By the ultra conservative Cato Group:
They even noted that while for the most part, Republicans fare better when it comes to conservatism, a notable exception is Howard Dean:
Overall Fiscal Policy Grade--Pre-1994 Governors
Governor State Score Overall
Fiscal Policy
Grade
Steve Merrill (R) New Hampshire 69 A
Fife Symington (R) Arizona 66 A
William Weld (R) Massachusetts 63 B
Roy Romer (D) Colorado 59 B
Howard Dean (D) Vermont 58 B
Although Republicans tended to do somewhat better (their average grade is C+ versus an average grade of C- for Democrats), there were notable exceptions. Two of the top five pre-1994 governors were Democrats: Roy Romer of Colorado and Howard Dean of Vermont. Two of the five most pro-tax-and-spend old governors were Republicans: George Voinovich of Ohio and Marc Racicot of Montana. The worst fiscal record of the new governors was compiled by Rhode Island Republican Lincoln Almond, who is out of step with his northeastern neighbors.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-257.htmlGuess who else's highest grade from the Cato Institute was a "B"
******************************************************************
Current or recent governors of America's most populous states and their grades are:
George W. Bush of Texas, "B"; George Pataki of New York, "B";
Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania,"; George Ryan of Illinois, "D"; Bob Taft of Ohio, "D"; John Engler of Michigan, "B";
Bush of Florida,; and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, "C." Overall, 16 governors earned a "B" and 16 received a "C."
http://www.cato.org/new/02-01/02-12-01r.html While Many people cite Howard Dean being elected five times as meritorius, one has to ask
who was it who elected him. An insight is given by a Dean advisor, who has been advising him from the start of his career, nearly 30 years:
It’s Business As Usual, Starring HOWARD DEAN"The joke among a lot of Vermont Republicans was that they didn't need to run anyone for governor because they basically had one in office already," said Harlan Sylvester, a conservative Democratic stockbroker and longtime adviser to Dean.
(St. Petersburg Times, July 6, 2003)
http://www.optimalprime.org/archives/001435.html******************************************************************
Oh yes, when it comes to accepting money from special interests, and sources outside of Vermont, Howard Dean was reputed to be the master of this in a legal case that was brought to court as a result of Dean's draining the Vemront fund for candidates wanted to run using only Clean Money:
MARCELLA LANDELL, et al., Plaintiffs, NEIL RANDALL, et al., Plaintiffs, and VERMONT REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE, Plaintiff v. WILLIAM H. SORRELL, et al., Defendants, and VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP, et al., Defendant-Intervenors
Docket No. 2:99-cv-146
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF VERMONT
August 10, 2000, Decided
August 10, 2000, Filed Reports also described allegations that
Governor Dean vetoed a pharmacy bill after collecting $ 6,000 in campaign contributions from drug companies.
The influence of out-of-state donations: "Outside money is one of Howard Dean's specialties. Of the $ 312,290 the governor raised for his 1996 election, 65 percent came from out-of-state contributors: labor unions,
Washington lawyer-lobbyists, the health care industry, to name a few of the special interests." n13 For the 1994 election "Dean, for example, received more money from major pharmaceutical manufacturers during the reporting period ($ 11,000) thin he did from people and companies located in Burlington ($ 10,460)." n14 One editorial said, "it's no mystery why out-of-state contributors pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Vermont campaigns. ... They're trying to buy influence. But the cost is public trust." n15
http://www.brookingsinstitution.org/dybdocroot/gs/cf/headlines/cases/LandellvSorrell.DOCDean who is attacking "Washington Insiders" for taking money from special interests leaves out
himself and his own massive contributions from special interests:
Dean has collected a good deal of his campaign funding from special interests, but he is aware of the last loophole left in campaign contributions, bundling. You have the corporation or wealthy individuals divide multiple contributions into smaller chunks and send them in at different times. Otherwise how could have Dean collected 60,000 from Time Warner:
Candidates help their supporters
Howard Dean's top career patrons are Time Warner, $65,225; Microsoft Corp., $25,100, and IBM Corp., $23,250.
