Edwards Returns To The Gilded Age

[2rth2pwr]

"back in the period where, you know, the Rockefellers and the Mellons and the Carnegies, all these people, owned most of America or a big chunk of America and they used their money and power to dominate what was happening in the government and to dominate what was happening in the economy."- Edwards
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20071230/cm_thenation/45264073

The only problem for Edwards is that an outside group spending millions on TV ads and mailings on his behalf in Iowa, the Alliance for a New America, is funded in large part through a $500,000 donation by an heir of the Mellon family. It was reported this week that on December 19, the power of attorney for 97-year-old Rachel Lambert Mellon, the daughter-in-law of industrialist Andrew Mellon, donated $495,000 to the Alliance. In '04, Mellon's lawyer made a $250,000 donation to a separate pro-Edwards 527.

In Iowa this week, Edwards was still talking about the Gilded Age but had dropped the reference to Mellon, the AP reported. Edwards claimed it was only a coincidence. "I wish I were that skillful," he responded.

But the thing is--Edwards is that skillful. His campaign decided to accept public funds in the primary with the understanding that well-funded 527s would likely swoop into Iowa on his behalf. After all, the Alliance is run by Edwards campaign manager in '04 and there are emails from back in October linking the group's backers to the campaign.

...an email sent in October by a leader of "SEIU for Edwards" calls for a discussion "with the Edwards campaign what specific sort of support they'd like to see from us," specifically "a serious 527 legal structure." http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=263858

[Armstead]

1. Seven degrees of seperation

I wish everyone were this dilligent in researching all of the supporters of Clinton and Obama, and the 527's supporting them.

To me, Edwards biggest mistake is in overgeneralizing and overstating at times. It's impossible to be as 100 percent pure as he says he wants politics to be.

But making a big deal out of this is silly. Does this mean Ted Kennedy is a bad guy because he is wealthy?

And God knows, the Clintons are rich. And in a few years Obama will be too (unless he is elected president, in which case he'll have to wait four or eight years to cash in.

[cali]

3. Do you believe that all Senators "cash in" on their position and prestige?

It's not so. Biden didn't. Pat Leahy hasn't. I can guarantee that Bernie won't, or Russ Feingold.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. "making a big deal out of this is silly." Top Edwards fundraiser, with POA for wealthy 97yo...

...writes a half million dollar check on her behalf to support John Edwards.
If that's what has happened, it's not 'silly'.

[Armstead]

8. I can't be certain of this but....

Here's what (besides all of the repetitions of the same news report) I could find on attorney Alexander Forger on Google.

I do not know for certain it's the same guy, but it sounds like it. If it is, I would say he has good reasons to support Edwards that are consistent with Edwards basic message....And I also doubt he would be dumb enough to fleece an elderly rich widow to advance his pet cause.

Maybe I';m wrong, but people shouldn't be jumping to conclusions here.

American Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Awards

http://www.americanlawyer.com/LAA.html

Alexander Forger
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy

In private practice, Alexander Forger's clients are the kind of people for whom money is no object and influence is inherited; in public service, he has always dedicated his strongest efforts to those who have neither money nor influence. As chair of New York's Legal Aid Society, Forger helped bring top-level legal advice and assistance to the indigent. When he went to Washington to serve as president of the Legal Services Corporation under President Bill Clinton, he fought fiercely in Congress to rescue a federally funded program that gave poor people meaningful access to the courts, restructuring the organization to adapt to severe budget cuts and restrictions on the types of cases that it can take. If charity begins at home, then Forger's assistance to his partners came in the form of tough love: helping revitalize an old-fashioned firm and ensuring its competitiveness in the modern era of global business, while also urging a greater commitment to pro bono and public service.

[MethuenProgressive]

2. "Forger is an active Edwards supporter, who co-hosted a fundraiser for him."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3908909
I wonder if the 97ish year old Bunny Mellon knows her lawyer is writing half million dollar checks in her name? :shrug:

[PresidentObama]

4. Why wouldn't she? Stop posting anti-Democrat posts.

[MethuenProgressive]

10. Unless it's "Edwards is sooooo pretty!!" it's "anti-Democrat"?

Good luck to your candidate. With supporters of that caliber, he'll need both luck and all the half million dollar checks he can get.

[cali]

5. Why post this again?

You posted it once. Fine. It's a legit story, but it's been posted at least four times- and once before by you.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. This is plenty silly, stretch-wise speaking

[2rth2pwr]

9. How so? nt

[last1standing]

11. Wow! Rehashing a non-issue because the first time failed. How original.

All these superficial attacks (on ALL the candidates) are just disturbingly sick. How can people who do this even sleep at night?

[JDPriestly]

12. "Bunny" Mellon may be rich, but she is an individual.

She gets her money from corporations as stock dividends, etc., but I doubt that she is running a corporation or representing corporate interests at her age.

She was a close friend of Jackie Onassis.

Rarely seen and never photographed, the Listerine heiress, widow of billionaire art collector Paul Mellon, Mrs. Mellon, who is now in her 90s, is famously reclusive and famous for her love of the decorative arts, maintaining homes in Virginia, New York, and Osterville that are fully staffed at all times so that she may arrive (via her private jet) on a moment’s notice with everything prepared for her. A stickler for getting things the way she wants, she once built a large swimming pool on her Osterville estate only to decide when it was finished that the deep end was on the wrong side. The pool was dug up and completely reconstructed to her specifications. A great and loyal friend to Jackie Onassis she was (privately) famous for her extravagant gifts to the former First Lady. When Jackie took up watercolor painting, Mrs. Mellon gifted her with a metal paintbox which held, in place of the brush, two gold earring loops and in the place of each color there were two precious stones with hooks for the earring loops — sapphires (for blue), rubies (for red), emeralds (for green), diamonds (for yellow), etc. A number of years ago Mrs. Mellon built a beautiful mansion with courtyard in the East 70s and is actively involved in maintaining its perfect interior design with a full-time personal interior decorator to assist her.

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/listpopup.php?tid=133

Apparently, this is another Obama cheap shot. Isn't the support of Oprah enough to insulate Obama from the threat of Edwards' 527 money from Bunny Mellon, a long, established supporter of the Kennedys and other such causes. Obama surely knows that Bunny Mellon is not a corporate lobbyist or anything of the sort. She is an art connoisseur

Boy, Obama was my second choice, but with this kind of irrelevant stuff coming from his campaign, I'm beginning to wonder whether I could even vote for him.

[2rth2pwr]

13. The question is does Bunny know that Forger has

written these checks?