[Vision2020] Kerry's Fundraising Follies
Shawn Clabough
shawnc@outtrack.com
Sat, 28 Feb 2004 15:13:31 -0800
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------_=_NextPart_001_01C3FE50.7BB52054
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I thought it was ironic that the headline was about Kerry, but the
article contained this: "Bush has taken exponentially more from these
companies than Kerry".
=20
Shawn
=20
________________________________
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Tim Lohrmann
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 10:48 AM
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Kerry's Fundraising Follies
=20
Visionaries,
Oh those silly limousine liberals!
The only thing that tops this(so far) is the news that Kerry's
heiress wife Theresa has been going around the country saying how much
she detests Wal-Mart while her personal trust fund owns $100 million in
Wal-Mart stock.
TL
=20
=20
courtesy of washingtonpost.com=20
=09
Kerry Donors Include 'Benedict Arnolds'
=09
By Jim VandeHei
=09
Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the front-runner for the Democratic
presidential nomination, frequently calls companies and chief executives
"Benedict Arnolds" if they move jobs and operations overseas to avoid
paying U.S. taxes.=20
=09
But Kerry has accepted money and fundraising assistance from top
executives at companies that fit the candidate's description of a
notorious traitor of the American Revolution.
=09
Executives and employees at such companies have contributed more
than $140,000 to Kerry's presidential campaign, a review of his donor
records shows. Additionally, two of Kerry's biggest fundraisers, who
together have raised more than $400,000 for the candidate, are top
executives at investment firms that helped set up companies in the
world's best-known offs! hore tax havens, federal records show. Kerry
has raised nearly $30 million overall for his White House run.=20
=09
Kerry has taken aim at "Benedict Arnold" companies as part of a
much broader political and policy debate over stemming the flow of
well-paying U.S. jobs overseas, a chief cause of unemployment,
especially in the hardest-hit manufacturing sector. Kerry's solution,
detailed in a speech yesterday in Toledo, is to enforce trade
agreements, track and slow the outsourcing of U.S. jobs, and stop
government contracts and tax incentives from going to companies that
move operations or jobs offshore.
=09
Kerry has come under attack from President Bush, as well as some
Democrats, for criticizing laws he voted for and lambasting special
interests after accepting more money from paid lobbyists than any other
senator over the past 15 years. Some Democrats worry that Kerry is
leaving himself open to similar attacks on the latest issue.
=09
Given the vast sums raised during the presidential campaign as
well as the growing number of companies with offshore operations, it
seems almost inevitable that candidates would receive contributions from
some of them.
=09
Bush has taken exponentially more from these companies than
Kerry, though the president has not made a major campaign issue out of
clamping down on them.
=09
On Monday, Kerry was asked why two of his biggest fundraisers
were involved with "Benedict Arnold" companies. "If they have done that,
it's not to my knowledge and I would oppose it," Kerry told a New York
television station. "I think it's wrong to do [it] solely to avoid
taxes."=20
=09
Then he sought to clarify his position: "What I've said is not
that people don't have the right to go overseas and form a company if
they want to avoid the tax. I don't believe the American taxpayer ought
to be giving them a benefit. That's what I object to. I don't object to
global commerce. I don't object to companies deciding they want to
compete somewhere else.''=20
=09
David Roux, who has raised more than $250,000 for Kerry since
2002, is co-founder of a California company that helped purchase Seagate
Technology Inc. four years ago and incorporated it in the Cayman
Islands, one of the world's best-known tax havens. Roux described
himself in an interview last fall as the "anchor tenant in John Kerry's
fundraising mall."=20
=09
While the State Department lists Seagate as among the companies
that reincorporated offshore to save on taxes, Roux said yesterday that
he works for a "global" company forced to make "thoughtful" business
decisions about where to locate its offices and jobs. Roux said he does
not consider Seagate or himself a "Benedict Arnold." That term, Roux
said, "is, like many things in politics, a label that [is] meant to
cover a lot of sins."
