Has Howard Dean donated to Democratic Candidates?

[Bread and Circus]

Disclaimer:
I am a Clark supporter.
I found this on a Clark blogger's (grassroots, not main site)
website. It kind of interesting. It might be incorrect. I
will definitely print an acknowlegement if people can find
Donations that Howard has given. Thanks.

I post it here for two reasons, one -- I want to keep Howard
on his toes because he has sweated my guy for a couple days
and two, I want to see if I can find an answer for the blogger.

Thanks.

---
found at http://www.clarksphere.com

Where were you, Howard?
I'm amused by the gotcha game. And in this case, Howard Dean, I'm going to call 'gotcha' on you.

Tapped points out that, while Clark ain't exactly an old Democratic hand, he did give money to Erskine Bowles in North Carolina in 2002, and we at the Clark Sphere have been harping on the fact that he also campaigned for Democrats in 2002. Clark couldn't give money to political candidates for most of his life, because (a) he didn't have the money and (b) he was in the military, a strictly nonpartisan institution that frowns upon overt partisan participation. But when he could, he did.

Well, Tapped really piqued my interest, and a funny thing happened. I mosied on over to the FEC web site and looked up Howard Dean's contribution record. Hmm. Must have missed him giving money to, well, anyone.

And he's not alone (Dick Gephardt and Bob Graham come up blank), though he's certainly the only candidate campaigning as a populist while actually being a successful doctor and scion of a wealthy blue blooded Wall Street family. The other rich people in the candidate crowd, John Kerry and John Edwards, have given. It appears that when it comes to donations over $250, Howard Dean wants to reel 'em in. He just chooses not to dish 'em out.

Well, unless I'm misreading the FEC web site (it's possible), it seems like I can only interpret his message as one asking his groupies to not follow his example and give to him.

---

[w4rma]

1. The bar is higher for Dean than Clark since Dean is the better candidate.

Clark is a registered Independent, NOT Democrat!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=448201

[Rose Siding]

6. and a corporate lobbyist

for the CAPPS II program, spawn of Poindexter's TIA. Has there been any explanation rationale for that yet from Wes?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=134968

[sfecap]

11. Wes doesn't have to explain.

He's the formerNATOsupremealliedcommander. (And he got shot in Nam, and he went to West Point, and he is a Rhodes Scholar....)

No explaination required. Just get in line and shutup.

[Upfront]

2. Dean Said

he is very thrifty. I am not to supprised or bothered if he hasn,t gave to anyone. Now to say something nice about Clark, he has a great statement out today about schools. See, most of us Dean folk are willing to cut the General some slack. lol

[AP]

3. To be fair, check his wife's contributions.

Also, check his mom's and dad's contributions. That would be interesting.

[Rose Siding]

8. To be fair?

Does that mean we need to "check" Clark's family, too? His parents were always repub. What would that prove?

[LuminousX]

23. Dean's Parents are Republican

His mom changed party this year so she could vote for him in the New York primary. If they gave money, I'm sure it was GOP money.

Now, what does campaign contributions have to do with anything? We know he worked for campaigns, does his time not count for something?

[dd123]

4. C'mon the guy is a tightwad.

I'm not surprised in the least.

I think he shows his support by campaigning and volunteering for others.

He's always been grassroots!

[Bread and Circus]

5. I forgive Howard Dean on this...

if you keep giving Wesley some slack :)

:grouphug:

[Sean Reynolds]

7. He worked for Gep's 88 Presidential bid.

If that means anything.........

[Rose Siding]

9. And I don't think

he did repub fundraisers. Does that count?

[Bread and Circus]

10. Sure, it counts...

so does Wesley voting for Clinton and Gore,
supporting Cleland and others as well as being
on record as a donor for Democrats.

It's all good.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. And Carter....

[dsc]

12. If Gephardt hasn't given money to Demaocrats

I will eat my hat. I would also be quite surpised that Dean hadn't since he worked for both Carter and Gephardt. But Gephardt certainly has given over the years through his leadership pac. No way he didn't.

[FightinNewDem]

17. Leadership PACS

No need to put ketchup on the fedora...

Political figures with presidential ambitions generally contribute through their political action committee. Sometimes this is their campaign committee, more often it is a separate committee.

Also, keep in mind that donations to state campaigns (governor, legislature, etc) won't show up in the FEC data base. Each state maintains its own records, some available online, some not.

