Posted on 07/21/2009 9:10:06 AM PDT by Graybeard58
The latest congressional campaign reports are in and Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd's re-election campaign manager, Jay Howser, says his boy's numbers represent "a substantial investment by Connecticut residents." It's just the latest claim from the Dodd camp that withers under the light of truth.
In the second quarter, Sen. Dodd reported raking in $1.2 million, about $100,000 less than his Republican challengers. Of the total, almost 40 percent came from political-action committees controlled by vested interests with business before his Banking Committee; health insurance and pharmaceutical companies looking to influence the shape of KennedyDoddCare; and his Democratic congressional colleagues.
Sen. Dodd claimed he took in $730,000 from individuals, including 1,700 contributors who gave $200 or less, but only 491 live in Connecticut, his staffers admitted. That's certainly an improvement over the four in-state contributions he got in the first quarter, but he did much better among people who can't vote for him. Of the 1,200-plus out-of-staters, nearly 800 live from California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania alone. State Sen. Sam Caligiuri, R-Waterbury, raised a fraction of what Sen. Dodd did, but 666 of his 670 contributors were bone fide Connecticut residents.
None of this is even remotely unusual. According to official campaign-finance data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics (opensecrets.org), Sen. Dodd is trying to buy his way to re-election with $3.7 million from security and investment firms, $1.2 million from the insurance industry, $1.1 million from real-estate companies and $750,000 from commercial banks, plus $1.6 million from his pals in the litigation industry. PACs representing the finance, insurance and real-estate industries, labor unions and the health field have been especially generous. And the list of Sen. Dodd's top contributors reads like a who's who of the government-bailout mob: Citigroup, AIG, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, General Electric. In all, 75 percent of his money has come from out-of-state contributors, and when individuals' donations are grouped by ZIP codes, eight of Sen. Dodd's top 10 codes are outside of Connecticut.
"Chris Dodd is a senator who fights for consumers each and every day and campaign donations don't influence anything he does as a senator," claimed Mr. Howser, parroting the declaration his boss has made many times. Then as now, no one believes it.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
If the pitchfork brigade were to stick Dodd in the butt, they’d find a banker in his back pocket.
Dodd reported raking in $1.2 million, about $100,000 less than his Republican challengers. Of the total, almost 40 percent came from political-action committees controlled by vested interests with business before his Banking Committee; health insurance and pharmaceutical companies looking to influence the shape of KennedyDoddCare; and his Democratic congressional colleagues.
[Sen. Dodd is trying to buy his way to re-election with $3.7 million from security and investment firms, $1.2 million from the insurance industry, $1.1 million from real-estate companies and $750,000 from commercial banks, plus $1.6 million from his pals in the litigation industry.]
That would make a great commercial.
What happens to this money if he decides he can’t win and either retires or losses with money still in the account? If they get to keep it isn’t that a payoff?
I keep hearing that Dodd’s poll numbers are not good.
We can only hope.
I just hope the former donors who are not giving him money will recognize that he is a bigger embarrassment to the state of Connecticut than his father Thomas Dodd was and not sit out the election as well. They need to show up and do as their parents and grandparents did with Tom Dodd. I believe the slogan back then was: “Vote the crook out.”
bttt
It is a ping list for editorials from this conservative Connecticut newspaper, they aren't always about Dodd, though they do print a lot about him. I will add you if you still want on.
Dude...err...Dodd is a heritage Senator, his daddy was a Sinator for a long time, he sort of inhereted the seat like Lincoln Chaffee used to in RI.
His poppa wrote the Gun Control Act of 1968 based on Nazi era laws, I’d dearly love to see the good people of Connecticut depose this corrupt dirt bag.
As a resident of the misguided state of CT, I know all too well about the bloodline. I’ve been voting against him for decades.
If he were a Republican, he could retain it for a future run for political office or donate it to the local Republican party or the RNC.
Since he's a Democrat, he can do anything he wants with it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.