Sunday morning news programs are going to go into the discussion cycle of how John Kerry received more money from individuals that work or worked as lobbyists than any other Senator in 15 years. Funny thing is, when we worked on the particular issue that JK did not take money from lobbyists and PACs, it was researched that JK had not taken any money from PACs or lobbyist groups for both his Senate and his Presidential Campaign. It is funny — two facts come to light here.
One, if you worked as a lobbyist, you are now not allowed to give money to a political candidate for fear of impropriety. Every American is entitled to contribute $2000 to a candidate — no matter what job they have. And two, the largest portion of the “lobbyist” money (as reported in the Washington Post) came from John Kerry’s brother’s law firm. Of the $640K of money, a little over 1/3 came from Cam and his partners. Is this a bad thing?
The fact that he was able to raise money for his brother over the years — is that not what we try to do in starting a business? Only we would call it “friends and family” money and call those people “angels”. But in the realm of politics, we have to be worried about “propriety” and how things are perceived.
And, being a Silicon Valley guy — I am amazed at how the news cycles work. Four weeks ago, we were dead on arrival. The candidate’s background was no different than it is now, the message has been honed during the last two months — but it is a distillation of what he had been saying for quite some time, and now Kerry is the frontrunner. And with this weekend being dominated the SuperBowl, the threats of al-Qaeda and airflights, and now this. I wonder how long this will ride — and how much it will impact the primaries/caucuses? JK has nothing to be ashamed of — and a record to stand on.
