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.".
Bryan Pfeiffer, Dean Angry About Pharmacy Veto Criticism, News Story, Rutland Herald, June 16, 1994
http://www.brookingsinstitution.org/dybdocroot/gs/cf/headlines/cases/LandellvSorrell.DOCHoward 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
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 CLF 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.
“The department didn’t get anything,” he said.
Sinclair compared it to the negotiations with Vice President Dick Cheney by energy companies that are now subject to an investigation by the General Accounting Office.
http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/43924Dean, 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.shtmlSome Republicans back Dean
By TRACY SCHMALER Vermont Press Bureau Led by South Burlington attorney William Gilbert, a core 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
He said the committee would support Dean's candidacy by reaching out to other moderates in the party
as well as helping Dean with fund-raising. http://www.rutlandherald.com/election2000/repbackdean.html{b]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....Monsanto's Legal Thuggery
by Michael Colby Monsanto's legal team began 1998 by taking on the State of Vermont and its attempts to pass a very weak rBGH law that merely required Monsanto to register with the state and make its client list available to state authorities so "rBGH-free" claims could be verified. The company responded by publicly threatening to sue the state and stop selling its products in Vermont if the bill passed.
Governor Howard Dean, feeling the lobbying heat from Monsanto and its rBGH-addicted farmers in Vermont, came to Monsanto's defense and pulled the plug on the measure
by threatening a veto. The legislature then went on to further soften an already spineless bill by removing the section that required the drug manufacturer's client list. Eventually, after yet another legal threat and a
"closed-door" meeting with Governor Dean, Monsanto backed off and let the near-meaningless legislation go into effect.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/24/monsanto.htmlBesides money, Dean continually intervented for special interestes, greasing the wheels, as it was put by one corportation...
Who's the Real Howard Dean?
As Vermont governor, the liberal firebrand was a fiscal conservative with close ties to businessBusiness leaders were especially impressed with the way Dean went to bat for them if they got snarled in the state's stringent environmental regulations. When Canada's Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. wanted to build a new manufacturing plant on 700 acres of Vermont farmland in the mid-'90s,
for instance, Dean greased the wheels. Husky obtained the necessary permits in near-record time. "He was very hands-on," says an appreciative Dirk Schlimm, the Husky executive in charge of the project.
And when environmentalists tried to limit expansion of snowmaking at ski resorts, "Dean had to show his true colors, and he did -- by insisting on a solution that allowed expanding snowmaking," says Stenger. IBM (IBM ) by far the state's largest private employer, says it got kid-gloves treatment.
"We would meet privately with him three to four times a year to discuss our issues," says John O'Kane, manager for government relations at IBM's Essex Junction plant, "and his secretary of commerce would call me once a week.http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_32/b3845084.htmDoes Howard Dean Have An "Enron" Problem
Did then-Gov. Howard Dean's administration approve a $180 million sweetheart deal to the boys at Entergy, at the same time utility executives were pumping campaign contributions into his then-fledgling campaign for president?
The Dean Administration's Public Service Board last year gave thumbs up to the sale of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to Entergy Corp. Conservationists opposed the deal, and the board rejected a rival energy company's bid to buy the plant a year earlier.
What was different about Entergy's bid to buy the plant that hadn't already been rejected by the Dean Administration? Not much, says Vermont's Conservation Law Foundation - except critical campaign contributions to Dean's presidential campaign at the time the deal was under review.
Vermont utility executives got complete access to the Dean Administration's Public Service Department to pressure a deal on Vermont Yankee that will give the utilities some $25 million for their corporate coffers, and lock ratepayers into high-priced energy costs for the next ten years. This sweetheart deal was struck just after certain utility officials made political contributions to the Governor's presidential bid. Meanwhile, environmental groups didn't get the time of day.
And as usual, ratepayers get stiffed. For years to come, Vermont ratepayers will be forced to pay above-market power costs - more than $100 million -- to Entergy to buy back Vermont Yankee power, while power prices drop everywhere else in New England.
http://www.latefinal.com/archives/000899.htmlhmmm, pot meet kettle.
Dean's speciality reportedly special interest money...
However, a closer examination of Kerry record on special interest money is:
John Kerry Ranks 92nd out of the 100 Senators in Contributions from Special Interest PACS and LobbyistsBush Raised More Lobbyist Funds in 2003 than Kerry Raised in Career
Spokane, WA– While Senator John Kerry has run and won four Senate races over the past 20 years,
he ranks about the bottom of the list of current Senators in contributions from PACs and lobbyists. “George Bush accepted more money last year from lobbyists than John Kerry has in his career,” said Kerry campaign Senior Advisor Michael Meehan. “John Kerry’s vote is not for sale, period. He is the only current Senator to run four campaigns without taking a dime of special interest PAC money.”
“John Kerry is one of the most successful Democrats over the past two decades and one of the party’s top fundraisers,” Meehan added. “Therefore it is understandable that Kerry, who has raised over $45 million from individuals in 20 years, would lead any particular sub-grouping of individual contributors.
“What is stunning is that despite his successful long service in the Senate, 91 other Senators beat Kerry in contributions from PACs and Lobbyists.”
http://www.politicsus.com/020304jkd.htmAccording to the Center for Responsive Politics:
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has raised $25.6 million so far, and has $12.4 million on hand. Among his top contributors are Time Warner ($61,000), Microsoft ($30,000) and IBM ($25,000). Dean's own campaign staffers have contributed nearly $21,000 to their boss' campaign, making the group of them his sixth biggest donor.
Two of Dean's top five donors -- and 10 of his top 20 -- are groups of university employees. University of California employees attained the highest ranking of any organization, with more than $63,000 in contributions to Dean. Dean has raised money from the professors and staff of at least 450 colleges and universities. Those in the education field have contributed a total of $852,000 to Dean's campaign, behind only the legal profession ($966,000).
One-fourth, or $3.1 million, of Dean's itemized contributions has come from California. Fourteen percent, or $1.8 million, was raised in New York state. Dean has collected nearly $930,000 from Massachusetts and $693,000 from his home state of Vermont.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/1016-05.htm Dean Now Courting Party Insiders
Strategy Evolves As Support Grows
By Jim VandeHei and Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 4, 2003; Page A01 Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who has bashed the Washington establishment throughout his presidential campaign, is increasingly courting this city's lawmakers, lobbyists and political operatives to help cement his status as the man to beat for the Democratic nomination.
Dean has convened a regular meeting of Washington insiders and lobbyists, who “meet every other week in the downtown law offices of Hogan & Hartson to plot strategy with key Dean advisers. The group is getting bigger by the week.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A33342-2003Dec3?language=printer
The same organization that Dean tapped for info on Kerry, reports Dean being the highest recipient for money from Heath Care Special Interests and Lobbyists.
As a result of Deans deals with the energy industry, Vermonters pay energy costs that are 50 percent higher than the national average