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8676~1880270,00.htm ...
Dean raises money from energy sources
February 27, 2002
By David Gram
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTPELIER — When Gov. Howard Dean wanted to raise money for a possible presidential bid, he followed the example of a former governor of Texas and called on his friends in the energy industry.
Nearly a fifth of the roughly $111,000 collected in its first months by Dean’s presidential political action committee, the Fund for a Healthy America, came from people with ties to Vermont’s electric utilities, according to a recent Federal Elections Commission filing.
It should be no surprise. Dean and utility executives have had a long and friendly relationship.
One donor who gave Dean’s PAC the maximum amount allowed — $5,000 — said he did so because he and his wife “agree with many of the things the fund is talking about — fiscal conservatism, education, health care.”
http://timesargus.com/Legislature/Story/43125.html Claims that Dean has been given funds by special interests also abound:
seeks details of Dean administration’s talks with utilities
March 11, 2002
(from the State section)
By SUSAN SMALLHEER Southern Vermont Bureau
MONTPELIER — The Conservation Law Foundation will file a freedom of information request with the Dean administration today to find out how many contacts it has had with Vermont utility executives over the pending sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Mark Sinclair, senior attorney with the environmental group, said Monday that recent news reports about the financial contributions made by Vermont utility executives or board members to Gov. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign political action committee were “too much of a coincidence.”
Sinclair said the new offer from Entergy Nuclear of Jackson, Miss., last week wasn’t substantially better than the original bid, and doesn’t really address the serious concerns raised by the state earlier this winter about local control and other economic issues.
http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/43924 But there are even more suspect connections, related to a group of Republicans called "Republicans for Dean"
Some Republicans back Dean
By TRACY SCHMALER Vermont Press Bureau
MONTPELIER - Democratic Gov. Howard Dean got a boost from the other side Thursday when a group of prominent Republicans turned out to support his re-election bid.
[] by South Burlington attorney William Gilbertcore group of 11 Republicans said they believed Dean has proven his ability to lead the state in a fiscally responsible direction and for that reason, and his nine years of experience, he is their choice over GOP candidate Ruth Dwyer...
Gilbert, a former member of the late Gov. Richard Snelling's administration, said he took the initiative to form the group, which boasts a membership of more than 30 moderate Republicans from around the state who back Dean.
He said the committee would support Dean's candidacy by reaching out to other moderates in the party well as helping Dean with fund-raising.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/election2000/repbackdean.html But this william Gilbert it the same William Gilbert who was the head of Deans secret energy task force, and also an executive for Vermont Utilities Companies:
Dean, Cheney And Energy Secrecy
Dean's Vermont re-election campaign received only small contributions from energy executives, but a political action committee created as he prepared to run for president collected $19,000, or nearly a fifth of its first $110,000, from donors tied to Vermont's electric utilities.
One co-chairman of Dean's task force, William Gilbert, was a Republican lawyer who had done work for state utilities. At the time, Gilbert also served on the board of Vermont Gas Systems, a subsidiary of Hydro Quebec.
Many state legislators, including Dean's fellow Democrats, were angered that the task force met secretly.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/26/politics/main590311.shtml And how universities(who are also special interests) have contributed a significant sum of Dean's total contributions:
Campus cash crucial to candidates
UC faculty, staff are among Democrat Howard Dean's biggest contributors
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean and President George W. Bush are big men on campus when it comes to fund raising, a campaign finance watchdog group has found.
And no U.S. university or college is friendlier to Dean than the University of California, the Center for Responsive Politics found in a study of presidential campaign contributors from the education sector. UC system faculty and staff had anted up $51,124 for the former Vermont governor by Sept. 30, more than twice the amount given by donors from the next-closest university on the list -- Harvard, at $24,150....
Dean collected almost $719,000 from education interests through Sept. 30, ranking that sector third most-lucrative behind retirees ($1.6 million)
and lawyers ($932,000). Among other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, education is the 10th most lucrative sector ($325,915) for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; eighth ($174,324) for U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; 15th ($107,420) for U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.; ninth ($207,640) for U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.; third ($119,898) for retired Gen. Wesley Clark; third ($69,809) for U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; 16th ($3,250) for former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun; and 18th ($2,990) for the Rev. Al Sharpton.
