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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


10.18.2007

 

Show us the money

You'd think if politicians got up on a stage or held a press conference to announce their endorsement of a particular presidential politician that they'd back up that support with a donation to the campaign.

But then you'd be wrong, mostly wrong anyway.

Remember when Attorney General Bill Sorrell, state Treasurer Jeb Spaulding and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle appeared at Nectar's in Burlington last month to say Barack Obama was their guy?

A check of the latest Federal Election Commission reports shows that only Spaulding put his money where his mouth was, contributing $460 to the Illinois senator. Zippo from Sorrell and Clavelle.

Gets even worse when you check out what, if anything, those nine Democratic lawmakers did for Hillary Clinton after holding a July press conference to announce their endorsement of the New York senator.

Not a penny did Hillary get from Reps. Donna Sweeney, Johannah Donovan, Kathy Keenan, Bill Aswad, Steve Howard, Sonny Audette or Daryl Pillsbury, or from Sens. Sara Kittell and Hinda Miller. Not yet, anyway.

Some of the state's political luminaries did open their wallets for their presidential preferences, the FEC records show.

On the Republican side, Sara Gear, the GOP national committeewoman, gave $250 to Mitt Romney; former state auditor Randy Brock sent $2,300 to John McCain and former GOP Senate candidate Rich Tarrant and his wife both sent Rudy Giuliani $2,300.

On the Democratic side, Chuck Ross, the Dem national committeeman, gave Obama $1,000 and former Dem national committeeman Terje Anderson gave Obama $489. Other than that, the names of high-profile Vermont Dems were noticably absent from the FEC reports.

But, hey, they've got the endorsement gig covered.

-- Sam Hemingway

Comments:
Personally, I'm more interested in the extent to which those candidates are being financed by the folks resisting change in health care (insurance companies) or energy policy (oil & gas companies).
 
What about all of the Repubs in the legislature who endorsed McCain at the bequest of Jimmy Barnett?

Did you do any leg work to see if they gave money to McCain's campaign?

Or is this just about trashing Democrats?
 
These "endorsers" want us to give money to their candidates, but they don't give any themselves.

More hypocrisy by politicians.

What a shock.
 
I don't think any of them have asked us to give money ... only our votes.

More lies from internet bloviators.

What a shock.
 
"Not a penny did Hillary get from Reps. Donna Sweeney, Johannah Donovan, Kathy Keenan, Bill Aswad, Steve Howard, Sonny Audette or Daryl Pillsbury, or from Sens. Sara Kittell and Hinda Miller."

This is not a factual statement, because the FEC reports only show contributions in excess of $200. So, Daryl Pillsbury could have sent his woman a penny and Hinda Miller could have sent Hillary a Jog Bra.

But in the grand scheme of things, I don't think a Jog Bra is going to influence Hillary any more than $2,300 from Randy Brock is going to influence McCain.
 
McWho?
 
Exactly!
 
How do you find this on the Sec States web site ?? Especially the staewide and legislative candidates??
 
You can't do that for contributions to Vermont campaigns (where are those campaign finance activists now?). You can access contributions to federal campaigns via various websites.
 
$2,300 ????????????
 
World Citizens Party of Burlington
 
www.pimpmywebsite.com
 
How much has Douglas given to Bush??
 
James "Jimmy Cagney" Douglas

"He's like a union boss, see

He's a dirty rat and soon he's going to be pushing up daisies."

What is this? 1950?

Douglas is such a freakin' loser. One-on-one against Reg in a public forum. My money's on the labor leader.
 
Sure, Douglas is a loser -- a loser who wins every time.
 
"One-on-one against Reg in a public forum. My money's on the labor leader."

Sure - I'd put my money on the guy with lead pipe any day. But is that how we should decide the fate of our tax dollars?
 
Why do you think Reg is a plumber? Or a dockworker? He's not. I know you miss the Sorpranos, but I don't believe, in this day and age, that labor leaders can fill that void for you.
 
A union boss with a college degree is no different than a union leader without - both are thugs in suits.
 
So people who want better wages, benefits and working conditions for average working people are thugs? Man, you must be one of those people who drank the Kool-Aid and now believes Bush when he says the boogie man is coming to get us.
 
Who said anything about "average working people?"
 
Unions represent average working people who would not have the benefits they have today without unions. Historical fact.
 
Skyrocketing labor costs is one reason American-made cars are too expensive for the quality you get. So we buy Japanese and Korean made cars now. Present fact.
 
Detroit continued to produce cars that were not economical and that's why Americans chose Japanese over them. Once Americans saw their reliability they just continued to purchase them. Also fact.
 
Detroit lost the market to foreign cars that had smaller engines and got good gas mileage in the 70s and has continued to do so. It was a failure of corporate decision-makers who made poor market assessments.
 
The unions will keep on fighting and foreign countries will just pass us by - who will be happy then
(or now since it is already happening)
 
The unions will be happy as long as there is one more union dues to collect. Talk about corporate greed...the unions are not bad themselves...ethical too ...the Teamsters, UAW, Longshoreman, etc.
 
America should outlaw unions. Then we can sit back and watch as all these anti-union jackasses scramble to maintain what little wages and benefits they have left. I predict it would be about a year before they come crying to the now defunct unions for help. As the bumpersticker says: Unions: You'd notive them more if they weren't here."
 
Let's try it.
 
We had better try it soon before its too late.
 
I tried it. It didn't work.
 
Get the union out of schools or you will never have "local control".
 
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