Howard Dean Wanted Vermont To "Overtake Bermuda" (His Words) As Tax Haven

[DrFunkenstein]

VERMONT: THE NEW BERMUDA

Deanophiles love to spin their candidate's weaknesses into strengths--arrogance is a sign of conviction, tactlessness is straight-talk, and so forth. So I'm curious to see how they'll spin the latest Dean misstep: hypocrisy.

Turns out that while old Howard has been bashing the coziness of the Bush administration with corporate America, Vermont has quietly become the leading state for a dubious tax-break scheme known as "captive insurance"--under Dean's direction.

As reported in today's Boston Globe, captive insurance is essentially a way to shield corporate profits from state taxes. It starts when a parent company uses one of its own subsidiaries for insurance. The parent company makes premium payments to the subsidiary for the insurance policy, and Vermont takes a piece of those premiums in taxes. So far, so good. But under the Vermont law that Dean pushed, the subsidiary can then reinvest those premiums and keep the resulting profits tax-free. The captive insurance operation may even allow non-Vermont companies to dodge their home states' tax bills.

As a University of Connecticut law school professor told the Globe, "Dean apparently has no problems with tax havens as long as they are in the state of Vermont." And what an operation he's built: by introducing tax breaks and successfully scuttling a proposed Clinton-era regulation designed to stymie the scheme, Dean ensured Vermont is home to more captive insurers than the rest of the country combined. In 2001, he boasted that he wanted Vermont to "overtake Bermuda" as the number one destination for such operations.

Did we mention Enron opened an office in Montpelier to take advantage of the deal?

<>

http://www.tnr.com/primary/index.mhtml?pid=1075

With little notice then -- and barely any mention now in the Democratic presidential campaign -- Dean succeeded in turning Vermont into the kingdom of captives. Vermont has more of these companies than the other 49 states combined. As part of the enticement, Dean led efforts to cut state taxes of such companies, and he helped defeat a Clinton administration effort that would have eliminated $100 million worth of federal tax deductions given to the industry.

But while the nearly 500 captive insurance companies have been a windfall for Vermont -- providing 2 percent of the state's general funds from tax on the $7 billion worth of premiums that go through Vermont annually -- the industry also is highly controversial. Some analysts believe that while Vermont profits, other states lose corporate tax revenues because of the way a company's taxable income may be reduced if it uses captives.

As governor, Dean saw his competitor for this business as Bermuda, which hosts nearly three times as many captives as Vermont. "We consider our competition to be Bermuda or the Cayman Islands," Dean said in a 2001 article published by the A.M. Best Co. "We feel pretty good about what we are doing, but it is competitive. Our goal is to overtake Bermuda as the world's largest captive domicile." Carson, the Dean spokesman, said yesterday the governor was referring at the time to his desire to "bring jobs and revenue back to the United States."

As a presidential candidate, Dean has attacked Bush for giving tax breaks to "Ken Lay and the boys who ran Enron." But Enron apparently was attracted to Vermont because of the benefits offered under Dean's administration. Dean, who became governor in 1991, cut taxes in 1993 by up to 60 percent on the premiums paid by the parent companies to the captives at the same time he was raising the state sales tax and cutting spending. Dean's tax cuts on captives set off Vermont's boom in that industry.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/dean/articles/2003
/12/12/for_dean_captive_insurance_a_vt_boon/

Definitely read more!

<>

[sandnsea]

1. Just another corporate whore n/t

[patricia92243]

9. WHIC IS BEST- MONEY GOES TO VERMOMT OR OFF-SHORE

[AP]

22. Blair & WJC tried to bring and end to tax havens in Bermuda and elsewhere

while Dean was driving the monkey to the airport!

Of course the Bush administration ended the plans to put pressure on the tax havens to change their policies.

Anyway, how's it better for vermont when they have a Gov. willing to whore it up for big business?

Anyone see the thread on VT taxes becoming increasingly regressive in P&C?

[sandnsea]

38. “We’re going to cut the hell out of income sensitivity and Medicaid,” he s

“We’re going to cut the hell out of income sensitivity and Medicaid,” he said.

Income sensitivity is the provision in Act 60 that allows homeowners to pay for schools through a hybrid income-property tax. Most homeowners with incomes less than $88,000 pay no more than roughly 3 percent of their incomes toward education.

