Is the AP's John Solomon a mediawhore,or just a friend of AIG's Greenberg?

[papau]

Below is the Story John Solomon (albeit following the Boston Globe) filed with the headline :


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3709531,00.html
AP Exclusive: Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash

Wednesday February 4, 2004 10:16 PM
By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project. John Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation.

Over the next two years, the insurer, American International Group, paid Kerry's way on a trip to Vermont (JOHN HIDES THE COST reimbursement by AIG for the travel for the speech OF $540 -reported by Kerry in September 2001 to the Senate ethics office --till later in story) and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group Kerry used to set up his presidential campaign (IS it a lie to imply that the monies given others actually were campaign expenses? -This tax-exempt group, the Citizen Soldier Fund, did good deeds - granted they included donations to the state Democratic parties in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina as per the Boston Globe- but SOLOMON tries to imply doing good deeds was "lay groundwork for his presidential campaign"). Company executives donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns. Were the two connected? Kerry says not.

But to some government watchdogs, the tale of the Massachusetts senator's 2000 intervention, detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, is a textbook case of the special interest politicking that Kerry rails against on the presidential trail.
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Comment:
Of course if you read the whole article you find that Kerry was on the right side of the issue. and self disclosed all AIG monies.Seems the construction was still going on and to stop it would have hurt Boston and all those employed on the project. Kerry and Kennedy called for the investigations into the accounting. It was GOP governors who had managed the Big Dig. Kerry and Kennedy acted properly...Kerry's office confirmed Wednesday that as member of the Senate Commerce Committee he persuaded committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., to drop a provision that would have stripped $150 million from the project and ended the insurance funding loophole...
The Massachusetts Democrat actually was angered by the loophole but didn't want money stripped from the project because it would hurt his constituents who needed the Boston project finished, spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said...When the "AIG investment scheme (came) to light, John Kerry called for public hearings to investigate the parties involved and the legality of the investment practices. However, he firmly believed cutting funding for the Big Dig was not the answer," Cutter said...Instead of McCain's bluntly worded legislation, Kerry asked for a committee hearing in May 2000. Kerry thanked McCain at the start of the hearing for dropping his legislation and an AIG executive was permitted to testify that he believed the company's work for the Big Dig was a good thing even though it was criticized by federal auditors...Asked why Kerry would subsequently accept a trip and money from AIG in 2001 and 2002 if he was angered by the investment scheme, Cutter replied: "Any contributions AIG made to the senator's campaign came years after the investigation. Throughout his career, John Kerry has stood up to special interests on behalf of average Americans. This case is no different.".

The AP's Mr. SOLOMON doesn't mention Greenberg -Chairmen of AIG - is rabid GOP nut who has a reputation known to me of telling lies/burning out/ and firing and driving away great people (indeed a bit like Jack Welch of NBC/GOP/GE fame) while acting on his great fondness for the GOP.

Should we applaud AIG's contribution to Dems when Clinton was in office in order to control insurance lobbying - should Dems have refused the money (not in this corrupt system - in my opinion)?

Or should we remember that Maurice is not nice - - Indeed, should we suspect a Bush Pinoneer named Maurice of Planting this story? - Should we be suspect John Solomon of the AP of being on the take, of being a corrupt GOP media whore? And why does the Globe try to imply giving money to other Democratic organizations is "bad".

I report - you decide.





http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/maurice_greenberg.html

This report was published in July 2000. Pioneer Profiles: George W. Bush's $100,000 Club

Name: Maurice R. Greenberg
Occupation: CEO & Chair, American International Group
Industry: Insurance
Home: New York, New York
1999 Salary & Perks: $27 Million

Political Contributions:
Bush Gubernatorial Races: $5,000
Republican Hard Money: $83,000
Republican Soft Money: $0
Democratic Hard Money: $8,000
Democratic Soft Money: $0
Federal PAC Hard Money: $30,000
Total Contributions: $126,000

Soft Money from Employer: $1,278,100
to Republicans: $658,100
to Democrats: $620,000


Like Pioneer Heinz Prechter, President Bush took big-donor insurance magnate Maurice “Hank” Greenberg along with him on his ’92 trade mission to Asia. As a result of this “access,” AIG got to sell more insurance in Japan and became the first foreign company allowed to sell insurance in China. Besides being a huge political funder, Greenberg is a major underwriter of the Heritage Foundation think tank (see Pioneer Elaine Chao). Imagine his horror to discover a Heritage thinker urging Congress to postpone its 2000 vote on normalizing trade with Greenberg’s beloved China. After Greenberg threatened to cut off funding, the think tank rethunk its position and issued a new report: “How Trade With China Benefits Americans.” AIG scored a revolving-door coup in ’98 when it hired Ernest Patrikis, an official departing the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as a “special adviser” to Greenberg. An AIG subsidiary, AIG Capital Partners Inc., paid a $500,000 “finder’s fee” to Pioneer Wayne Berman, who helped the company land a contract to manage $100 million in state pension investments from ex-Connecticut Treasurer Paul Silvester. Silvester was convicted in ’99 of taking kickbacks from the private money managers to whom he awarded investment contracts. AIG paid Greenberg more than $6 million in ’98 alone. Pioneer Robert J. O’Connell also was an AIG executive until recently.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Thanks for the info Papau

I'll double check your sources to make sure what you reported checks OK :thumbsup:

You report, I double check :-)

[papau]

2. No problem - my sources for Maurice are my friends - senior management

that he fired.

Back in 73 he (AIG) "tried to hire" me - another proof that being lazy about responding to something can be God's way of giving you good luck!

:-)