PNAC Project Director Contributes to Kerry

[HFishbine]

A Fact

Mark Gerson is a project director at the Project for the New American Century (1) and a contributor to the Kerry campaign (2):

GERSON, MARK L
NEW YORK,NY 10017
GERSON LEHRMAN GROUP
6/30/2001
$1,000
Kerry, John

GERSON, MARK L
NEW YORK,NY 10017
GERSON LEHRMAN GROUP
6/30/2001
$1,000
Kerry, John

------------------
A Question:

One David Epstein, Office of Secretary of Defense, Net Assessment, is a "project participant" at PNAC (3).

Campaign filings show these contributions to the Kerry campaign (4):

EPSTEIN, DAVID
CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138
PATTON BOGGS/SENIOR PARTNER
6/30/2003
$2,000
Kerry, John

EPSTEIN, DAVID
CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138
PATTON BOGGS/SENIOR PARTNER
3/5/2003
$2,000
Kerry, John

EPSTEIN, DAVID
CAMBRIDGE,MA 02138
PATTON BOGGS/SENIOR PARTNER
8/1/2003
$2,000

(Note that these contributions exceed the legal limit.)

While these filings list Epstein as a senior partner with Patton Boggs, he is not listed on the Patton Boggs website.

Is the Epstein of the Office of Secretary of Defense and PNAC participant the same as the Epstein of Patton Boggs? The Net is pretty well scrubbed of any mention of either Epstein. Can anybody confirm or deny they are one in the same?

-------

Sources:

1) http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm

2) http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=GERSON&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=Kerry&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&Order=N

3) http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

4) http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=epstein&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=kerry&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&Order=N

[Wetzelbill]

1. like all maniacs he is trying to keep his options open

[blm]

78. HAHA...Kerry can be bought for 1000 dollars. Yeah right.

.

[blm]

2. Did you see how many PNAC supporters donated to Dean?

After all, Steve Grossman is AIPAC and Toby Moffett is a BIG defense industry moneymaker. I imagine there must be some crossover money to be found.

[ShimokitaJer]

11. No. Why don't you tell us.

After all, I'm sure you wouldn't just "imagine" such things and not have the support to back it up. That would be irresponsible and deceptive.

[HFishbine]

17. Zero

I checked.

[blm]

23. Toby Moffett couldn't get anyone to donate to Dean?

Why? Dean vowed to increase defense spending money to Israel and keep the defense budget for the US.

Gee...you'd think Moffett could do a better selling job.

[HFishbine]

24. I really don't get the point you are making

Are you saying there is something wrong with the Dean campaign because they couldn't (or more likely, wouldn't) get money from PNACers?

[blm]

49. Google Toby Moffett.

Dean's advisor.

Lobbyist extraordinaire, specializing in war profiteering.

[shance]

64. You are making a baseless accusation yet again BLM....have the courtesy to

offer some factual information to what is otherwise rather unjustified and non-cited slander.

Bring proof instead of doing what Rush Limbaugh engages in, by making blanket statements without offering anything to back it up. You would want the same courtesy bestowed on your candidate, so grant us the same respect.

How might you enjoy someone making blanket accusations on you if you were a candidate?

I hope at some point you will see the redeeming value in empathy.

[blm]

77. AM I?? Here's something on Dean's advisor, Moffett...btw

there were a few threads here about Moffett just a few months ago. I expected many would have remembered them. I didn't just bring this up out of nowhere.

He was also a VP at Monsanto a few years back.

Lobbyists Set Sights On Money-Making Opportunities in Iraq

By Thomas B. Edsall and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 2, 2003; Page A21


Some of Washington's top Republican lobbyists are counting on ties to the Bush administration, the congressional leadership and the Iraqi provisional government to turn the embattled country into a major new profit center.


