{"id":2538,"date":"2009-07-25T13:06:31","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T17:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2009-11-19T12:49:58","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T17:49:58","slug":"chris-dodd-hates-lobbyists-but-not-their-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/chris-dodd-hates-lobbyists-but-not-their-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Dodd Hates Lobbyists But Not Their Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m about to say should come as no surprise… Chris Dodd is a populist hypocrite. Just days after his campaign manager Jay Howser was sending e-mail to Dodd’s supporters proclaiming, \u201cBut what about the forgotten victims of Chris\u2019s efforts? What about the lobbyists? The lobbyists can\u2019t get meetings with Chris. He won\u2019t return their phone calls. He even yells at them during hearings. Whether they\u2019re lobbyists for the financial industry or health care companies, Chris just isn\u2019t giving them the time of day.\u201d Chris Dodd at a DSCC sponsored retreat on Martha’s Vineyard with several high-powered lobbyists<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Facing the toughest re-election fight of his nearly 30 years in the Christopher Dodd boasts about snubbing lobbyists.Yet even as he touts his independence, the embattled Connecticut Democrat is still cashing lobbyist campaign checks and rubbing shoulders with them at fundraisers and party gatherings.<\/p>\n

Dodd, perhaps the most vulnerable Senate Democrat in 2010, has driven home his message in fundraising pitches and campaign videos.<\/p>\n

“The lobbyists can’t get meetings with Chris,” Dodd’s campaign manager Jay Howser said in a recent e-mail to supporters. “He won’t return their phone calls … Chris just isn’t giving them the time of day.”<\/p>\n

The videos even suggest Dodd has been so hard on lobbyists that he’s made them cry.<\/p>\n

But the tough talk hasn’t stopped Dodd from raking in tens of thousands of dollars in lobbyist campaign contributions this year. It hasn’t prevented Dodd from letting lobbyists host his fundraising events.Or kept Dodd from schmoozing with lobbyists at places like Martha’s Vineyard,a favorite summer getaway spot for the rich and famous off the Massachusetts coast.<\/p>\n

A few days after Howser’s e-mail, Dodd trekked to Martha’s Vineyard for a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee weekend retreat where about 30 senators joined major party donors, including lobbyists.<\/p>\n

That email was accompanied by a campaign video featuring a baby\u2019s voice wailing behind the words: \u201cHe made them cry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to statistics<\/a> compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics 27 percent of the money raised by Sen. Dodd’s campaign committee during the 2005-2010 \telection cycle comes from Political Action Committees… Chris Dodd, may rail against lobbyists but hes perfectly willing to take their cash.<\/p>\n

It’s time to send Chris Dodd and his sweetheart mortgage for extended vacation at his Irish Cottage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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