press, 2/5/04)

Ø “In One Case, Kerry Wrote To The Federal Housing Finance Board To Urge The Reappointment Of A Candidate Just One Day Before A Kerry Campaign Committee Received $1,000 From The Nominee, The Records Show.” (John Solomon, “Three Times, Kerry Nominations And Donations Coincided,” The Associated Press, 2/5/04)

CASH AND KERRY AND THE “BIG DIG”

In 1999, Clinton Transportation Department Uncovered An Insurance Loophole That Had Netted $129.8 Million From Boston’s Infamous “Big Dig” Construction Project. “[I]n 1999, the Transportation Department uncovered a financing scheme in which the project had overpaid $129.8 million to AIG for worker compensation and liability insurance that wasn’t needed, then had allowed the insurer to keep the money in a trust and invest it in the market. The government alleged AIG kept about half of the profits it made from the investments, providing the other half to the project.” (John Solomon, “Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash,” The Associated Press, 2/4/04)

In 2000, Kerry Blocked Provision That Would Have Stripped $150 Million From “Big Dig” And Ended Insurance Funding Loophole. “A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation’s most expensive construction project. John Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation. … Kerry’s office confirmed Wednesday that as member of the Senate Commerce Committee he persuaded committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., to drop a provision that would have stripped $150 million from the project and ended the insurance funding loophole.” (John Solomon, “Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash,” The Associated Press, 2/4/04)

Since Then, Insurance Company Has Donated $30,000 In Corporate Soft Money To Kerry’s 527 Committee, Paid For Kerry Trip To VT, And Company Executives Donated An Additional $18,000 To His Senate And Presidential Campaigns. “Over the next two years, the insurer, American International Group, paid Kerry’s way on a trip to Vermont and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group Kerry used to set up his presidential campaign. Company executives donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns.” (John Solomon, “Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash,” The Associated Press, 2/4/04)

CASH AND KERRY AND JOHNNY CHUNG

In 1996, Kerry Arranged SEC Meeting For Johnny Chung, In Return Chung Held Kerry Fundraiser. “In July 1996 the Massachusetts senator was locked in a tough re-election fight, so he was more than happy to help when he heard that a generous potential contributor wanted to visit his Capitol Hill office. The donor was Johnny Chung, a glad-handing Taiwanese-American entrepreneur. Chung brought along some friends, including a Hong Kong businesswoman named Liu Chaoying. Told that Liu was interested in getting one of her companies listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange, Kerry’s aides immediately faxed over a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The next day, Liu and Chung were ushered into a private briefing with a senior SEC official. Within weeks, Chung returned the favor: On Sept. 9 he threw Kerry a fund-raiser at a Beverly Hills hotel, raking in $10,000 for the senator’s re-election campaign.” (Michael Isikoff, “Cash And Kerry,” Newsweek, 2/9/04)

Kerry’s Encounter With Chung “A Political Embarrassment.” “Kerry’s encounter with Chung and Liu would turn into a political embarrassment. Federal investigators later discovered that Liu was in fact a lieutenant colonel in China’s People’s Liberation Army and vice president of a Chinese-government-owned aerospace firm. And Chung, who visited the Clinton White House 49 times, went on to become a central figure in the foreign-money scandals of 1996. Chung eventually pleaded guilty to funneling $28,000 in illegal contributions to the campaigns of Bill Clinton and Kerry.” (Michael Isikoff, “Cash And Kerry,” Newsweek, 2/9/04)

Newsweek: Kerry Apparently Misled The Boston Herald About Relationship With Chung In January 1998. “Still, the appearance that the senator had played a cynical cash-for-favors game forced him to play damage control. In January 1998 he told the Boston Herald that the timing of the SEC meeting and the subsequent fund-raiser was ‘totally coincidental’ and ‘entirely staff driven.’ He said the Beverly Hills event had been set up by a professional fund-raiser, and that he had never even met Chung until the night of the event. But congressional documents obtained by Newsweek seem to tell a different story. ‘Dear Johnny, It was a great pleasure to have met you last week,’ Kerry told Chung in a handwritten note dated July 31, 1996. ‘Barbara [a Kerry fund-raiser] told me of your willingness to help me with my campaign... It means a lot to have someone like you on my team as I face the toughest race of my career.’ That same day the Kerry fund-raiser faxed a memo to Chung that read, in part: ‘The following are two ways in which you can be helpful to John.’ No. 1 was ‘Host an event in L.A. on Saturday, Sept. 9^th.’ (A Kerry spokesman acknowledged that the senator may have met with Chung prior to the fund-raiser, but not in his Senate office.).” (Michael Isikoff, “Cash And Kerry,” Newsweek, 2/9/04)

CASH AND KERRY RAISED MORE MONEY FROM
LOBBYISTS THAN ANY OTHER SENATOR IN PAST 15 YEARS!