Dean’s plan essentially would amount to an income tax increase on those homeowners because he would raise that 3 percent to a level that hasn’t yet been determined.

That might not be so easy, though, because some lawmakers argue that Act 60 was written to stand on its own even in an economic downturn."

But keep those corporate tax cuts a rollin'!!!

http://rutlandherald.com/hdean/37543

[sandnsea]

34. Cozy with corporations

It isn't just this deal, it's IBM, corporate farms, etc. He favors business every time.

There's $100 million of federal corporate welfare going to these companies because of Dean.

He fought for a tax scheme which allows big corporations to avoid taxes.

That's the attitude that let's these companies run rampant in Washington in the first place. That giving them a tax break and winking at the pollution with the left hand will "pay off" with the right hand. The corporations use the excuse of not being able to be competitive with U.S. taxes and threaten to take their business and jobs to another country. So they keep getting their tax breaks.

Just like in Vermont. Howard Dean didn't stand up to them there and he won't stand up to them in D.C. Just like he didn't care about sending radioactive waste to Sierra Blanca when he knew it was going into a poor region and breaking international law. And didn't care about Yucca Mtn. And didn't care about letting logging and snowmobiling continue in the Champion Lands. When business pushes Howard, he caves.

[Ardee]

62. Money not going to your kids

or your grandpa or your roads and a myriad of service in need of funding.

[Bombtrack]

2. Well at least he wasn't a pushover for polluters, oh wait!

at least he didn't make his tax system more regressive by cutting the upper brackets and raising the sales tax, oh wait!

at least he's a fiscal conservative!, if fiscal conservatives raise middle class income taxes instead of cutting waist. I don't think that's quite the right word. Horrible candidate? Now that discription works

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

25. but ... but ... all those pretty speeches!

Oh never mind.

[maxanne]

3. there were threads about this

all weekend.

:boring:

[_Jumper_]

4. Republican-lite?

How can a person like this be hailed as a savior by progressives?

[Bombtrack]

5. and the shamlessness goes on

Ten Questions For Howard Dean
1. Why did you support sending Vermont's nuclear waste to the poor, mostly Hispanic town of Sierra Blanca, Texas, 16 miles from the Mexican border -- a plan described as "blatant environmental racism" by Paul Wellstone?

2. Why did the Dean administration increase funding for Vermont's state colleges by only 7% while you increased funding for prisons by 150%?

3. Why did IBM, the leading polluter in Vermont, receive your Environmental Achievement Award nine times?

4. What did you mean when you said, "I've had 40 or 45 private meetings with IBM since I've been governor. And IBM has gotten pretty much everything they've asked for"?

5. When you talked about moving the retirement age to 68 or 70 which was it? (Check Source)

6. Why did you wait for the courts and legislature to bring about the civil union bill before you supported it? Why did you sign the bill in private when you finally did sign it?

7. Why do you oppose the Israeli Labour Party candidate for prime minister Amram Mitzna's call for unconditional peace talks with the Palestinians?

8. While you acknowledge that you "haven't condemned Congress for passing the Patriot Act," Bernie Sanders from your own state of Vermont is leading efforts in Congress to overturn the Act. Why are you not supporting Bernie Sanders' efforts and condemning Congress for its attack on civil liberties?

9. How do you respond to Annette Smith of Vermonters of a Clean Environment who says: "Dean's attempt to run for president as an environmentalist is nothing but a fraud. He's destroyed the Agency of Natural Resources, he's refused to meet with environmentalists while constantly meeting with developers, and he's made the permitting process one, big dysfunctional joke. EP under Governor Dean meant Expedite Permits, not Environmental Protection"?

10. Since you pride yourself on your "fiscal responsibility" why do you refuse to even consider any decreases in the bloated Pentagon budget?

[XanaDUer]

11. More environmental info on Dean...

"As Dean goes national he may be able to fool an Iowan or two with his eco-record, but Vermonters have seen enough to know that being green isn't easy for Dean. And he's far from being a liberal."