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~1870457,00.... So Dean collected significant bundled finds from universities, which could serve these special interests well, as the Higher Education Act, which funds billions of dollars in federal student-aid programs, comes up for reauthorization next year...
And nealy a million from lawyers, who Kerry is being criticized for collecting money from.
as noted, from one special interest group in which Dean collected the most money, Kerry collected the leastSorry, but Dean is just as guilty of collecting large sums from special interests, just that spending on how your campaign asks the funds to be contributed, can have a rather large effect on how you can claim your finds are donated. Just because you can claim an average of less than 100 dollars per contributor, doesn’t mean you do not have some very rich people contributing 100 dollars 20 times. Or that in order for a large organization to contribute large sums, it doesn’t give money to its employees to donate to campaigns.
This is the way that the Koch Brothers of Koch industries managed to skirt campaign finance laws and contribute nearly 25 million to Bush's 2000 campaign. By contributing 2000 dollars for 11250 of its employees (give them a 2000 bonus to contribute to the cnadidate of their choice and let them know which candidate you expect that to be, using any variety of inducements)
It is interesting how Dean has collected more money from lawyers(law firms) alone, in this last year, that Kerry is accused of having gotten from all special interests in 18 years in congress.
The most interesting factor is that contributions that Kerry rececieved are not directly linked to decisions that Kerry mad in Congress, but Dean's behavior was so flagrantly obvious, that he is being sued so that the people of Vermont can have access to the record of Deans contacts during the time he made deals with people who later contribute to his presidential campaign, leavin the people of Vermont stuck with bill that are running in the hundres of millions of dollars (Hydro-Quebec)
Dean hiimself has absolutely no record of ever standing up to special interests and as the Monsanto case indicates, when Monsanto told Dean that they didnt like a piece of very weak legislation, which set up a
voluntary list of dairy's that gave their cows various growth and milk hormones, Dena went from being a supporter of the legislation, to threatening to veto it, after one secret meeting Dean had with Monsanto.
Dean is cetainly involved in colectin money from special interest organizations, but Dean also has members of the special interest organizations who he has taken donations from as advisors to his campaign:
According to studies by campaign finance watchdog groups, Howard Dean and Wesley K. Clark are less dependent than Kerry and Edwards on affluent donors,
but they also collect money from corporate officials and rely for guidance on the kind of Washington insiders they criticize. http://rutlandherald.com/04/Story/78135.htmlThere are not records from Deans career that will show that Dean actually has ever stood up and fought against any corporation for any abuses they have commited while he was Governor. When Dean vetoed substantial legislation, on a few occasions he passed very weak, "looks like he is doing something" legislation. After vetoing legislation that was designed to control the price gouging of the state and the Citizens of Vermont by Pharmaceutical compaines, Dean passes a rather weak law that prohibits pharmaceutical companies from giving gifts greater than 25 dollars in value to doctors, excepting sample medications. This legislation was regarded as a joke by everyone but Dean. Dean was greatly criticized by Vemront Democrats and Progressives for this useless bill, which did nothing to deal with the real problem, drug companies overcharging for their products.
When it came to gay rights, Dean was never at the forefront of the fight for civil unions but avoided giving any support or response on his stance until he was trapped into doing so.
The same thing with Vermonts Progressive property tax. Dean did not support it, and in fact supported the regressive legislations that the Vermont Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
No matter how many times they are confronted with these facts about Dean, his campaign and suppoters have no answers for Deans behavior as Governor.
Not a single case of Dean coming forth and creating something new, or presenting a bold new vision for the legislatures he has led, can be found. All Vermont's social and health care legislation were the projects of Deans predecessor, and the liberal Vermont Legislature who created the programs. Dean did all he could to reduce the funding to every one of those programs.
