Kerry's expenses: That's the tickets

[paineinthearse]

DeLay backlash. We can expect the rethugs to pull every dirty trick and the enabling of every muckraking rag in retaliation for exposing DeLay's scandals, which are infinately more significant than a parking ticket. Not that I endorse use of campaign funds, but the scale is extremely skewed.

==============

http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=81533

Kerry's expenses: That's the tickets
By Andrew Miga
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - Updated: 08:36 AM EST

WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry tapped campaign funds for Red Sox tickets and to pay nearly $300 in overdue Boston parking tickets in March, records show. Kerry's Senate campaign committee wrote a $287 check to the City of Boston Parking Clerk on March 31, 2005. The Bay State senator listed ``travel expense'' as the purpose for the expenditure. Kerry leased a car for campaign-related travel in Massachusetts that was cited for about a half-dozen parking tickets in Boston. Most of the tickets were issued in October and November 2003 and not paid until more than 15 months later in March 2005 after accruing penalty fees. ``They were leftover tickets we only found out about when we closed out the lease,'' Kerry spokeswoman Jenny Backus said. ``The car was used for the Senate campaign by staffers and volunteers.''

Kerry, meanwhile, used presidential campaign funds for a $3,150 tab for Boston Red Sox tickets in July when he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park before the Democratic National Convention. A Federal Election Commission spokesman said congressmen are entitled to pay for parking tickets and other expenses from their campaign funds as long as they were ``campaign-related.'' Other members of the Bay State congressional delegation also reported some novel spending this year. U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) spent $1,231 on makeup services during a two-week stretch in March, according to his most recent FEC report. ``Congresssman Lynch had a pretty intensive round of TV interviews due to the baseball steroid hearings, the Big Dig hearings and his Iraq trip,'' Lynch spokesman Matt Ferraguto said.

[democracyindanger]

1. Gah. Boston Herald. Now I have to take another shower.

[freedom_to_read]

6. The Herald is an utter piece of crap

And they've been hunting after Kerry for years.

Good thing no one reads it.

[blm]

The Herald is a Murdoch paper. Proof positive that the rightwing fascists

use their media control to distort the records of Dems, and propagandize especially against two powerhouse Dems like Kerry and Kennedy. Why else would Murdoch add a Boston paper?

[sniffa]

2. wait tiLL you hear

who kerry took to the game: osama bin Laden and jaques chirac.

[xultar]

3. Well I heard he woulda took Uncle Saddy but he was diggin his hole

and couldn't go.

[UpInArms]

4. LOL!

So that's where they got those pictures of them side-by-side to put up on the billboards!

:rofl:

[Roland99]

20. And Jane Fonda took a crap on a Yankees cap.

[blm]

5. Kerry HAD to pay for those tix or the campaign press corps couldn't

get in.

Does the Herald want to presume that all Bush's press ops were paid for without campaign funds or better yet, taxpayers' money?

[FreedomAngel82]

16. Good question's

In some of the campaign events held by Bush didn't the town pay for it? I remember about that. One time Bush was on some riverboat and left the town thousands of bucks to pay for it and they didn't even pay a dime. Go fucking figure. This makes Kerry look better then them. It shows he pays people back.

[librechik]

7. $300 vs $500,000 for the DeLay girls alone (and climbing)

There is a comparison typical of Republican number crunchers.

[KittyWampus]

8. If The Tickets Were Incurred While Campaigning- So What?

If throwing a pitch at the Sox game was part of his campaigning- So What?

And the parking tickets noone knew about were probably from staffers.

Damn, PARKING TICKETS?

They are desperate.

Kerry really is close to squeaky clean if this is all they got.

And how much of the taxpayers money did Jr. illegally spend campaigning around the country and pretending he was actually conducting business?

This reminds me of when it was reported some Clark staffer got a speeding ticket.

How did Laura Bush kill her ex boyfriend?

[Vektor]

35. Exactly what I was going to say!

Parking tickets?! Whoopty shit!

[doodadem]

9. I don't see the problem

Does anyone think Kerry throwing out the first pitch was not political campaigning? As for the parking tickets, if campaign staffers are running around getting tickets while working on his behalf, what's he going to do--make them pay the tickets themselves?

[FreedomAngel82]

18. I don't see a problem either

He paid the money and let people have a good time. Good grief. Didn't Bush pitch the first game at a DC stadium? Talk about political.

[emulatorloo]

10. OK, Boston Herald. Now Tell Me About Bush's SS Town Hall Meeting Expenses

and who is paying for what basically amounts to private Repug Only Bush Support Rallies and Photo Ops?

Should I as a taxpayer have to fund Karen Hughes' latest United Colors Of Benneton style ad for GWB half baked policies?

[JRob]

11. Give me a break!

How is this relevant to the Delay issue.

I look forward to the backlash on the press when the majority of the country finally realizes exactly how far up Bush's ass they've had their heads since before he took office in 2000...

[Career Prole]

12. Bring it on!

Parking tickets? On a campaign staff lease car? Ooooooh! :scared:

[Brooklyn Michael]

13. That's IT? THAT's the best they had?

Shit....take it easy, John, we've got this one....