Full link here from CounterPunch:


http://www.counterpunch.org/colby02222003.html

[gristy]

13. You're kidding, right?

n/t

[KittyWampus]

23. Shipping Nuclear Waste- Building Prisons

Now that is ONE issue that Dean's stance while Governor made sense and which made sense to change upon running for President.

HOWEVER, Nevada COULD potentially be in the Democrats column in the General Election because of Junior and Yucca Mountain.

If Dean is the Democratic nominee we may lose that possible advantage.

And Vermont NEEDED to build the prisons as they had been shipping their prisoners out of state at great expense.

[tsipple]

6. Hmmmm... The Choices Are...

...Vermont as Bermuda, with jobs in the United States...
...or Bermuda as Bermuda, with jobs not in the United States.

Howard, I'll take Door #1!

:party:

By the way, thank you to all the Democratic candidates serving in Washington who closed the Bermuda loophole.

Wait, you mean, they didn't?

And I'm shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that Howard Dean helped businesses prosper in Vermont. That's just awful. (Not.)

[AP]

26. Bermuda isn't exactly a poster child for middle class prosperity because

it houses a few sham shell parent corporations which aren't more than a post office box.

I guess it's a great place to make money if you're a British-trained accountant. But really. How many jobs does a shell company create?

And what kind of spine does it show to give businesses everything they want.

In case people haven't noticed, big businesses haven't exactly been model citizens the last decade. And with politicians like Dean willing to bend over backwards for them, who needs to be a good citizen to make money? It's like it the fist three decades of the last century all over again with Howard Dean.

[Rose Siding]

7. Ummmm...pankcakes

So he was able to attract revenue to VT that would have gone offshore if he hadn't? No wonder they re-elected him so many times!

[magnoliamouth]

8. Big Deal!

To draw a parallel with the Bermuda/off-shore schemes doesn't even make sense.

This is about states competing with other states for economic development reasons. States position structure public policy to make them more competitive in LOTS of different areas.

This has nothing to do with avoiding paying taxes to the Federal gov't -- which is what the Bermuda stuff is about.

[WillyT]

15. Exactly MM, Bingo !!!

"My God, did ya hear Gov. Dean structured laws to attract big business and enhance his state's tax base? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you."

:hurts:

[AP]

28. Yes, "a big deal" which made insurance companies tons of money,

and did nothing for anybody else.

[newyawker99]

58. Hi magnoliamouth!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[KaraokeKarlton]

10. Do you Kerry supporters schedule who gets to post this article each night?

This is the 4th time I've addressed this nonsense in two days. Posting it over and over again doesn't make it any more true.


The law that both allowed and encouraged the captive insurance companies to set up shop in Vermont was passed in 1981, a full year before Dean even entered politics. By the time be became governor the industry was well established with an 11 year history. Right from the start Vermont became a popular place for the industry, and the state had the most in the country long before Dean came into office.

The cuts in question were, I believe, took effect in 1993. If that's the case, they weren't even Dean's cuts, they were Richard Snellings, the previous governor who died in office whom Dean replaced. Dean left much of Snellings policies in place due to the state being a bit of a mess. He decided to give the current plans a chance to see how it'd go before changing anything.

Regarding Enron...they opened up shop in captive insurance in Vermont in 1995. Hindsight is 20/20 and not a one of us could have predicted the Enron scandal or that they would turn out to be crooks. Maybe you had a magic crystal ball or a great psychic you were consulting to tip you off, but Dean didn't. And since you seem to be under the impression that Dean had to know what Enron was, then surely you must have known and all I can say to that is why didn't you tell anyone?

Note that the cuts were in 1993 and Enron set up their captive in 1995, two years AFTER the cut in question. So it would be pretty hard for Dean to intentionally give Enron tax cuts.


:eyes:

[XanaDUer]

12. No, we don't schedule anything...

but denying it does not make it false, either.

[KaraokeKarlton]

19. Denying what, exactly?

Why don't you tell me exactly what it is you think Dean did that was so awful?

He wasn't even in politics yet when the law that allowed and encouraged captives was passed.

The "tax cut" claim doesn't cite any actual tax law and is erroneous at best. Beside that, the industry brought a HUGE amount of tax revenue to the state, even with the cuts.

Maybe it's about Enron? Whatever cut Dean gave was given two full years before Enron even opened a captive in Vermont, so Dean couldn't have purposely given Enron any tax cut.