Kerry Has Raised More Money From Paid Lobbyists Than Any Other Senator Over Past 15 Years. “Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has made a fight against corporate special interests a centerpiece of his front-running campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years, federal records show. Kerry, a 19-year veteran of the Senate who fought and won four expensive political campaigns, has received nearly $640,000 from lobbyists, many representing telecommunications and financial companies with business before his committee …” (Jim VandeHei, “Kerry Leads In Lobby Money,” The Washington Post, 1/31/04)

MEANWHILE, CASH AND KERRY SAYS HE DOESN’T ACCEPT
SPECIAL INTEREST CASH, BUT THAT’S JUST NOT TRUE

Kerry Continues To Mislead About PAC Money In His Response To Special Interest Allegations. “John Kerry has not taken a dime of PAC money during his four Senate elections or during his presidential race.” (“Kerry Reaction To AP Story On Donors He Nominated To Federal Boards,” The Associated Press, 2/5/04)

Eight Months After Kerry Voted To Ban National Party Soft Money, He Formed Soft Money Committee “Citizen Soldier Fund,” Which Accepted Large Corporate Soft Money Contributions . (S. 27, CQ Vote #64: Passed 59-41: R 12-38; D 47-3, 4/2/01, Kerry Voted Yea; Year End 2001 Report For Citizen Soldier Fund - Non-Federal Account, IRS Website, www.irs.gov, Accessed 1/29/04)

Ø Kerry’s Soft Money Committee Collected “More Than $470,000 Directly From Companies And Unions In 2002.” (John Solomon, “Kerry, Edwards Boasts About Special Interest Money Don’t Tell Whole Story,” The Associated Press, 2/2/04)

In 1996 Sen. John Kerry received $8,000 from Red China bag man Johnny Chung, then took another $10,000 in exchange for which Kerry arranged a high-level meeting between Communist Chinese intelligence operative Lt. Col. Liu Chao-ying, the aforesaid Chung and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about setting up fronts on the American stock exchanges capable of transferring U.S. technologies and hardware to Red China, according to broadcaster Lowell Ponte.

Insight

Inside Politics

By Greg Pierce

Kerry and Chung

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry met and personally corresponded with Johnny Chung, a central figure in the foreign-money scandals of 1996, before Chung threw Mr. Kerry a Beverly Hills fund-raiser, Newsweek reports in its latest issue.

Mr. Kerry has maintained that his first meeting with Chung was at the Sept. 9, 1996, event, reporter Michael Isikoff writes. Chung, who visited the Clinton White House 49 times, eventually pleaded guilty to funneling $28,000 in illegal contributions to the campaigns of Mr. Kerry and Bill Clinton.

In the summer of 1996, Mr. Kerry, who was locked in a tough re-election fight, was told that a generous potential contributor wanted to visit his Capitol Hill office. The donor was Chung, a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur, who brought along some friends, including Liu Chaoying, a Hong Kong businesswoman later determined by federal investigators to be a lieutenant colonel in China's People's Liberation Army and vice president of a Chinese-government-owned aerospace firm.

Told that Miss Liu was interested in getting one of her companies listed on the U.S. stock exchange, Mr. Kerry's aides immediately faxed a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The next day, Miss Liu and Chung were ushered into a private briefing with a senior SEC official.

Within weeks, Chung returned the favor: On Sept. 9 he threw Mr. Kerry a fund-raiser at a Beverly Hills hotel, raking in $10,000 for the senator's re-election campaign. According to bank records and Chung's congressional testimony, the campaign contributions came out of $300,000 in overseas wire transfers sent on orders from the chief of Chinese military intelligence — and routed through a Hong Kong bank account controlled by Miss Liu.

"Dear Johnny, It was a great pleasure to have met you last week," Mr. Kerry told Chung in a handwritten note dated July 31, 1996. "Barbara [a Kerry fund-raiser] told me of your willingness to help me with my campaign. ... It means a lot to have someone like you on my team as I face the toughest race of my career."

The new Kerry

You might think the Vietnam War was a big part of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's life "just because he mentions it in every speech, on his TV commercials, in his campaign material, and during his media interviews, and also surrounds himself with Vietnam vets and his war buddies," Roger Simon writes in U.S. News & World Report.

"But you would be wrong! That was the old Kerry. The new Kerry is a completely different guy. We know this because in a recent interview with him we innocently began a question by saying, 'The Vietnam War is a big part of your campaign and a big part of your life. ...'

"At which point, Kerry sharply interjected: 'No! The Vietnam War is not; my life experience is. Vietnam is one part of it. But I also offer up and talk about my experiences as a prosecutor, as a lieutenant governor. The theme is delivering to the American people, making government accountable, making it work for people.'

"And we will believe that just as soon as Kerry starts surrounding himself on stage with all his prosecutor and lieutenant governor-era buddies," Mr. Simon said.

• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.

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