Posted on 07/27/2002 8:08:22 AM PDT by vannrox
By Andrew Miga / Boston Herald
Thursday, July 18, 2002
WASHINGTON - Underscoring the pitfalls of the huge fund-raising machine he is building for a possible presidential run, Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday pledged to give up a $1,000 contribution from disgraced former WorldCom CEO Bernard J. Ebbers.
Ebbers, embroiled in the nation's largest corporate accounting scandal, wrote the check to Kerry April 25, shortly after attending a D.C. fund-raiser for the junior senator, a Commerce Committee member.
Four days later, Ebbers resigned amid a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into WorldCom's finances, including $400 million in personal loans Ebbers got to pay off his stock losses.
WorldCom last month admitted cooking its books to hide $3.8 billion in losses - crippling millions of investors and sparking 17,000 layoffs.
``As soon as we discovered this contribution we decided it should be used to help the thousands of workers who have been victimized by unconscionable corporate abuse,'' said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander.
Responding to a Herald inquiry, Kerry said he will donate the $1,000 to displaced WorldCom workers. U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden), said he will make a similar donation with a $1,000 check Ebbers gave him Sept. 21, 2001.
Kerry, who has raised $1.4 million during the past three months and has a $3.4 million campaign account balance, has courted some of America's highest-flying execs - particularly in New York, Florida and California's Silicon Valley.
As the wave of corporate scandal intensifies and the roster of rogue CEOs seems to grow by the day, Kerry finds himself on the defensive, demanding reforms while scrambling to justify his money ties, including:
Some $11,810 records show he accepted from WorldCom execs since 1989.
A $1,000 check from a top executive at Enron, the bankrupted energy giant. Kerry gave the money to a fund for laid-off Enron workers in January.
cw-4 $5,800 from indicted ImClone Systems boss Samuel Waksal and his daughter for Kerry's 1996 race.
cw-3 Time magazine recently ran a photo of a grinning Kerry at a party flanked by Waksal and domesticity queen Martha Stewart, who also is ensnared in the ImClone case. Stewart gave $500 to Kerry's 1996 campaign.
$20,000 collected from execs at Global Crossing, the Bermuda-based telecom giant that went bust. Kerry's total take from Global Crossing since 1990 was fourth highest among senators.
Kerry also has relied heavily on wealthy donors and firms to raise money for his Citizen Soldier political action committee. He collected $250,000 for the latest quarter, ending June 30. Kerry uses the PAC to help elect other Democrats - a back-door means of boosting his presidential bid.
Among the $10,000 donors were insurance giant American International Group; the New York class-action law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershard and Lerach; financial software firm Intuit; and Boston Capital CEO John P. Manning.
There are times that I wish the GOP would send their spokespeople to spin-school so that they can come up with doozies like the above.
A. He got caught taking money from the people they are whipping up on in Washington.
B. He had to give up a $1,000 of money he could use to get re-elected so he can continue to spend our money like a drunken sailor.
He is however, grateful that the libs in the media won't run with this story and show how Congress is part of the problem of waste, fraud, and corruption in America.
Only modestly troubling for Kerry, as long as the Globe, the WashPost, the NYTimes and the Three Blind Mice continue to omit mention of such from their respective stories...
...but did he actually do it?!
``As soon as we discovered this contribution we decided it should be used to help the thousands of workers who have been victimized by unconscionable corporate abuse,'' said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander...
...which I guess would average out to around 50 cents each, depending on how many thousands of victimized workers there are...might big of him!!
And will it surprise anyone when they conclude that the very best way to help those thousands of workers will be use that money to help a liberal Dimocrat get elected?
...Sen. KERRY killing a Human Rights Bill in Senate Committee to put Economic Sanctions on Communist Vietnam to stop it from killing off it's Digar Village People population (Montagnyards) in its Central Highlands.
...A Sen. KERRY move that Sen. McCAIN supports...!!!
...KERRY/McCAIN = The Enemy Within...
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