Parking tickets for car used for campaign - acceptable usage.

Major nationally televised photo-op during campaign, during which he throws a lame-ass pitch that Republicans and the MSM made a week's worth of hay out of - not only acceptably campaign-related, but the GOP should have paid HIM for the lame throw.

Next?

[KittyWampus]

14. How Much Money Did Armstrong Get Paid To Shill?

[KittyWampus]

15. How Much Were Those Free Enron Plane Rides In 2000 Election Worth?

[insane_cratic_gal]

17. LOL is that all they got?

300 bucks??

That's pathetic. "Oh the morals! The corruptions of those tree hugging liberals!"

[CAG]

19. Clinton whitewater $20,000 = Bush Harkin/Enron's bankruptcy millions

Kerry's few thousands = Delay's tens of thousands

Thats all the repubs and that "librul" media can ever do; try to find a parking ticket problem of a democrat and equate that with corporate rape of millions by the repubs.

[fob]

21. Good, let's bring it all up. Hey did bush* pay for any tix at ANY game

he's thrown the first pitch? Let's investigate bush* and the RNC while we're at it!

Dems have to pay for their own makeup services for TV interviews?

I've seen several times on here people bitching about what's stopping Dems from calling a press conference and getting their side of the story out. NOW do you see why that's not as easy as some think it is? Dems gotta pay for baseball tickets to get the press to cover a FUCKING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE throw out the first pitch just before the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, and still others have to pay for makeup services so they don't look like frigging zombies and some DUers will still bash Dems for not getting in front of a camera. Hellooooo, does "So-called Librul Media" mean anything to you?

/rant

[Dr Fate]

22. That is why the Gannon story or the new Iraq Lies memo is better. n/t

Nuff said.

[mountainvue]

23. So?

Much ado about nothing.
Focus on the dirty DeLay.

[Tempest]

24. It's legal

It was during the campaign and all public stops, including sports events, are considered campaign stops.

At least Kerry didn't use taxpayer money like Bush did when he went to baseball games during the 2004 campaign.

[Caution]

25. The story then goes on to say it is all legal

and normal under campaign expenses. Of course this only comes up about 8 grafs in.

There was another article in this rag excoriating other Mass dems for trips taken paid for by outside groups....Of course only in the last paragraph is it explained that none of them were actually paid by lobbyists or lobbying groups and that all of the activity was not only entirely legal, but also taken during session breaks and on the congresspeople's own time.

[UCLA Dem]

26. Blah, blah, blah...thats all they got. please.

[Toucano]

27. Is this the BEST they can do?

:rofl:

Ball game tickets and parking tickets? That's supposed to compare with lavish golf trips funded by lobbyists and foreigners that were in no way campaign related?

That's supposed to compare with putting non-working family members on the payroll?

Okay, pubs. Nice find. Run with it, okay?

[rodeodance]

28. Lets have an article similar to this about the Bush/cheney travel expences

[rodeodance]

29. yes, as someone above said-they are legal--so what is the beef.

.....A Federal Election Commission spokesman said congressmen are entitled to pay for parking tickets and other expenses from their campaign funds as long as they were ``campaign-related.'' Other members of the Bay State congressional delegation also reported some novel spending this year. U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) spent $1,231 on makeup services during a two-week stretch in March, according to his most recent FEC report. ``Congresssman Lynch had a pretty intensive round of TV interviews due to the baseball steroid hearings, the Big Dig hearings and his Iraq trip,'' Lynch spokesman Matt Ferraguto said.

[paineinthearse]

36. "Sen. John F. Kerry tapped campaign funds"

Most Hearald readers don't make it past the first line or paragraph. They tend to read headlines and look at the pictures.

They will take away that what he did was illegal.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

30. Now:

Show us the bill for flying AF1 in and out of a nascar race in 2004.


Who paid for THAT you fascist fucks?

[TayTay]

31. I don't know, I smell a Pulitzer

All they need is that one elusive tanning salon receipt and I think Boston's 'other newspaper' of record will be finding a spot to put that Pulitzer certificate. Seriously! I haven't read anything this captivating and headline shatteringly significant since their expose on Cat Ladies in the Back Bay! My heart is all aflutter.

[JerseygirlCT]

32. I'm sorry, I don't understand

why would the Sox tix not be considered campaign expenses? I sure remember watching that game, and all the celebs with Kerry and all the fuss. Was great campaign coverage, I thought.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. But what about that haircut?

Remember that expensive haircut he was criticized for during the campaign? Did he use campaign funds for that too?

I smell a scandal. LOL

[NAO]

34. The $1,000 French Haircut?

It cost only $1,000, yet his hair looked like a million bucks!

Parking tickets? These people are really grasping.

[demgrrrll]

37. I read the the tickets were issued to a car used in the campaign and

that the FEC had declared that the expenses were legitimate so there really isn't a story. I will explode if any Republican in any way shape or form uses this as any kind of comparison to Tom Delay. Or uses this issue in a sentence for "fairness" when discussing Mr. Delay. No Apologies. Back those bullies right back down. I have had it up to here with side by side comparisons of so called similar issues.