"It's like a huge pot of honey that's attracting a lot of flies," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

>>>>>>>>>>>>
Another lobbying firm run by former House Appropriations Committee chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.) is representing well-placed Iraqi families seeking to form business alliances with U.S. and foreign companies interested in setting up operations in the country, and the firm is exploring working with a Jordanian pharmaceutical firm and an Iraqi business family to produce antibiotics for Iraq.

The Livingston Group is also working on behalf of De La Rue, a British printing and paper company that has won a contract to print some of Iraq's currency, and is now seeking to produce secure travel documents for the fledgling government. Anthony J. "Toby" Moffett Jr., a former Democratic representative from Connecticut who works with Livingston, said his firm's first task was to "make sure the people in decision-making positions knew the severity of the problem as regards to security documentation. We had to try to convince the U.S. government they need to fix this issue sooner rather than later."
>>>>>>>>>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30907-2003Oct1?language=printer

[sangh0]

3. Not the same Gerson

The Gerson who donated to Kerry is a flaming liberal

[HFishbine]

9. Check the sources

I'll put substantiated sources up against unsubstantiated claims any day.

The Gerson on file as a contributor to the Kerry campaign is identified as with the Gerson Lehrman Group. The Gerson working for PNAC is identified as the CEO of Gerson Lehrman Group.

[onebigbadwulf]

4. So if Kerry wins the nomination...

we get to decide between two corrupt, lobbyist favoring, dirty campaigning, rich, out of touch, washington insiders.

God Bless America.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. G-D Bless America

is right. :( *sigh*

[sidwill]

7. Yeah but

Bush is a rich insider ex-male Cheerleader.

[Walt Starr]

12. You forgot "Bonesmen"

like that even matters after everything else.

[Clark Can WIN]

76. Walt, I love your new sig

Thanks for the chuckle.:thumbsup:

[blm]

16. How is Kerry corrupt? He never took corporate pac money.

He exposed more government corruption than any lawmaker alive and YOU claim he's corrupt. Where's your proof?

There are plenty of books about BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning that prove Kerry exposed government corruption and moneylaundering by Reagan and Bush. Do you care to refute their research and claims?

[molly]

18. Dean's not rich?

he's certainly dirty - out of touch - and an insider.

[KoKo]

20. Dean is dirty, out of touch and an insider? Really......

:crazy: How do you define dirty.....he look like he showered the last I saw him. And a re-elected Govenor of VT is "out of touch?" An "Insider" for what?

[KoKo]

22. Haven't seen any information yet refuting Fishbine. Anyone got any?

Does anyone care?

[AntiCoup2K4]

55. No, it's more specific than that.

..we get to decide between two Skull & Bonesmen, backed by the PNAC fascist cult. And that is no choice at all :(

[lovedems]

6. I will be thouroughly pissed at ANY candidate who accepts money from

a PNACer. They should send the money back and boldy inform them they do not want their money or influence!!!!! That will draw a line in the sand for this ABBer.

[eileen_d]

8. Oh God! Who did the PNAC administrative assistants contribute to?

What about the PNAC craft service people? OH THE HUMANITY!!!

Now if I contribute to Kerry, does that mean he will be a slave to my agenda? Then y'all better worry, because my agenda is pretty wacky ;)

[HFishbine]

14. I don't know

I only checked contributions from PNAC principals.

[kerryistheanswer]

103. Give this a rest

You rarely have substance in your posts. This is an inconsequential issue when picking a candidate. Check any of the candidates and you will find some sketchy contributions - that doesn't mean Kerry is a slave to the PNAC.

Rather than attacking another candidate, you should promote your own.

[Sean Reynolds]

81. No. But it says something about the backer.

Why would a PNACer back Kerry? Could it be because he'll progress their agenda if Bush is voted out in November?

[CWebster]

10. Watch this

sink fast.

[lcordero]

13. Seems that his IWR vote was paid for

[Zuni]

15. I have contributed money

and attempted to buy influence. I am also alot more disturbed than the PNAC crowd.
I also will not tell who i contributed to.