=09
Stephen J. Luczo, chief executive of Seagate, has contributed
$4,000 to Kerry, the maximum allowed under law, and $2,000 to the
candidate's legal defense ! fund. Luczo was on vacation and not
available for comment, according to his assistant.=20
=09
Thomas F. Steyer, who said he has raised around $200,000 for
Kerry, is a partner at a California investment firm called Hellman &
Friedman LLC that helped set up an insurance company in Bermuda, another
popular tax haven. The insurance company -- Arch Capital Group Ltd. --
stated in a 2000 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it was
sinking roots in Bermuda to reduce its U.S. tax bill.=20
=09
Steyer said that it "wasn't my decision" to set up the company
in Bermuda and that he now spends less than 10 percent of his time at
Hellman & Friedman. "I believe American citizens should pay their
American taxes," Steyer said. He said he "absolutely" does not consider
himself part of a "Benedict Arnold" enterprise.=20
=09
Steyer and Roux have hosted fundraisers for Kerry and are listed
by his campaign as among three dozen supporters who have "bundled"
$100,000 or more each, wh! ich means they get credit for packaging
individual donations to reach that total.=20
=09
When asked for the definition of a "Benedict Arnold" company or
CEO, Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's spokeswoman, said: "Companies that take
advantage of tax loopholes to set up bank accounts or move jobs abroad
simply to avoid taxes." She pointed to a list compiled by Citizen Works,
a tax-exempt nonprofit group that monitors corporate influence, as a
source on the companies that fit the candidate's definition.=20
=09
According to federal election records, Kerry has received
$119,285 from donors employed at what Citizen Works describes as the "25
Fortune 500 Corporations With the Most Offshore Tax-Haven Subsidiaries."
The list does not include nearly all of the companies that shave their
tax bill by moving jobs and operations overseas, so Kerry has actually
raised substantially more from firms qualifying as "Benedict Arnolds."
=09
Kerry has also received $20,100 in donations directly from
individu! als at companies with mailing addresses offshore to avoid
paying U.S. taxes, records show.=20
=09
"Senator Kerry has made it crystal clear that he's going to
close these loopholes, forever," said Chad Clanton, a Kerry spokesman.
"Nothing will stop him. Period."
=09
Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), whose campaign gets most of its
money from trial lawyers, has not described these companies in such
harsh terms and has received less from them, Federal Election Commission
records show. Edwards took in $500 from a Tyco International Ltd.
employee and $75,000 from the 25 Fortune 500 companies with the most
offshore-tax-haven subsidiaries.=20
=09
Staff writer Dan Balz and researcher Lucy Shackelford
contributed to this report.
=09
Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to=20
=09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=3DA6=
8
84-2004Feb25&sent=3Dno&referrer=3Demailarticle
=09
=09
Visit washingtonpost.com today for the latest in:
=09
News - http://www.washingtonpost.com/?referrer=3Demailarticle
=09
Politics -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/?referrer=3Demailarticle
=09
(c) 2004 The Washington Post Company
=20
------_=_NextPart_001_01C3FE50.7BB52054
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" =
xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" =
xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
xmlns:st1=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" =
xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Dus-ascii">
<meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" =
name=3D"country-region"/>
<o:SmartTagType =
namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name=3D"State"/>
<o:SmartTagType =
namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name=3D"place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vlink=3Dblue>
<div class=3DSection1>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 color=3Dnavy face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I thought it was ironic that the =
headline
was about Kerry, but the article contained this: =
“</span></font>Bush has
taken exponentially more from these companies than =
Kerry”.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>Shawn</span></font><font size=3D2 color=3Dnavy =
face=3DArial><span
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span=
></font></p>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 color=3Dnavy face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=3DMsoNormal align=3Dcenter style=3D'text-align:center'><font =
size=3D3
face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=3D2 width=3D"100%" align=3Dcenter tabindex=3D-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><b><font size=3D2 face=3DTahoma><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font =
