Here's the link
Between 1985 and 1990, Kerry's first five years in the Senate from Massachusetts, he pocketed annual amounts slightly under the limits for speaking fees set by Congress. Unlike many colleagues, he donated a speaking fee to charity only once, according to annual financial disclosure reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
One of the companies to pay Kerry $1,000 for a speech in 1987, Miami-based Metalbanc, was later indicted, along with two executives, on charges it helped the Cali drug cartel in Colombia launder money in the United States. The charges eventually were dropped because the firm was defunct.
At the time of the 1987 speech to Metalbanc, Kerry was chairman of the Senate subcommittee that investigated drug trafficking and money laundering.
Why is this important (troll-watchers, this would be the "analysis" part of the post)? Well, first of all, it just adds to the general "Washington insider" nature of Kerry's campaign. He's plugged into the same group of lobbyists and special interests that Bush is-- including the tobacco and defense industries.
It's an even bigger problem, in my book, because Kerry spent a great deal of time prior to Iowa pounding Dean on the same issue:
While governor of Vermont, Howard Dean accepted personal pay from corporate interests for speeches and also oversaw the collection of more than $60,000 in checks and pledges for a charity fund from insurers with business before the state of Vermont, according to documents and interviews.
Dean's fees and charitable donations were legal and did not have to be disclosed under Vermont law. They were detailed in correspondence and tax records reviewed by the Associated Press.
Most of Dean's $13,633 in personal speaking fees as governor came from a drug company embroiled in sexual harassment charges, which ultimately ended with a nearly $10 million federal penalty.
That's $13,000 in speaking fees, and $60,000 to charity. Kerry, by contrast, raised over $120,000 in personal speaking fees but has only donated $2000 to charity. But at the time, Kerry and Gephardt were both attacking Dean on the issue, claiming that it showed him to be a hypocrite. Of course the media will never make a similar accusation today.