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. If he can win over that guy,

He can win over anyone

[sangh0]

21. heh!

.

[oasis]

25. Believe it or not, when Kerry is sworn in, PNAC's plans will fizzle out.

[HFishbine]

26. RU sure?

Or will he co-opt their agenda for the democrats?

"John Kerry will pursue a bold, progressive internationalism* that commits America to lead the world toward liberty and prosperity. (http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/)

PROGRESSIVE INTERNATIONALISM:

We also backed the goal of ousting Saddam Hussein's malignant regime in Iraq, because the previous policy of containment was failing, because Saddam posed a grave danger to America as well as his own brutalized people, and because his blatant defiance of more than a decade's worth of United Nations Security Council resolutions was undermining both collective security and international law. We believed then, and we believe now, that this threat was less imminent than the administration claimed and that the United States should have done much more to win international backing and better prepare for post-war reconstruction. Nonetheless, we are convinced that the Iraqi people, the region and the world are better off now that this barbaric dictator is gone.

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=124&subsecID=158&contentID=252144

[oasis]

28. Bush was manipulated by PNACers. Kerry will kick their rear ends out

of the White House and Pentagon. They will hold no positions of influence.

[AntiCoup2K4]

56. Kerry is advised by PNAC'er Will Marshall

read the above quote from the Kerry site again. That is a PNAC statement if I've ever read one. And unfortunately, I've read all the fascist manifestos on the PNAC website.

[oasis]

58. Will Marshall's more DLC. Kerry does not seek to occupy Syria/ Iran.

[stickdog]

66. Just Iraq and Saudi Arabia, right? (nm)

[AntiCoup2K4]

71. He may be DLC, but he's also PNAC

Not that I'm surprised in the least that a PNAC'er could be in the DLC.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqstatement-031903.htm

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqstatement-032803.htm

[robbedvoter]

86. Yes he does! See # 30 - sponsored the war with Syria act!

[oasis]

91. Syria Accountability Act. Let's be guided by the facts, shall we.

[PassingFair]

100. Don't forget his National Service plan....

where do I sign my kids up!

[ibegurpard]

27. Wow

That's a mighty big leap you're taking, there. Again, wow.

[oasis]

31. Leap? What about a 1 K contribution being a bribe for zapping Syria/Iran?

[Clark Can WIN]

79. I can't believe this wouldn't concern someone

He should send the money back. Yikes, and yikes again.

[anti-NAFTA]

29. It's not surprising.

The neoconservative rats want to control the next administration.

[ComerPerro]

59. No kidding

They will donate to anyone and everyone.

Its sort of like Enron giving money to Democrats.

Sure they do it, but not nearly as much as they do to Republicans. They are just trying to cover every angle.

[robbedvoter]

30. Makes sense. Kerry loves preemption, sponsored the Syria war act

http://robbedvoter.forclark.com/story/2004/1/25/63853/2133
What's not to love if you are a PNAC-er?

And, to follow his words with action, Kerry sponsored the Syria accountability act. He writes a constituent:

"I cosponsored the Syria Accountability Act to hold Syria responsible for its support for terrorism, occupation of Lebanon, and possible pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.  http://jasonfromwaltham.forclark.com/story/2004/1/22/1801/68576

"Even having botched the diplomacy, it is the duty of any president, in the final analysis, to defend this nation and dispel the security threats, both immediate and longer term against it. Saddam Hussein has brought military action upon himself by refusing for 12 years to comply with the mandates of the United Nations." http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=5722

[Hoppin_Mad]

42. Dood documentation - Thanks -nt-

[snoochie]

90. My God

This is what I'm afraid of. All this ranting about Bush and his wars...

:(

[Casablanca]

32. Clearly he thinks Kerry is the best bet to go against Bush ...

And for the wrong reasons.

[HFishbine]

33. Hedging his bets

He's also made contributions to Joe Lieberman and George W.