Yet fiscal conservative that he is, when Dean came into office, the state budget was a little over 890 million dollars. The year he left office, the budget was over three billion. Yet Dean did not reduce the number of people living without health insurance. During the ten years he serves as Governor, the poor got poorer, the ,middle class conpletely stagnated, more people moved into poverty(as a matter of fact, the perentage of people who moved into poverty in Vermont while Dean was governor equals the current percentage of people who have gonr from middle class to poverty, yet this was while Bill Clinton was accomplishiing the opposite on a national scale).
The Economic Policy Institute's analysis of Vermont during the 90's show a situation that rather resembles the economic dilemma the nation curently faces:
Vermont at a GlanceMany families in Vermont saw moderate improvements in their standard of living over the 1990s as the wages of median-wage workers grew. However, low-wage workers saw their wages decline over the 1990s, and median income stagnated. The poverty rate and income inequality in Vermont grew over the 1990s (see link below for table).
Median family income for four-person families
Middle-income families in Vermont have not fared particularly well during the current economic expansion. The incomes of families in the middle of the income distribution stagnated over the 1990s. Median family income for four-person families was $53,691 in 1998, compared to its 1989 level of $53,103 (in 1998 dollars).
Income inequality
Income inequality in Vermont grew over the 1990s. In the late 1990s, the income of the wealthiest 20% of families was 8.4 times that of the poorest 20% of families. By comparison, in the late 1980s, the wealthiest 20% of families had 7.4 times the income of the poorest 20%.
Poverty rate
The poverty rate in Vermont grew during the 1990s, from 8.1% in 1987-88 to 9.6% in 1997-98. However, the poverty rate in Vermont in the late 1990s remained below the national rate (13.0% in 1997-98).
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/datazone_states_usmap_vtThe article goes on to state that had it not been for the gains that Vermont experienced Pre-Dean, the effest of Deans ideas on average Vermonters would have been far worse.
While Dean was assiting the wealthiest Vermonters with his economic policy, he also decided to give them a tax treat, and and increase the tax burden on the poor and the middle class:
Vermont’s Tax Code: No Breaks for the Poor and Middle Class
When all Vermont taxes are totaled up, the study found that: The richest Vermont taxpayers—with average incomes of $686,000—pay 9.7% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes before accounting for the tax savings from federal itemized deductions. After the federal offset, they pay only 7.1%.
Middle-income taxpayers in Vermont—those earning between $27,000 and $44,000—pay 9.8% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes before the federal deduction offset and 9.5% after the offset—much more than what the rich pay.
# Vermont families earning less than $16,000—the poorest fifth of Vermont non-elderly taxpayers—pay 10% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes, one and half times the share the wealthiest Vermonters pay.
“Vermont’s income tax is not progressive enough to offset the regressivity of its sales and excise taxes,” McIntyre said. “Taxes ought to be based on people’s ability to pay them, which means that the share of income paid in taxes should rise as income grows, not fall as is the case in Vermont.”
http://www.itepnet.org/wp2000/vt%20pr.pdf.Well, people at DFA have copy machines and the Internet.
Fortunately so do the supporters other candidates.
The absolutely great part is that now, nothing Dean throws at Kerry sticks.
Not only does it not stick , but every time Dean makes an accusation, Kerry wins states by every growing margins. In half of yesterdays states, Kerry recived more votes than all of the candidates put togetther. In every state, Kerry received delegates, close to the number of delegates that the winners did in the two states he did not win. In a number of states, Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman outperformed Howard Dean.
And in the states where Dean is looking to win this weekend, Dean is not only not expected to win, but he is not expected to do well.
Kerry is doing 37 percent in Michigan, Dean 14 percent.
Dean has a web site, and copy machines and so on.
So does everyone else.ANd we can use the just as effectively as DFA.
It shows in the primaries, and it shows in the polls.
And the one factor that is becoming more and more of a detriment to Dean. With each attack he begins, the less electable he appears to be to the electorate.
And all the exit polls over the last nine primaries and caucuses have revealed on thing over all. The electability is the one most important factor in the choices that the majority are making.
Howard Dean just doesnt cut it in that department, to the masses of American voters making thier choices now.
So do continue. It is the best thing that the Dean campaign can do to alift Kerry to sweeping victory.
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