'SNEAKY' CONN. SENATOR GOT 22G 'COPTER'BUTION
Sat Apr 9, 5:22 AM ET
By DEBORAH ORIN
WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd — who pulled a sneak attack to try to yank away from New York a $6.1 billion contract to build the new presidential helicopter — got nearly $22,000 in campaign cash from the Connecticut chopper firm that had wanted the deal.
Dodd infuriated Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) a few days ago by sneaking through, on voice vote, an amendment to try to kill the contract for an international partnership led by Lockheed Martin which beat out Connecticut-based Sikorsky.
His 2004 re-election campaign records show Dodd got $21,750 in campaign donations from employees of Sikorsky's parent company, United Technologies Corp., as well as $5,000 from the Teamsters Union, which represents the plant's workers.
The UTC donations included $2,000 from CEO George David, and $1,000 each from vice presidents Kent Brittan and William Bucknall.
A Dodd aide said his objection to the Pentagon decision to award the contract to Lockheed Martin is "on the merits" and has nothing to do with campaign contributions any more than New York officials would be influenced by receiving Lockheed Martin donations.
The deal means 750 jobs for upstate New York.
In an odd twist, officials of UTC have been calling other lawmakers to stress that they weren't behind Dodd's ploy and aren't trying to stop the awarding of the contact to Lockheed.