In the 2002 cycle, most of the presidential campaigns were active in New Hampshire. Here are the PACS that were registered in NH:

Effective Government Committee (Gephardt)
Responsibility Opportunity Community/ROCPAC (Lieberman)
Citizen Soldier Fund (Kerry)
Fund for a Healthy America (Dean)
New American Optimists (Edwards)

In addition, Wes Clark appeared at campaign events for congressional candidate Katrina Swett.

Kerry and Gephardt focused their resources on legislative races, Edwards screwed up by meddling in contested primaries, Lieberman donated mainly to county and local Dem committees, and Dean, frankly, didn't do a heck of a lot for anyone.

[10digits]

13. Dean hates the party.

None of his filthy lucre will help the party.

[clar]

14. Gee

That certainly made a lot of sense. Not.

[CMT]

15. I don't know if this counts

but Dean had a pac which helped dem candidates in 2002 called Fund for A healthy America or something like that. Anyway he donated money to various dem candidates that year thru this pac and going back to 1998 we had a election for governor here in Wisconsin and the Democratic candidate was a strong progressive named Ed Garvey up against Tommy Thompson. According to John Nichols (the correspondent of the Nation magazine) Dean was one of the few incumbent Democratic Governors willing to help out Garvey in his race against Thompson--most other Democratic governors felt Garvey was a lost cause (in fact he did get about 40% of the vote, better than expected) and he came to Wisconsin and campaigned with Garvey and held a fund raiser for him.

[Bread and Circus]

19. I think it counts.....

and I appreciate your work.

I will report back to the blog. Thanks.

:grouphug:

[stickdog]

16. Dean gives time and grassroots support.

Like the tightwad he is.

Dean was a grassroots supporter of Carter way back in 1976. Since this was my first campaign as well, I feel a kinship.

[TrueBlueDem]

18. Dean also campaigned for Jimmy Carter in 1980. (n/t)

[Mairead]

20. "Didn't have the money" my arse

Look at the tables of pay for officers, and recall that from that money they need not pay for housing or medical care --two biggies in the civilian budget-- nor, at higher ranks, for transportation, another biggie.

[AP]

21. Since nobody else has checked...I took a look at opensecrets.org

And it looks like the only hard or soft money Dean or his wife have given to a federal election campaign committee was $200 to the Vermont State Democratic Campaign Cmte. on 3/8/1994.

During that time period, Edwards has given $13,750 (and his wife $1,000) in soft and hard money to Democratic committees other than Edwards's, including $3000 to Bill Clinton. That was the only other couple I checked.

You'd think that Dean would probably donate money to state candidates, but I don't think those records aren't on opensecrets.org.

[JaneQPublic]

22. Like many $-smart politicians, Dean has a PAC which contributes...

...to candidates and worthy causes.

It's called Fund for a Healthy America, and it's most recent semi-annual report is posted at:
http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/fecgifpdf/

Pages 10-17 list the itemized Disbursements, i.e., bills paid and contributions made. Among them are the following:

p. 14 -- Shaheen for Senate -- $20,000
p. 15 -- Vt. State Democratic Federal Campaign Committee -- $2,000
p. 17 -- Charlie Smith for State House -- $1,000
p. 17 -- Coalition to Defend America's Working Families -- $2,000
p. 17 -- Coalition to Defend America's Working Families -- $5,000

[AP]

24. It doesn't look like Dean contributed to his own PAC, though.

Neither did his wife.

[Meshuga]

25. Yeah and anti-war Dean...

was never seen in any anti-war rally. The man is full of it!

[JaneQPublic]

34. Looking at Deans tax return statements...

...we see that the Dean's make sizeable contributions, just not necessarily to political campaigns. For example, in 2001, the Deans contributed $20,131 to charities, including a chunk of property to some sort of nature trail organization. Here it is:

http://www.bop2004.org/dtaweb/bop2004/dw/Dean/Dean_tax01.pdf

Also keep in mind that as Gov. of Vt., Dean made a "whopping" $86,000/year and is now unemployed. But, yes, he is a millionaire, having made most of his money through wise stock investments.

[AP]

53. political donations aren't tax dedcutible -- we're talking about political

donations here.

[helleborient]

26. Speaking of populism...

Is having a successful career and being part of a wealthy blue-blood family disqualification for being a populist?

Well, I guess Al Gore is definitely out.

Also...it doesn't get much more blue-blood than Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy - should we have booted them out of the party?

[AP]

28. Al Gore wasn't a populist. Kevin Phillips, in Wealth and Democracy

said that a big reason Dems lost in 2000 was because they DIDN'T connect with middle class America's anxiety with the grown gulf between rich and middle class, largely becuase they ran candidates who, unlike Bill Clinton, didn't come from the middle class.

