Clip shows big-time lobbyists getting cozy with Democrats
WASHINGTON -- Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry are shown hobnobbing and sharing laughs with high-powered lobbyists at a Nantucket reception for top Democratic donors, in a film clip posted on the ABC News website yesterday.
In the clip, lobbyists who gave $25,000 each to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are shown enjoying special access to the Massachusetts Democrats and other Democratic senators at an open-air lobster dinner at the Harbor House Village hotel in July.
Kerry, a gray sweater tied around his neck, was filmed putting his arm around one attendee a few feet from where Senator Carl Levin , a Michigan Democrat, was talking with another donor. And Kennedy is shown at a podium delivering a limerick for attendees.
Kennedy told the audience: ``There once were Senate Democrats on Nantucket, Republican tide -- they all aimed to buck it. They fight hard to win, these women and men, and in November control they re took it."
The report, which also includes film of Republican senators at a golf retreat with donors, does not suggest that any senators broke ethics or fund-raising laws by attending the events or speaking with lobbyists.
But ABC quotes a government watchdog group as saying that the videos show that representatives of big companies and special interests continue to enjoy privileged access to lawmakers, despite the scandal involving disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff .
``They talked the talk, but they didn't walk the walk," said Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, referring to the failure of Congress to pass ethics and lobbying reforms this year.
ABC plans to air a report that includes the videos on its newscast tonight, according to a network spokeswoman.
She said the video was shot by ABC using a hand-held camera from a public sidewalk outside the Nantucket hotel.
ABC reported that 40 registered lobbyists were on the Democrats' guest list, with lobbyists' clients including drug companies, the telecommunications industry, Indian gambling interests, and labor unions.
Aides to Kennedy and Kerry bristled at any comparison between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to cozy relationships with lobbyists. One Republican House member -- Bob Ney of Ohio -- has pleaded guilty to corruption charges because of his ties to Abramoff, and several incumbents are in tight races in part because of their relationship with the former lobbyist, who has pleaded guilty to bilking clients.
A Kerry spokesman said there is nothing wrong with Democratic senators appearing at events with the goal of trying to elect more Democrats to Congress.