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=GERSON%2C+mark&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&Order=N

[Clark Can WIN]

80. Not the kind of company I would want to be in

Joe and W?

[arcos]

34. kick! n/t

[SOS]

35. In todays world

of quarter billion dollar presidential campaigns, it's hard to get worked up over two grand donated three years ago.

[arcos]

36. kick n/t

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

37. Well that explains his IWR Vote

Meet the new boss - same as the old boss!

[arcos]

38. kick n/t

[TopesJunkie]

39. Man, this is funny --

There are so many Kerryfanatics on here defending this who would be screaming bloody murder if the guy had donated to Dean. Oh, this just cracks me up to no end.

[SOS]

48. Actually

if Dean had gotten two grand from this guy in another cycle it shouldn't raise a ruckus. Presidential candidates raise $150 million. It is only reasonable to assume that neither Dean nor Kerry would sign the back of each check and memorize the donors name and corporate affiliations. I sent Dean money over the internet and I'd be willing to bet he has no idea who I am.
If Gerson sent Dean $1,000 it would not indicate to me that Dean is in PNACs pocket. It would simply mean that a staffer opened the mail and deposited the checks.

[AntiCoup2K4]

57. And if one of the assholes whose name is on the PNAC manifestos.......

...worked for Dean, what would that indicate to you?

Of course Dean doesn't have any such people in his campaign. but Kerry does. He's not just taking PNAC money, he has them on his active campaign. John Kerry's foreign policy ideas are coming from the same corrupted depraved illegal fascist source that George Bush's foreign policy comes from. Do you comprehend the serious nature of that statement?

[SOS]

70. Which PNAC

members are working on Kerry's campaign?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

73. Will Marshall. Post #71

[SOS]

74. Will Marshall

is the president of the vile Progressive Policy Institute, but after much searching I can't find out what his position in the Kerry campaign is. Does anyone know if Marshall is on Kerry's camapign staff?

[SOS]

82. Marshall not on Kerry campaign

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/kerry/kerrorg.html

Updated 1/8/04

[arcos]

40. kick n/t

[Hoppin_Mad]

41. Damn ! Skull and Botox got nothin' on this news ! ;-)

[ProudToBeLiberal]

43. kick

[mrdmk]

44. Here is what needs to be done

Press the issue with Kerry. I do not want anything to do with the PNAC or the fanatical ideological it spews. He needs to be directly ask if he in any way supports the PNAC and have his statement made public.

Dean has said the right wing of the Republican foreign policy has been wrong throughout the years and needs to be changed.

[Hoppin_Mad]

50. Good idea ! -nt-

[arcos]

45. kick n/t

[lurk_no_more]

46. Congrats to Kerry

Money coming in is always fun to watch when you're top dog.


And then there were none!
” JAFO”

[ozone_man]

47. Oops, looks like a draft is coming regardless

of the bonesman we choose.

[AnnitaR]

51. Think I'll kick this one

just for fun!

:kick:

[Eloriel]

52. Fabulous find, HFishbine

Horrifying, tho.

[arcos]

53. kick again! n/t

[WheresWaldo]

54. I think Kerry should address this issue

distance himself from PNAC et. al.

Just because someone endorses a candidate however doesnt mean that the candidate addresses them or their agenda.

nevertheless, it is something to wonder about, that PNACers would be interested in contributing to a dem candidate like Kerry. Either they want him to win the candidacy because they think their man can beat him, or they think that Kerry represents something they like out of all the dem candidates. kind of like hedging their bets.

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

60. right on fish, time to open the gates on all this.

Raytheon is #16 Overall is what is sKerrying me.

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/contrib.asp?ID=N00000245&Cycle=All

Timewarner #2 and News Corpse #17 explain the FOX and CNN slant on kerry over everyone so far.

[Leilani]

61. What No One Has Mentioned

is that Patton, Boggs is the most influential lobbying firm in D.C.