size=3D2
face=3DTahoma><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com] =
<b><span
style=3D'font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Tim Lohrmann<br>
<b><span style=3D'font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Saturday, February =
28, 2004
10:48 AM<br>
<b><span style=3D'font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> =
vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style=3D'font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] =
Kerry's
Fundraising Follies</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>Visionaries,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'> Oh those silly limousine =
liberals!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'> The only thing that tops =
this(so
far) is the news that Kerry's heiress wife Theresa has been going around =
the
country saying how much she detests Wal-Mart while her personal trust =
fund owns
$100 million in Wal-Mart stock.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'> =
TL<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote style=3D'border:none;border-left:solid #1010FF =
1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;
margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>courtesy of washingtonpost.com <br>
<br>
Kerry Donors Include 'Benedict Arnolds'<br>
<br>
By Jim VandeHei<br>
<br>
Sen. John F. Kerry (<st1:State w:st=3D"on">Mass.</st1:State>), the =
front-runner
for the Democratic presidential nomination, frequently calls companies =
and
chief executives "Benedict Arnolds" if they move jobs and =
operations
overseas to avoid paying <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on"><st1:place =
w:st=3D"on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
taxes. <br>
<br>
But Kerry has accepted money and fundraising assistance from top =
executives at
companies that fit the candidate's description of a notorious traitor of =
the
American Revolution.<br>
<br>
Executives and employees at such companies have contributed more than =
$140,000
to Kerry's presidential campaign, a review of his donor records shows.
Additionally, two of Kerry's biggest fundraisers, who together have =
raised more
than $400,000 for the candidate, are top executives at investment firms =
that
helped set up companies in the world's best-known offs! hore tax havens,
federal records show. Kerry has raised nearly $30 million overall for =
his White
House run. <br>
<br>
Kerry has taken aim at "Benedict Arnold" companies as part of =
a much
broader political and policy debate over stemming the flow of =
well-paying <st1:country-region
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> =
jobs
overseas, a chief cause of unemployment, especially in the hardest-hit
manufacturing sector. Kerry's solution, detailed in a speech yesterday =
in
Toledo, is to enforce trade agreements, track and slow the outsourcing =
of U.S.
jobs, and stop government contracts and tax incentives from going to =
companies
that move operations or jobs offshore.<br>
<br>
Kerry has come under attack from President Bush, as well as some =
Democrats, for
criticizing laws he voted for and lambasting special interests after =
accepting
more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 =
years.
Some Democrats worry that Kerry is leaving himself open to similar =
attacks on
the latest issue.<br>
<br>
Given the vast sums raised during the presidential campaign as well as =
the
growing number of companies with offshore operations, it seems almost
inevitable that candidates would receive contributions from some of =
them.<br>
<br>
Bush has taken exponentially more from these companies than Kerry, =
though the
president has not made a major campaign issue out of clamping down on =
them.<br>
<br>
On Monday, Kerry was asked why two of his biggest fundraisers were =
involved
with "Benedict Arnold" companies. "If they have done =
that, it's
not to my knowledge and I would oppose it," Kerry told a <st1:State =
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place
w:st=3D"on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> television station. =
"I think
it's wrong to do [it] solely to avoid taxes." <br>
<br>
Then he sought to clarify his position: "What I've said is not that =
people
don't have the right to go overseas and form a company if they want to =
avoid
the tax. I don't believe the American taxpayer ought to be giving them a
benefit. That's what I object to. I don't object to global commerce. I =
don't
object to companies deciding they want to compete somewhere else.'' <br>
<br>
David Roux, who has raised more than $250,000 for Kerry since 2002, is
co-founder of a <st1:State w:st=3D"on">California</st1:State> company =
that helped
purchase Seagate Technology Inc. four years ago and incorporated it in =
the <st1:place
w:st=3D"on">Cayman Islands</st1:place>, one of the world's best-known =
tax havens.
