Posted on 03/28/2006 7:50:08 AM PST by americaprd
Several members of President Bill Clinton’s national security team are hosting a Washington fund-raiser tonight for retired Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak Jr., the Democrat running against U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon in November.
Officials at Sestak’s campaign headquarters in Media will not comment on the event, though an invitation sent out to potential donors and obtained by the Daily Times lists Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger as a host.
"As a general rule, campaigns don’t comment on fund-raisers or people who hold them," said Sestak’s campaign chairman, Myles Duffy.
Berger, who served as Clinton’s second-term national security adviser, pleaded guilty last year to removing classified material from the National Archives. He originally claimed it was an "honest mistake," but later admitted that he took the terrorism documents by hiding them in his jacket, then cut some of them up with scissors.
"I don’t know why this fund-raiser is so secretive -- other than the fact that it is a fund-raiser hosted by a convicted felon, a man convicted of destroying information dealing with pre-9/11 intelligence," said Russ Caso, Weldon’s chief of staff.
Berger’s crime was a misdemeanor that carried a $50,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and two years of probation. He also was stripped of his security clearance for three years.
"What do they have to hide about this?" Caso asked. "I know what they have to hide: it’s an embarrassment."
Sestak’s campaign issued a press release earlier this month, stating that the Democrat had raised more than $150,000 since announcing his candidacy Feb. 2.
About $50,000 of that was raised with the help of Sen. John Kerry, Sestak said at the time.
Sestak’s communication director, Bryan Bennett, said all campaign contributions would be filed quarterly with the Federal Election Commission, as required by law, but he declined to discuss individual fund-raisers.
Tonight’s event begins at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Connecticut Ave. law office of Harold Ickes and Janice Enright, according to the invitation. Ickes, a labor attorney and former top aide to President Clinton, was a strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. Enright, a lobbyist who works with Ickes, is the treasurer of Sen. Clinton’s 2006 re-election committee.
The invitation asks for individual contributions ranging from $250 to $2,100. Sestak is not distancing himself from Berger or the other Clinton administration officials hosting the fund-raiser, including Anthony Lake, Richard Clarke, John Dalton and Rand Beers.
"This event is hosted by a group of people I used to work with, people that I was and am friends with, and I am proud to count them among my friends," Sestak said through Bennett.
Realizing that Weldon could be facing a tougher-than-normal race, his campaign is attempting to portray Sestak as a carpetbagger who is not in tune with the district. The 8th District Democratic primary in Bucks County is headed in a similar direction.
"Sandy Berger - Clinton guy. Harold Ickes - Clinton guy. Joe Sestak - Clinton guy. This is the national liberal Democrats with an agenda coming into the 7th District," said Michael Puppio Jr., a Delaware County councilman who is running Weldon’s local re-election campaign.
Sestak, 54, a former deputy chief of Naval operations who served as director for defense policy on Clinton’s National Security Council, has deep roots in Springfield, but has been living outside the district for more than three decades while serving in the Navy. He now lives in Nether Providence but also plans to keep his home in Alexandria, Va.
"He’s a local boy," Bennett said of Sestak, a Cardinal O’Hara High School graduate. "It’s not some international conspiracy to unseat Curt Weldon."
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Vietnam War veteran, will visit the district Saturday to host a Weldon fund-raiser, Caso said.
"Congressman Weldon believes in the full-disclosure process, complete transparency," Caso said of Weldon’s fund-raising activities.
Is Weldon in any trouble?
I thought you might be interested in this.
Yes. His district has gone for Democrat Presidential candidates the past several elections. Local voters are also big supporters of Governor Rendell, who is up for reelection this year.
He needs all the help he can get.
I think the FR should help Weldon as much as possible.
"Sestak, 54, a former deputy chief of Naval operations who served as director for defense policy on Clinton’s National Security Council, has deep roots in Springfield, but has been living outside the district for more than three decades while serving in the Navy. He now lives in Nether Providence but also plans to keep his home in Alexandria, Va."
Another Admiral Crowe turncoat..The military suffered through low pay, recruiting shortfalls, and readiness problems during Clinton's and this guys tenure on the CNO staff. How any career military man can throw in with the Dems is beyond me!
If this is not the perfect testimony to how filthy and crooked the political class in Washington is, then nothing will be. Where is the patriotic support for Weldon from members of Congress who CARE ABOUT AMERICA?? Oops, I don't see any...
ping
no - hes very well respected in the district and even though his district has gone for democratic presidents the past few terms, weldon easily won his reelection. hes in no danger.
2000 - Weldon 65 % - 35 %
2002 - Weldon 66 % - 34 %
2004 - Weldon 59 % - 40 %
ping
I strongly disagree. All of those races were against no name Democrats without any funding. He is going to have a very difficult race against someone with money to spend.
They don't? Well isn't that just fudgin' stupid!
Folks
When you stop and think about it, isn't this sort of a gift from God?
All he needs to do is make a commercial telling about the Admiral's supporters, especially Sandy Burglar, and what he got in trouble for. And then ask him in public forum if he supported what the burglar did.
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