As Howard Dean's presidential campaign tore through the millions it raised last year, nearly a quarter of it went to the company owned in part by his former campaign manager.
The campaign paid $7.2 million to Trippi, McMahon and Squier, the Virginia-based consulting and media firm – about 23 percent of the $31.7 million it spent through Dec. 31, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks political spending.
Joe Trippi, one of the company's partners, was Dr. Dean's campaign manager for a year – until he was ousted last month and replaced by Roy Neel. Dr. Dean asked Mr. Trippi to stay on as an adviser, but Mr. Trippi quit.
If this isn't an example of how the Democratic party eats their own, I don't know what is. Back when Howard Dean was Governor of Vermont, he used to regularly appear on a PBS show called "The Editors." Turns out he said some not-nice things about Al Gore. "He has a lot of attributes, but...there are some things I am concerned about. One of them is being quick on your feet. He is not." Apparently, he was fast enough on his feet to endorse Dean and give the shaft to his former running mate, Joe Lieberman.
He also thought so highly of the Iowa caucases he is now competing in to say that people "can't stand there and listen to everyone else's opinions for eight hours about how to fix the world." Another dandy from the same series of shows: "George Bush, I believe, is in his soul a moderate." That should make good fodder for the first debate if he is the nominee. He also lamented in February 1999, regarding Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat, that "The next great tragedy is going to be Arafat's passing, believe it or not." Oh joy..just the man we need in the oval office.
If Howard Dean thought locking away his records while he was governor was going to keep his past from haunting him, he's about to get his reality check. The next 10 months are going to be so much fun, can you stand it?
A poster in Tokyo has come across a website in Japan soliciting money from foreign nationals to aid Dean in his presidential bid.
Foreign citizens are barred by federal law from contributing to a federal election. Also donations under 200$ do not need to be reported to the FEC. This follows the news that Kucinich has received laundered foreign money.
10 questions for for Dean from liberal Democrats who want answers. (I didn't write it) ***************************************************
1. Why did you support sending Vermont's nuclear waste to the poor, mostly Hispanic town of Sierra Blanca, Texas, 16 miles from the Mexican border -- a plan described as "blatant environmental racism" by Paul Wellstone?
2. Why did the Dean administration increase funding for Vermont's state colleges by only 7% while you increased funding for prisons by 150%?
3. Why did IBM, the leading polluter in Vermont, receive your Environmental Achievement Award nine times?
4. What did you mean when you said, "I've had 40 or 45 private meetings with IBM since I've been governor. And IBM has gotten pretty much everything they've asked for"?
6. Why did you wait for the courts and legislature to bring about the civil union bill before you supported it? Why did you sign the bill in private when you finally did sign it?
7. Why do you oppose the Israeli Labour Party candidate for prime minister Amram Mitzna's call for unconditional peace talks with the Palestinians?
8. While you acknowledge that you "haven't condemned Congress for passing the Patriot Act," Bernie Sanders from your own state of Vermont is leading efforts in Congress to overturn the Act. Why are you not supporting Bernie Sanders' efforts and condemning Congress for its attack on civil liberties?
9. How do you respond to Annette Smith of Vermonters of a Clean Environment who says: "Dean's attempt to run for president as an environmentalist is nothing but a fraud. He's destroyed the Agency of Natural Resources, he's refused to meet with environmentalists while constantly meeting with developers, and he's made the permitting process one, big dysfunctional joke. EP under Governor Dean meant Expedite Permits, not Environmental Protection"?
10. Since you pride yourself on your "fiscal responsibility" who do you refuse to even consider any decreases in the bloated Pentagon budget?