Okay, now, what was the issue again? Shame on Dean for keeping jobs that would otherwise go offshore in our country. Oh the humanity!

:eyes:

[XanaDUer]

27. Let's see:

Pure and simple, cutting taxes on big businesses like captive insurance companies, while at the same time raising sales taxes and various excise taxes is exactly the kind of thing that is being opposed by Dems against Bush's administration. As Gephardt pointed out in his statement today, Dean's bahaviour regarding these companies is exactly the same as the kind of pro-big-business policies that are extended to Enron, Halliburton, et al.

Creating 1,000 jobs is fine, and noble, as long as it is done in such a way that does not require cuts to social programs that serve the poor and disenfranchised.

It is even more unjust to have the middle class and the working poor pick up the tab for the revenues lost in taxation from corporations.

This is a prime example of corporate welfare. Dean's fiscal conceptualization is simply to cut programs, attract big business with tax cuts (that mom-and-pop business are not given). This is straight from the Reaganomincs 101 Handbook.

No amount of spinning will change that. Dean's policies are in direct opposition to the position platform of the centrist Democratic Party, as indicaded in the Hyde Park Declaration. This states that government can and should be run with fiscal responsibility based upon progressive taxation, and not regressive taxation that Dean seems so enamoured of as governor.

[KaraokeKarlton]

45. Oh whatever

You can whine about Dean until the end of the world and it's still not going to help Kerry one iota. All you're doing is wasting your time and energy pissing and moaning over nothing while Kerry's message doesn't get out to voters. And it doesn't change anyone's mind about Dean.

Keep it up, though, because as long as you Kerry supporters keep focusing on Dean, Kerry will continue to sink fast.

[mzmolly]

14. Ok, there is an interesting solution called...

win/win situation. That is the difference between Dean and Bush. Bush is win/lose, Dean is win/win. :)

[RevolutionStartsNow]

35. There's also another solution for DUers

Don't vote for him.

It's one thing to discuss the issues, but these taunting "Let's see how the hypocrite hypnotized Deanies answer THIS one" threads are laughable. The same issue is being discussed over and over (Dean and big business in VT: Was he a corporate whore or was he doing what was best for Vermont?) in different threads. In the end, those who already don't like Dean still won't vote him, and those of us who like Dean will still vote for him. What a revelation.

Meanwhile, the undecideds are surely not going to be swayed by a thread that starts out condescending and just gets worse from there.

[Fleshdancer]

16. The very last paragraph of the article:

The captive insurance industry is the type of clean, high-paying industry sought by Vermont. The state receives $18.5 million in premium taxes and licensing fees, amounting to about 2 percent of the state's general fund, according to Daniel Towle, Vermont's financial services director. In the most recent year, captive companies had deposited about $1 billion in Vermont banks, and about $7 billion in premiums annually flow through Vermont, Towle said. About 1,000 people are directly or indirectly employed by the captive industry, and they earn two to three times the typical Vermont wage, a state official said. Competition is on the horizon. Some states, such as Arizona and Hawaii, have no tax on premiums, and the Vermont Legislature this year lowered its premium tax by 5 percent and capped the overall tax on any captive at $200,000 per year. Massachusetts has no captive insurance companies, partly due to requirements for capitalization, state officials said.


******************
Here's a recap if you don't want to read the paragraph above:

$18.5 million in taxes and licensing fees for Vermont
$1 billion deposited in Vermont banks
$7 billion annually flow through Vermont
1,000 Vermonters employed and earning 2-3 times avg. Vermont wage

Is Vermont okay with this or are they suffering??

[ozone_man]

24. Thanks for the summary,

I'm a Vermonter and it looks like a good deal for Vermont. I'd hate to think of 1,000 jobs going to Bermuda or the Caymans, when they can stay right here. I ddon't think you'll find many Vermonters complaining about paying 2% less taxes.

[AP]

31. And how'd they get those concessions from VT? Because Dean was eager to

please big business.

And 18.5 million in tax revenue on 7 billion dollars a year in business activity is sick.

If states want this business, do something to get Bermuda to get in line (through legislation). Don't turn your own state into a whore for businesses.

[RetroLounge]

42. But But But...

They sputter...

