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Hints of Truth-Stretching in Weld-D'Amato Feud
NY Times ^ | April 18, 2006 | SEWELL CHAN and SAM ROBERTS

Posted on 04/18/2006 12:24:22 PM PDT by neverdem

Last month, William F. Weld, a candidate for governor of New York, set state Republican politics astir by telling of an encounter with Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato that cast his fellow Republican in a bad light and offered an explanation for their simmering feud.

Mr. Weld said that in 1996, when he was governor of Massachusetts and running for the Senate, he received a $750,000 check from Mr. D'Amato that was delivered with an expletive-filled warning. Mr. D'Amato vigorously denied the encounter, calling it "a bunch of baloney" and asserting that he had never even spoken to Mr. Weld in person until this year.

But an examination of Federal Election Commission filings, other campaign finance records and news accounts suggests that both men, to some degree, were stretching the truth.

For one, there is no record to support Mr. Weld's claim that he received a $750,000 check from Mr. D'Amato, from his political action committee or from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Mr. D'Amato led during the 1995-96 election cycle. That committee and other Republican Party entities did directly contribute $802,907 to the Weld campaign and to the Massachusetts Republican Party in that cycle.

And Mr. D'Amato's claim that he had not even met Mr. Weld until this year appears to be contradicted by other accounts. Multiple news articles and interviews with two former Weld aides indicate that Mr. D'Amato and Mr. Weld were present at several large political events and fund-raisers in 1996, although there is no record that they conversed.

Mr. Weld's description of his 1996 encounter with Mr. D'Amato, which he gave at a Midtown breakfast...

--snip--

"I make no bones about it," said Mr. D'Amato, who left office in 1999. "If it's Weld versus Spitzer, I will certainly not say anything good about Weld."

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: alfonsemdamato; damato; republicanparty; weld; williamfweld
A New Crime Fighter, for $10 in Hay and Oats NYPD Cavalry - N.B. regular NY Times' webpage with multiple pics - Audio Slide Show: Training New York's Finest Horses
1 posted on 04/18/2006 12:24:23 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Made for each other I guess.


2 posted on 04/18/2006 12:27:09 PM PDT by bkepley
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To: cyborg; Clemenza; Cacique; NYCVirago; The Mayor; Darksheare; hellinahandcart; Chode; ...
Nun Who Founded Ex-Con Home Found Dead

Country boy [you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl]

FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.

3 posted on 04/18/2006 12:33:39 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

Ok. I'm from MA, so I have to ask any New Yorkers here: are any of you voting for Weld?


4 posted on 04/18/2006 1:06:54 PM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706
Ok. I'm from MA, so I have to ask any New Yorkers here: are any of you voting for Weld?

I can't vote in RINO primaries. I'm a registered Conservative.

5 posted on 04/18/2006 1:15:36 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

"I can't vote in RINO primaries. I'm a registered Conservative."

Thank you!

I'm from Mass and he's an a$$.


6 posted on 04/18/2006 1:45:24 PM PDT by CatQuilt (GLSEN is evil)
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To: CatQuilt

"I'm from Mass and he's an a$$."


I second that.


7 posted on 04/18/2006 2:10:11 PM PDT by Andy'smom
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To: neverdem
"I make no bones about it," said Mr. D'Amato, who left office in 1999. "If it's Weld versus Spitzer, I will certainly not say anything good about Weld."

and this will acomplish what? It will give us Spitzer as governor....

This is just absolute crap and childish at the expense of Republicans across the state. I am not saying I am a Weld fan by any strtch of the imagination, he is really to liberal for me.

It's all this stupid infighting with the supposed leadership of the RINO's.. They all suck in my opinion. Every single Republican in this state has contributed to the destruction of this state, they all need to be voted out. I am beginning to agree with some of the NYCity Republicans over at Urban elephants and elsewhere, let the dems take over the state, drive us into the ground so everyone will leave and the state will have to start all over. Can anyone find a Republican with a set of balls to run in a Primary against Bruno? If If I lived in his district I would, there is no one I can run against and it is so frustrating. This state is hopeless.

8 posted on 04/18/2006 7:29:32 PM PDT by The Mayor ( We are moving in on Albany! http://www.newyorkcoalition.org)
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