Boggs is Cokie Roberts brother, who is 1 of the most powerful men in Washington, & has made countless fortunes as a lobbyist.

[anti-bush]

63. And what does Patton Boggs lobby?

According to their website http://www.pattonboggs.com/practiceareas/pubpolicy.html:


For more than three decades, we have been involved in major public policy battles.

* When environmentalists tried to block construction of a pipeline in Alaska in the early 1970s, Patton Boggs helped enact legislation authorizing construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.
* As Chrysler Corporation faced bankruptcy, Patton Boggs' intimate knowledge of congressional procedures led to legislation that provided a $1.5 billion federal loan guarantee that kept the company alive.
* We helped manufacturers of sport-utility vehicles block imposition of an import duty 10 times higher than the duty on cars.
* We secured enactment of "safe harbor" tax leasing rules that enabled capital-intensive companies to remain competitive.
* Patton Boggs lawyers helped major U.S. retailers block legislation in three successive sessions of Congress that would have imposed crippling global quotas on textile and apparel imports.
* Patton Boggs defended a bank chairman before a hostile congressional committee, then sued federal regulators, leading to a highly favorable settlement.
* We led the private-sector effort to eliminate a two-decade-old ban on exporting Alaskan North Slope crude oil.
* Patton Boggs advised clients on trade negotiations, including the Uruguay Round of GATT and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
* We blocked efforts to impose selective tax increases on the advertising industry.
* Patton Boggs lawyers helped Johns Hopkins University Medical School obtain research funds for its efforts to find a treatment for drug addiction.
* Patton Boggs obtained Medicare coverage for colon cancer screening on behalf of the American College of Gastroenterology.
* We continue to counsel a coalition of energy and mining interests with respect to global climate change and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to the U.N. Climate Change Convention.



So they lobby for energy and mining interests, oil companies in Alaska, GATT and NAFTA, reducing corporate taxes, and against textile import limits.

What's not to like?

[stickdog]

67. Let's see. The corporate lobbying part? (nt)

[anti-bush]

62. Spin it any way you like

I will not vote for somebody who staffs or receives donations from the PNAC. I want to hear Kerry respond to this.

[arcos]

65. kick n/t

[JNelson6563]

68. Why's the press being so nice to Kerry?

They think he is no threat to the boy king.

They think he is as acceptable as the boy king.

I'm not sure which but I'm figuring it out.

[AnnitaR]

69. Well, CNN is being nice because

AOL Time Warner is also a big contributor to Kerry's campaign.

:eyes:

[Clark Can WIN]

84. Didn't know that either

That's kinda weird too.

[AntiCoup2K4]

72. Kick for the morning shift

:kick:

[Clark Can WIN]

75. YIKES

that makes me uncomfortable. :scared:

God please don't let us have accepted any money from either of these guys.

[arcos]

83. kick, once again! n/t

[anti-bush]

85. I'll kick it too n/t

[arcos]

107. once again n/t

[Lobo_13]

87. And this is the guy

that want's to stand up to the special interests?

Who's he trying to bullshit? Stealing Dean's message only works if you aren't actually a tool of the special interests.

[robbedvoter]

88. No, this is the guy:

  Kerry no stranger to lobbyists' donations

Senator among top recipients in Congress from special interests
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20040130-9999_1n30kerry.html

By Dana Wilkie and Joe Cantlupe
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

[sleipnir]

89. Wow, Kerry is looking worse and worse each day

I'm not ever voting for him, but really, he's looking more and more deceptive and, well, plain evil each day. This plus, S&B, IWR, Patriot Acts I and II, NCLB, his lack of vote on the overtime, should I go on as to why he'll never get my vote?

[ACPS65]

104. YES I AGREE

SHAME on KERRY for STEALING votes in Iowa/New Hampshire. DEAN OR GREEN!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

92. one more kick

For good measure. Thanks for posting this, y'all

[corporatewhore]

93. how can he call himself a dem after this?