Dean is good for corporations, so he must be bad. //sarcasm

Well, maybe if they went out and got real jobs, they could relate...

Yeah, he was SO bad for Vermont that they kept electing him.

Thanks for your summary. The truth confuses the bashers every time.

[mw]

17. So what? Common practice among states

At least Vermont is AMERICA, unlike Bermuda.

Yawn.

[LuminousX]

20. Oddly enough, people are complaining about IBM exporting jobs

Yet if any state made an effort to negotiate with IBM to keep those jobs here in the states... that governor would be a corporate whore.

[LuminousX]

18. Yeah, this is a killer story... shame on Dean, shame... zzzzzzzzzz

[mzmolly]

21. LOL

:boring:

[cryofan]

29. In all fairness to Dean, even the social democracies of Europe ...

....with their generous welfare states, offer corporations low tax rates. THey get their income from tarrifs and personal income taxes.

That said, Dean is still a Republicrat whose actions show he is against universal health care and advancing the welfare state and against progressive taxes, and in general is not a progressive or even a liberal.

Down with Dean!

[AP]

32. that's not true. the EU and the US spent most of the late 90s leaning

on the tax havens of the world to get in line. Within the EU, they try to harmonize business taxes so that no country will pull a VT.

When Bush became president, the US stopped its plans to cooperate with the US to force tax havens to cease their actions.

[DrFunkenstein]

30. Curious to see how they'll spin the latest Dean misstep?

"Deanophiles love to spin their candidate's weaknesses into strengths--arrogance is a sign of conviction, tactlessness is straight-talk, and so forth. So I'm curious to see how they'll spin the latest Dean misstep: hypocrisy."

Apparently, Dean's Enronomics is proof that he is a financial wizard, at least keeping corporate malfeasance within U.S. borders - which in the end is all that really matters.

<>

O beloved Governor, your policies are so wise, and your wisdom is so magnificent.

[XanaDUer]

37. Here is another way to keep jobs in VT...

Give tax incentives to all of the small business that ended up disappearing due to the practices of the large, predatory chains like Wal-Mart that Dean courted.

Small businesses are not only responsible for job creation, but also for community cohesion. Local businesses do their business usually within the state (or country), they bank locally, and the money circulates locally.

It does not get given out in dividends to shareholders all over the world. Big businesses generally drain a locality dry, and the tax payers are hit with all sorts of hidden costs like providing the infrastructure and tax breaks that large businesses demand , and get under fiscal conservatives like Dean.

Sadly, loss of life may be more likely for the beneficiaries of Vermont's nuclear waste, and in the more subtle "silent death" of people who lose health benefits in order to balance a budget.

Republicans use job creation as the justification for every rotten and corrupt fiscal policy they embrace.

Reaganomics have hurt the average American enough. I don't want Deanonomics to nail the lid on their coffins.

[sandnsea]

49. Worst 10 states for small business

High taxes hurt small business in Vermont the most. Now Howard says he's going to help small business. Yeah, right.

http://www.sbsc.org/Media/pdf/SBSI2002A.pdf

[eileen from OH]

33. I've said it before, but it bears repeating. . .

you cannot compare what Dean did as Gov of Vermont vs what he would do as leader of a nation. It's apples and oranges.

From what I can tell, Dean cut deals and was a major player in doing the best he could for his state when he was Gov. THAT WAS HIS JOB.
Geez-oh-man, how many of you would scream bloody murder if your gov was NOT looking out for what was best for your state? I know I sure as shit wouldn't want a Gov who screwed my state for another. It's what good Governors DO.

Now that he wants to lead the country, he OF COURSE has to take a bigger picture, which is what he is doing. But to compare his actions as an advocate for a limited constituency VS his plans for a nationwide constituency is just plain stoopid. It isn't inconsistent, it isn't flip-flopping, it isn't anything except recognizing that the BLOODY JOB DESCRIPTION is different.

eileen from OH

[TexasPatriot]

36. ok

My problem is more with the idea that it's one less arrow in the quiver against W*. Dean has some good ones - and i'm not trying to damn with faint praise here. He's got some really good ones - just as all the dems do. But I do think Dean is missing some of the more critical ones.

