This is a broad swipe that tells us nothing about how John Kerry is supposed to have been influenced by these contributions. Anyhow, they rate him very high on disclosure. See for yourself and make your judgements.
Check your own candidate on their site also:
http://www.opensecrets.org/From the posted article:
. . . some campaign finance reform advocates applaud Kerry, who has been in Congress 19 years, for refusing to accept contributions from political action committees, which can pool the resources of its members to give large campaign gifts.
"Part of what Kerry and other Democrats are saying is that they would represent other interests, presumably broader interests like working men and women, and environmentalists," said Thomas Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
John Kerry Releases Fundraiser Names in Effort to Improve Transparency
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2003_1021b.htmlJohn Kerry said, “Throughout my career I have fought for reform in the campaign finance system and I believe strongly that voters should know who is funding campaigns. There is no better reason for transparency than the Bush Administration’s blatant reward of campaign contributors with tax breaks and special favors at every turn.”
“I hope that every Presidential candidate will show their commitment to transparency by releasing the same information from their campaigns.”
Donor list:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/donors.pdf01/06/2004
National Public Radio Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Transcript
January 6, 2004 Tuesday
http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=M000026487&keyword=&phrase=campaign+finance&contain=What's happened is the corporations across this country, whether it's Medicare, the energy bill--$50 billion of oil and gas subsidies for the energy companies at the expense of $18 billion added to the deficit. It's inexcusable. We're witnessing the greatest period of crony capitalism in the modern history of the country and we have to end it with campaign finance reform.
CONAN: But just let me follow up, Senator Kerry. Is there anything besides the money wrong with our political system? Redistricting, for example?
Sen. KERRY: Sure. Absolutely. There are a lot of things that are wrong besides that. But the biggest single reason why the voices of Americans, the average American, is not heard is because so much money flows into Washington. The lobbyists are parading through the halls of Congress. They actually wrote the Medicare bill. They were paid $139 million and they turned it into a $139 billion drug company benefit. It's one of the greatest modern examples of a feeding frenzy at the congressional trough that we've seen in any time that I've been there. And everyone in America understands what's wrong. George Bush is feeding that. We have to stop it.
And as president-you know, I've fought these interests all my life, Neal. I fought against Gingrich's efforts to cut the Clean Air and Clean Water Act. I led the fight to stop the drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. We have to stand up to these interests. I've done it, and I will.
Senator John Forbes Kerry (MA)
Title: Letter to Chair of the Federal Election Commission Ellen L. Weintraub
Date: 12/09/2003 December 9, 2003
http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=M000025731&keyword=&phrase=campaign+finance&contain=The media exemption that the NRA seeks from the Federal Election Commission would allow them to purchase radio and television stations around the country. Then, instead of following campaign finance laws like the rest of America, the NRA would be able to take the millions it receives from the gun lobby and broadcast anything it wants for as long it wants-all under the heading of “news.”
As you know, the reason that current campaign finance laws bar interest groups, like the NRA, from airing television and radio ads about federal candidates in the period leading up to a primary or general election is so that big-money, special interests cannot flood the airwaves with propaganda and one-sided information. Campaign finance laws exempt legitimate news organizations from these rules for good reason - so that a diversity of views can be presented to the public free from censorship.
Like most of their right-wing extremist agenda, the NRA calling itself a news organization insults American's common sense and threatens the public interest. It's time we stood up to the NRA and put our public safety ahead of powerful interests. The NRA will be a “media” organization that scares Americans into thinking that Democrats want to take away all of their guns, but won't be interrupting their regularly scheduled programming with “breaking news” when a child is killed by an assault weapon that was purchased illegally and taken over state lines.
We urge you to prevent the NRA from hijacking America's airwaves with the gun lobby's money. If the NRA has something to say, it can play by the rules, just like the millions of people in America who do everyday. America does not deserve a media that is polluted by the special interests.
08/31/2003
NBC Meet the Press Transcript
August 31, 2003 Sunday
http://www.vote-smart.org/speech_detail.php?speech_id=M000018741&keyword=&phrase=campaign+finance&contain=Paul Wellstone and I wrote the clean elections law for the country. The problem in America is there's too much money in the political system, and I have worked all my career to try to reduce the amount of money and influence in politics. I'm the only person now serving in the Senate with four terms who's run for election not with special-interest money, not with PAC money, not with soft money, not with independent expenditures. The only people who've elected me are individual Americans. And I think it's important to live by the campaign finance reform standard if we can. Now, if Howard Dean goes outside of that, I will reserve the right to do what I need to do because I don't believe in unilateral disarmament, but I think it would be better if every candidate lived by the standards.
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