Also, JFK and FDR were considered traitors to their class. Nobody ever accused Gore or Dean or Kerry of being traitors to their class, however, Kerry probably has the best claim for understanding the American experience beyond his class. Perhaps.

[helleborient]

29. What's that Kerry claim?

I'm just curious what Kerry's best claim is?

Being the wealthiest member of the Senate?

I would have thought doctors who work with everyone across wide ranges of income might have a claim to understand some of that...

[Fabio]

33. John Kerry

is the wealthiest member of the Senate by marriage to Teresa Heinz. Before 1995, he was not, by any measure, more than a successful upper/middle class american. I have tremendous respect for the variety of his life. Certainly, JK never had a golden parachute awaiting him if he struggled in life. To point:

From the Globe Series:

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062003.shtml

Kerry's personal life, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly tumultuous. He had separated from his first wife, Julia Thorne, in 1982, and the divorce became final in 1988. For much of their marriage, Julia, who came from a wealthy Long Island family, had provided significant financial contributions. The divorce left Kerry strapped for cash and looking for ways to meet child-support payments, campaign debts, and tuition costs.

He took out a $473,000 loan to purchase a home in Washington, thinking his daughters would be staying with him for periods of time. It was "a huge mistake," he says, as he found himself returning to Boston most weekends to maintain his ties to his children and the state. He sold the D.C. home and bought a Boston condo but "lost his shirt" when he sold it a few years later, as he told the Globe in 1996. "He was broke," Blum says.

..end..

Say what you will, but it was not a life of luxury. His father was a state department employee, a civil servant. Not exactly the big $.

On top of that, I think his time in Vietnam gave JK a tremendous solidarity with all americans.

[helleborient]

36. Wow...there's personal stuff there to drive attack trucks through...

The links with starlets...the sweetheart real-estate deal...you know, if Kerry is nominated, is this going to be fighting off the Clinton-hating mafia again?

Since you brought up personal life issues as a pro...it would seem that invites personal life questions as being legit, too...and Kerry does have a mess there...red meat for Republicans.

By the way, military service does not produce solidarity with all Americans...particularly many of us who still heed Dwight Eisenhower's warnings about the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

[Fabio]

41. Is this a series post?

1. Being linked with Starlets when you are single seems like a good thing. There is no suggestion of adultery in this article. I am imaging an article linking me with Gwyneth Paltrow. It seems like a warm, fuzzy place.

2. The real estate deal was an issue for Kerry. It didn't get much traction in the Weld-Kerry race.

3. What the hell is your point about Eisenhower? Military industrial complex? John Kerry served on a boat with a bunch of enlisted men, all of whom were on stage with him at his announcement in South Caroline and who travelled around the country with him this year. I think that says something about their bond. Belittle it if you will, but I think you'd only be damaging the relationship of all men who have ever served in battle together.

[helleborient]

46. I have absolutely nothing against his bond with other soldiers

But trying to turn that into a bond with everyone in the U.S. is incorrect.

I'd admire he's maintained his personal relationships.

I also think there is plenty (I didn't know much of what is in the Globe article) that Karl Rove and the Republicans will try and make of Kerry's past. For his supporters to ignore that is a possible liability is naive at best.

[JohnKleeb]

42. hell I think you missed Ike's point completely

Kerry's military service is a plus even if the wrong he was in was dead as wrong, do you think Gore would have been wrong to have compared his military service with Bush? Gore isnt a part of the military industrial complex, the people he refered to werent like at the time John Kerry, they were like the high ranking officers. :shrug: I dont think that was the point, that if you serve in the military you are part of the industrial complex. Also if you are anti war vet and ran for president, would it matter to you then because I think knowing war and knowing it aint so clamarous and talking about it as a person who knows it first hand is a positive. Sorry for the rant but I think you misintepreted General/President Eisenhower. We have plenty of vets here I know.

[helleborient]

45. Wasn't his post about identification?

As someone who would never choose to fight in a war...to enlist...I dont' identify on military issues with those who do. I simply do not identify with someone who would choose to be taught how to shoot a weapon at people to kill them...and who did do that. I know I'm not alone on this.

I was responding to the comment that John Kerry's service in the military makes him identify with everyone. I consider myself as a part of everyone.

I think you can know how horrible war is without serving in the military.

Those who serve in the military often will try and tell you otherwise.