Not being able to flawlessly attack W* on a REALLY WEAK PUB issue like corporate greed and excess is going to hurt us in the fall.

[XanaDUer]

39. You mean like Bush the 2nd

is now doing? Even Molly Ivins warns us all about Texas policies under the knucklehead now spreading like a cancer around the US.

VT progressives have repeatedly warned that Dean talks the Democratic Party Line when he is running for office, but, once elected, he reverts back to conservative policies.

I worry about him and his policies:

Howard Dean: the Progressive Anti-War Candidate?
Some Vermonters Give Their Views
By DONNA BISTER, MARC ESTRIN
and RON JACOBS
(The Editorial Collective of the Old North End RAG)

"...If you vote for him, it's your job to stand behind him with a poker and keep him headed in the right direction. Don't give him any honeymoon period, either--keep the pressure on from the second you drop that ballot in the box. The minute you relax, he's going to turn right back into what he really is...a privileged, arrogant, middle of the road republican. Put your political energy into getting some truly progressive folks into the House and Senate, and into State legislatures around the country so that there will be more pressure from more directions. We need to get together our sophisticated progressive thinkers to develop policy ideas in every area, so that we're ready with real, well-thought out counter-proposals for the incremental changes a Dean administration might put forth. If you feel you must, support Dean, do--but then go do the work necessary to make real change."

Full link here:


http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs08292003.html

[eileen from OH]

40. But the big flaw here is that

what Bush did (as Molly re-iterates) as Governor was NOT good for Texas - he was then, as he is now, and as he will be forevermore . . .out for the corps, and oil companies, and Daddy's rich buddies. He screwed Texas big time. But what Gov Dean did was business that was GOOD for the PEOPLE OF VERMONT. No, not necessarily what was good for the people of Nevada, or the nation as a whole, even. But that wasn't his job - there were other people elected to represent, protect, and argue for those constituencies. His job was to be an advocate for the people of HIS STATE. And that's what he did.

I sure as SHIT wish I had a Gov who put his state first.

eileen from OH

[DrFunkenstein]

53. It's Called "Credibility Gap"

There is a yawning chasm between his talk and his walk.

From his own mouth: “I was a triangulator before Clinton was a triangulator."

[eileen from OH]

55. I'm not quite sure what you mean?

What talk and which walk?

All I'm saying is that if you are going to damn Dean for positions that he took as GOVERNOR, you have to take into account his JOB and the people he served at that time. If you want to argue that what he did was NOT good for the people of Vermont, I'm listening, but so far that has not been anyone's argument. He had a job,a job description, and a constituency. And, by all accounts he served THAT constituency well.

Now he's "applying" for a different job. Why the hell would anyone be surprised that he brings a different, national view to things? I should bloody well hope so.

The problem with people who go over All and Anything Dean Past with a fine tooth comb is that they are extrapolating data from one situation and implying that because it doesn't jive with another job description that somehow the applicant has deceived. I would offer that those actions and stands, while presenting a "big picture" in terms of character or integrity, offer very little that is useful in the case of substantative, specific stands on the issues.

eileen from OH

[wyldwolf]

41. of course he did...

... more and more he's showing himself to be the republican-lite he was always though of as in Vermont.

[RetroLounge]

43. Poop

eom

[wyldwolf]

60. poop?

[DemDogs]

44. Dean is our wrost candidate against Bush

Just like Bush he is aligned with special interests. There are so many scary parallels. We need someone who can take it to Bush on these economic issues, particularly if Iraq is not a strong issue for us, and someone who looks like Bush on special interest economic/business issues is not a good choice. Edwards is best, Kerry is second best on taking the fight to Bush on issues like this one.

[okieinpain]

47. hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

funny stuff

[texas is the reason]

56. yea, edwards- unswayed by sp. interests....esp. the trial lawyers lobby..

:eyes:

[JI7]

59. they protect against the corporate whores

edwards "special interests" is protecting the people against those who abuse their powers such as corporations .

[Bill of Rights]

46. I'm a little suprised no Deaniacs

express concern about their candidate. When Clark announced, on the campaign trail, that he wanted a Consitutional Amendment for flag-burning, many of us gulped, felt stifled, or complained loudly. We thrashed it out, and were glad to hear that he added, "if the American people want it."

