Reply #2: More On Kerry's Financial Ties To Special Interests [View All]

[KittyWampus]

As a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Kerry is in a key position to influence laws that affect the airline and automotive industries.

This election cycle, the senator was among the top 10 recipients of money from such transportation interests – $87,925.

The construction industry, whose contractors and engineers make billions of dollars from federally funded transportation projects, gave the senator more than $306,000 this cycle, putting Kerry among the top three recipients of this sort of money.

He took $160,220 from general contractors, the companies that typically work in public transportation projects. Only Bush took more – $1.4 million.

Kerry was second to the president in the amount – $2.6 million – he took from the finance, insurance and real estate industries.

He was among the top three recipients – behind Bush and Dean – in the $883,950 he took from the communications and electronics industry.

Kerry was criticized for intervening in 1999 in a Coast Guard rule-making process that affected a foreign cable manufacturer – then taking $7,250 in campaign contributions from the lobbying firm that represented the cable company, according to The Hill newspaper.