[Clark Can WIN]

94. I thought Clark was supposed to be the PNAC plant

He's going to be very dissapointed at this apparent attempt to upstage him. :silly:

[corporatewhore]

95. havent ruled him out

[Clark Can WIN]

97. Well thank God

[sleipnir]

105. I'm not sure how he can...

He's a Bush-enabler to the Max, whow, he's done in my book, write off Kerry for the good of humanity.

[Cocoa]

96. PNAC! DLC! BBV!

The DU Acronyms of Evil!

Very valid and important things can be said about all of these, but it's also possible to just throw the letters around as if they mean something by themselves.

Kerry has been a U.S. Senator for twenty years, and has written a book on terrorism. Does he hold neoconservative views? Maybe he does. I would be surprised, from what I've heard from him he's nowhere near a neocon.

But anyway, that supposed info means nothing by itself.

[AntiCoup2K4]

98. Let me ask you a hypothetical question.

(and I stress this is hypothetical so you hysterical types take your hands off the alert buttons)

What if the quoted evidence in this thread had shown that Kerry got contributions from the KKK, or that David Duke was advising his campaign?

Would you justify that? Or say "well, OK maybe Kerry took money from the Klan and maybe David Duke is writing his platform, but that doesn't make Kerry a RACIST"

Well, what else would it make him? How could there be a "good" purpose of the KKK?

Answer, obviously, is that there isn't.

And there is no good purpose for PNAC either. There is NO EXCUSE for any association with those fascist bastards.

[corporatewhore]

99. Ah the difference while kucinich was bringing up the issue of PNAC kerry

took money from them

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

101. They are Massachusetts constituents

It isn't that much money and here is what GOOGLE turned up on Mark Gerson of Gerson Lehman:

Mark Gerson
Mark Gerson is the CEO of the Gerson Lehrman Group, a Manhattan based investment research company. A 1998 graduate of Yale Law School, he is the author and editor of several books, including In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School That Works. His articles and essays have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal,The New Republic, Commentary and many other magazines and newspapers.
http://www.imentor.org/about/team.jsp

Here he is participating in Healthcare Models:

Another rule that has developed is something that Mark Gerson, co-CEO of the Gerson Lehrman Group, an investment and research company, calls "network externalities." What he means is that enough people have to join your efforts for everyone else to take you seriously. As Mottard explains, "People are joiners and followers. If we don't know what's a good health plan, how do we judge?

"Well," he continues, "I ask my neighbor, 'Where is everyone else going?' If there's a big line ...." then people assume it must be the place to be.

But it hasn't been just external market pressures; there are internal pressures, too. "Staff models are challenged to compete with the physician productivity of other models," Mottard admits.

While measures of productivity differ, many observers believe that physicians with an employee outlook don't work as hard as physicians who share ownership of a practice. Second, "A fee-for-service patient can leave at any time; an HMO patient is generally locked in for a year," notes Bradford. "So there is a certain amount of taking patients for granted that can happen in our industry." The result can be a physician-centric, user-unfriendly bureaucracy.

http://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/9907/9907.staffmodel.html


Here this dirt is being brought up on the Dean blog (shudders! dirty tricks?)
http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/003451.html

Just scroll down it's there...

[corporatewhore]

102. for some balance AIPAC donated to dean which the PNAC likudniks love

[George_Bonanza]

106. A few bucks from years ago

Who cares?

[janx]

109. A LOT of people care that Kerry was taking PNAC money.

You don't?

[corporatewhore]

111. I care about that and i care that dean took money fromAIPAC

whose positions on mideast mirror the likud-ite pnacers

[janx]

108. So--is THIS what Dean was referring to in his speech today?

I haven't read a transcript, but both Kerry and Clark have received money from PNAC folks.

I don't blame Clark too much because it was part of his job at the time, but...

[janx]

110. kick

.