Roux described himself in an interview last fall as the "anchor =
tenant in
John Kerry's fundraising mall." <br>
<br>
While the State Department lists Seagate as among the companies that
reincorporated offshore to save on taxes, Roux said yesterday that he =
works for
a "global" company forced to make "thoughtful" =
business
decisions about where to locate its offices and jobs. Roux said he does =
not
consider Seagate or himself a "Benedict Arnold." That term, =
Roux
said, "is, like many things in politics, a label that [is] meant to =
cover
a lot of sins."<br>
<br>
Stephen J. Luczo, chief executive of Seagate, has contributed $4,000 to =
Kerry,
the maximum allowed under law, and $2,000 to the candidate's legal =
defense !
fund. Luczo was on vacation and not available for comment, according to =
his assistant.
<br>
<br>
Thomas F. Steyer, who said he has raised around $200,000 for Kerry, is a
partner at a <st1:State w:st=3D"on">California</st1:State> investment =
firm called
Hellman & Friedman LLC that helped set up an insurance company in =
<st1:place
w:st=3D"on">Bermuda</st1:place>, another popular tax haven. The =
insurance company
-- Arch Capital Group Ltd. -- stated in a 2000 Securities and Exchange
Commission filing that it was sinking roots in Bermuda to reduce its =
<st1:country-region
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> =
tax bill. <br>
<br>
Steyer said that it "wasn't my decision" to set up the company =
in
Bermuda and that he now spends less than 10 percent of his time at =
Hellman
& Friedman. "I believe American citizens should pay their =
American
taxes," Steyer said. He said he "absolutely" does not =
consider
himself part of a "Benedict Arnold" enterprise. <br>
<br>
Steyer and Roux have hosted fundraisers for Kerry and are listed by his
campaign as among three dozen supporters who have "bundled" =
$100,000
or more each, wh! ich means they get credit for packaging individual =
donations
to reach that total. <br>
<br>
When asked for the definition of a "Benedict Arnold" company =
or CEO,
Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's spokeswoman, said: "Companies that take
advantage of tax loopholes to set up bank accounts or move jobs abroad =
simply
to avoid taxes." She pointed to a list compiled by Citizen Works, a =
tax-exempt
nonprofit group that monitors corporate influence, as a source on the =
companies
that fit the candidate's definition. <br>
<br>
According to federal election records, Kerry has received $119,285 from =
donors
employed at what Citizen Works describes as the "25 Fortune 500 =
Corporations
With the Most Offshore Tax-Haven Subsidiaries." The list does not =
include
nearly all of the companies that shave their tax bill by moving jobs and
operations overseas, so Kerry has actually raised substantially more =
from firms
qualifying as "Benedict Arnolds."<br>
<br>
Kerry has also received $20,100 in donations directly from individu! als =
at
companies with mailing addresses offshore to avoid paying =
<st1:country-region
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> =
taxes,
records show. <br>
<br>
"Senator Kerry has made it crystal clear that he's going to close =
these
loopholes, forever," said Chad Clanton, a Kerry spokesman. =
"Nothing
will stop him. Period."<br>
<br>
Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), whose campaign gets most of its money from =
trial
lawyers, has not described these companies in such harsh terms and has =
received
less from them, Federal Election Commission records show. Edwards took =
in $500
from a Tyco International Ltd. employee and $75,000 from the 25 Fortune =
500
companies with the most offshore-tax-haven subsidiaries. <br>
<br>
Staff writer Dan Balz and researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to =
this
report.<br>
<br>
Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to <br>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=3DA6=
884-2004Feb25&sent=3Dno&referrer=3Demailarticle<br>
<br>
<br>
Visit washingtonpost.com today for the latest in:<br>
<br>
News - http://www.washingtonpost.com/?referrer=3Demailarticle<br>
<br>
Politics - =
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/?referrer=3Demailarticle<br=
>
<br>
© 2004 The Washington Post Company<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
------_=_NextPart_001_01C3FE50.7BB52054--