[JohnKleeb]

51. I am not saying that youre wrong

completely wrong hell but that wasnt Ike's point. Well I think in a way it does, most of us here have some relative who served in the military. I know war is horrible as do you but I think people will see it better from the words of a vet, me and you didnt have our friends die with us they did, they know the horrors first hand. I am glad you recognize that war is terrible. My point is Ike wasnt talking about Veterans period, that Kerry kinda has a point with this being that a lot of Americans of all backgrounds have served in the military, and hearing about war first hand is something that people will listen to. If Erich Maria Remarque had been a civilian in WWI, I dont think as many people would have read his beautiful All Quiet on the Western Front, he saw war and knew it. We of course are right, we know war is terrible but Ive gotten my knowledge from reading first hand accounts.

[helleborient]

30. My main point about Gore...

Was that he ran as a populist...I dont' think Phillips would dispute that. Whether he connected or not is another issue entirely.

So I was just calling on the writer of the thread to, in fairness, attack Gore as well...and attack FDR and JFK for being blue-bloods...since being a blue-blood seems to be a bad thing.

I do wonder if a President Gore, Dean, or Kerry might be seen by many as "traitors to their class" but since none has been president yet, unlike FDR and JFK, we don't know.

[AP]

43. I think Phillips would dispute that. Read the book.

Gore ran as an ethical guy who would pass a drug plan for seniors. That's not exactly a populist mesage.

[helleborient]

47. What message is...

I'm for the people and Bush is for corporations? He repeated that almost ad nauseum.

Isn't that a populist message?

[AP]

50. That was not Gore's main message.

People accused him of switching to a populist message late in the campaign and that that confused people, but I don't think he really even did that much. I think that accusation was mostly to make it seem like Democrats SHOULDN"T run a populist message, 'cause the people saying that know that it would work.

[Punkingal]

31. Al's family was not blueblood.....

his father was a self-made man...he used to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. Yes, Al grew up with a father in the Senate, and was privileged, but his roots were not blueblood.

[helleborient]

32. Do you know what Howard Dean's father's history is...?

I genuinely don't...and I am really curious now.

[Fabio]

35. Well, Howard Dean's father was

finance, I believe, and a member of Maidstone Country Club in Long Island. Very exclusive. There was a funny, if inflammatory, item on Page Six in the NYPost about two weeks ago.

Here is the clip, from another source. It's a quote from George Plimpton.
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/ps/20030915/106362098202.html

[helleborient]

37. So which is worse...

Blue-blood country club past?

Or accusations about sexual escapades and sweetheart real-estate deals?

It will be an interesting campaign season whomever the final nominee is.

[Fabio]

40. Sexual escapades?

[helleborient]

44. How would you...and how do you think Repubs will describe this?

"During this period, Kerry was linked romantically with several Hollywood starlets, including Morgan Fairchild, and his dating life became fodder for gossip columnists in Boston and Washington. Kerry declined to discuss this period of his social life, other than to make this reference to the 2000 presidential campaign, in which then-candidate George W. Bush confessed only to unnamed youthful indiscretions."

That's from the article you referenced.

I guess I should have said "dating escapades"

[Fabio]

48. Right. Dating Escapades.

John Kerry went through the vetting of the 1996 Kerry-Weld race, the most competitive race in the country that year -- including Clinton/Dole. He also was subject to more scrutiny as an early front runner than any other candidate. I think the lack of traction of these issues then and now is evident.

No one is saying the right wont attack. They will. But will the attacks hold water? I think a personal attack of this nature carries much less wait than calling someone a raging liberal who is weak on defense.

[helleborient]

49. My CQ "Politics In America" says about Kerry/Weld

That it also was one of the most "clean" Senate races in recent history...partially because Kerry and Weld are actually friends. Trying to compare William Weld's centrist Republican campaign with Tom Delay and company is not really an accurate comparison.

This will not be the environment nationally...just get the defense against scandal whispers machine up and running now.

[JohnKleeb]

52. They are gonna attack anyone and I mean anyone who gets the nod imo

What a sec, all he did was do a little of dating, so did the other JFK surely we shouldnt hold that against him. I dont care about the country club story although I like self made people and also on dating, I think its not big of a deal.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

38. The fear is palpable.

[LuminousX]

39. Is this the new meme?

Is this not the lamest complaint to level at a candidate?

Have we checked PAC contributions? How do you count his time working for other campaigns? This is such a phoney baloney charge that I can't believe a thread has been posted in several forums about it.

Call me when Dean is charged with a DUI or someone claims he took them to Mexico for an abortion when abortions were illegal and while he campaigned for abortions to remain illegal. THEN we can start talking scandal.