[sandnsea]

52. They never do

They're still putting up that attack ad stuff against Kerry and Gephardt, I don't even know if it's off Dean's site, even though both campaigns said they were not part of the group running them. I asked for an apology, like they asked for, and got a bunch of excuses why no apology was necessary. In over 6 months I've never seen them question anything he's said or done.

[dajabr]

48. Bermuda="Offshore," Vermont="Onshore"

Yep, I'm gonna vote for a guy who wants companies to run offshore for tax-breaks.

:eyes:

[Octafish]

50. Once you've worked on Wall Street...

...everything else is just an opportunity.

[mitchum]

51. kick

[texas is the reason]

54. not this story AGAIN- god some people are naive!!!!

dean brought american jobs and revenue back into america, and made for a better standard of living for the people over whom he governed. gee, what an asshole...maybe you all would prefer a candidate who sent businesses with more than 500 employees overseas, because all corporations are sooo eevvvilll. And oh yeah, anyone who knew in 1995 that enron was crooked could only have known that if they were in on it too. these anti-dean threads are getting downright laughable...

[DrFunkenstein]

57. Here's FAIR's Norman Soloman With Some More

Dean clearly finds grassroots progressives to be quite useful for his purposes. But is he truly useful for ours?

This summer, many news stories have identified Howard Dean with the left. But Dean’s actual record verifies this assessment from University of Vermont political science professor Garrison Nelson: “He’s really a classic Rockefeller Republican -- a fiscal conservative and social liberal.” After seven years as governor, the Associated Press described Dean as “a clear conservative on fiscal issues” and added: “This is, after all, the governor who has at times tried to cut benefits for the aged, blind and disabled, whose No. 1 priority is a balanced budget.”

Gov. Dean did not mind polarizing with poor people, but he got along better with the corporate sector. “Conservative Vermont business leaders praise Dean’s record and his unceasing efforts to balance the budget, even though Vermont is the only state where a balanced budget is not constitutionally required,” Business Week reported in its August 11 (2003) edition. “Moreover, they argue that the two most liberal policies adopted during Dean’s tenure -- the ‘civil unions’ law and a radical revamping of public school financing -- were instigated by Vermont’s ultraliberal Supreme Court rather than Dean.”

The magazine added: “Business leaders were especially impressed with the way Dean went to bat for them if they got snarled in the state’s stringent environmental regulations.”

According to Business Week, “those who know him best believe Dean is moving to the left to boost his chances of winning the nomination.” A longtime Dean backer named Bill Stenger, a Vermont Republican who’s president of Jay Peak Resort, predicted: “If he gets the nomination, he’ll run back to the center and be more mainstream.”

http://www.juicycerebellum.com/solomon039.htm

[blm]

61. Doesn't matter. Deanies don't care.

They really don't.

They'll smear any other candidate as a corporate whore, even if they had great anticorporate records. But, when Dean is shown to be the corporatist then they just "Yawn." Some excuse it, but, mostly...They just don't care. They really don't.

[Ardee]

63. The Doctor is IN!

Dr. Funkenstein I mean.....thank you for posting this. Ive not been shy in posting my fears about Deans corporate toadyisms as well as his waffling on monies for education and senior services. This only makes further obvious that Dean shouts the shout but doesnt walk the walk.

[Scott Lee]

64. It's Dr. Funk's shift....I forgot sangh0 is on vacation.

This "captive insurance" crap has been hashed hashed and rehashed by the Dean haterz, so much so that it would qualify as certified POOP, but I wanted to acknowledge all the effort it took to cut and paste a boston globe article.

Say what's going on with the IWR/BidenLugar thing? I haven't heard the 14,784th iteration of that one yet and it's getting me worried.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

65. No LaRouche or NewsMax links from Funk, though.

I see that as an improvement.


Way to go, Funk! We're pulling for ya.

[Ardee]

66. to rummy and scott

personal attacks clearly show that you do not address the issues raised by Dr.Funk....if you simply revert to childish schoolyard banter noone is served, not we at DU, not your candidate, not the cause of truth and certainly not the search for who will represent the democrats.

[Hep]

67. I love these threads

because they allow me to say, all the more shitty you're gonna feel when you put your mark next to his name in November '04!